Best way of either finding or repainting two Natural White body panels

[masphx]

History is I bought my 1998 4Runner back in 2011 knowing both the driver door and front fender had been repainted. Seems like there is some bondo in the driver fender near the door and some bondo at the top of the door. The original door glass also has some spots on it (like weld sparks). Can't figure out what happened to these two panels. Well I'm sure the crappy re-paint was fine ~10 years ago but now the clear coat is starting to peel off the fender and looks bad. I would like to repair or replace these now. Is it best to repaint these or pull them off another natural white 4runner?

Here are some pictures. The Panels along with the hood seem to be off a little ...

 

[BeachWagon]

Not sure, cause mine is black, but some folks on here were talking about a while back that the white was single stage, therefore no clear coat? I may be wrong? If you have the bonda and don't want to deal with it, try car-part.com , Find a yard in your area, pick them up, have them resprayed properly.

 

[20034RunnerV84x2]

Not sure, cause mine is black, but some folks on here were talking about a while back that the white was single stage, therefore no clear coat? I may be wrong? If you have the bonda and don't want to deal with it, try car-part.com , Find a yard in your area, pick them up, have them resprayed properly.

It is single stage, which is how you can tell is was redone.

 

[Coveman]

Yep, she's peeling pretty good, all right. Repainting those two panels is a straightforward job, down to metal, fill, prime and paint. But if it seems like there is other damage going to used panels would be an option, but chances are that you may need to spruce those up too with paint unless you found something in really good shape.

I've checked out some aftermarket panels too and with some care have picked up some reasonable prices on Oem quality parts...but again you would still need to sand, seal and paint the parts.

You have a great looking rig, let us see how it turns out!

 

[masphx]

It is single stage, which is how you can tell is was redone.

Yep, the rest of the rig has the original single stage natural white oem paint. These two panels have a clear coat so who ever painted it painted in wrong or used the easiest way to get the blend. I can't tell if they blended the driver rear door but it does not look like it. I'm glad the rig is white though as it hides the issue pretty well. Before I bought the rig I had a Toyota tech/ 4Runner enthusiast look over the rig. We saw the repainted panels but no frame damage or glaring issues. I body shop guy also took a peek and did not find anything wrong besides the repaint and misalignment. So what ever happened must have been minor and even if it wasn't the Rig has driven great the past 20K miles since I bought it.

Just trying to find the best method of bringing these two panels up to the same standard as the rest of the rig (and the rig is not prefect but after 13+ years looks good).

Painting- never painted car parts besides my tundra calipers so have little know-how or space to do that.

-Doner parts- Hard to find and color might not be exact (body shop guy said even if it the same color the batches might be off over the months/years)

 

[8sm]

Check Certifit for the panels

 

[20034RunnerV84x2]

Yep, the rest of the rig has the original single stage natural white oem paint. These two panels have a clear coat so who ever painted it painted in wrong or used the easiest way to get the blend. I can't tell if they blended the driver rear door but it does not look like it. I'm glad the rig is white though as it hides the issue pretty well. Before I bought the rig I had a Toyota tech/ 4Runner enthusiast look over the rig. We saw the repainted panels but no frame damage or glaring issues. I body shop guy also took a peek and did not find anything wrong besides the repaint and misalignment. So what ever happened must have been minor and even if it wasn't the Rig has driven great the past 20K miles since I bought it.

Just trying to find the best method of bringing these two panels up to the same standard as the rest of the rig (and the rig is not prefect but after 13+ years looks good).

Painting- never painted car parts besides my tundra calipers so have little know-how or space to do that.

-Doner parts- Hard to find and color might not be exact (body shop guy said even if it the same color the batches might be off over the months/years)

Put a big dent in it and tell insurance someone hit it. They'l take care of it. :biggrin2::biggrin2::biggrin2::biggrin2::biggrin2::biggrin2:

 

[jc1kz]

Put a big dent in it and tell insurance someone hit it. They'l take care of it. :biggrin2::biggrin2::biggrin2::biggrin2::biggrin2::biggrin2:

20034RunnerV84x2

Please report to class room #304 and take the Ethics 101 course STAT!!!:cheers:

 

[masphx]

Put a big dent in it and tell insurance someone hit it. They'l take care of it. :biggrin2::biggrin2::biggrin2::biggrin2::biggrin2::biggrin2:

Lol, sounds good but my insurance will increase I'm sure.

I found a 1997 natural white that a guy is either parting out or selling whole. It is a 2wd auto w/ blown engine so don't really want to buy the whole thing. I offered him $200 for the two panels.

 

[masphx]

Check Certifit for the panels

I would love to check out this Certifit place but work M-F during their hours. Sucks they are not opened Saturdays. I'm sure their panels run at least $100 each not including glass on the door. My thinking is buy the two off CL for the $200 w/ hopefully matching factory Natural White paint. Does anyone foresee any problems I might encounter?

 

[8sm]

Sounds like whomever did the previous work did not do a great job. Purchasing used natural white panels would be the least time consuming and more likely to match in color.

Should you decide to replace and paint with a new panel, one problem I foresee is matching decade plus old paint is difficult and even more so when its white. If you have any room in the budget, I would paint the entire truck. Even if that means continuing to save until you have the funds to do it all at once, you will be much happier with the results. If you intend on keeping the 4runner, it will be time and money well spent.

Best regards MasPhx.............8sm