Fender repair on '05 W900

It's a fiberglass hood last I know. Regular body filler should work, just do the prep work so it has a good bond. Then just sand smooth and blend in the paint. If it is plastic then their is body filler for plastic panels.

 

They're not fiberglass anymore. I have an '02 that's fiberglass but the '03 and up are some sort of new stuff. I'm getting mine fixed as soon as the body shop has time. The owner of the body shop had a 3M rep look at my hood and I forget what the material is called but it's way better than fiberglass. Mine got taken out by a piece of tire and had it been fiberglass the entire fender would have been taken out.



Since I'm actually missing a piece of the fender the body shop found a wrecked hood and cut the missing piece out of it. They said they've got some epoxy that will bond the pieces together. No one wants to guarantee the repair because of where it's at but the quote from the dealer for a complete hood replacement was just under $9k, so I told them I'll take my chances with a patch. If yours is just deep scratches I would think any body filler would work.

 

#### 9k for the hood! I'd take that same risk patching it. Shouldn't be to bad unless it gets hit again. Still beats 9k if you gotta even do it twice.

 

That price was painted and all the shiny pieces transferred (grill ect) and installed. They're still dreaming.

 

You can get a whole truck painted for 10-12k. Their more then dreaming their on some kind of good drugs most of the dealerships when they give you estimates.

 

If you don't want to patch your hood you may find one in a salvage yard. There is also a company in Texas that sells hoods. I don't remember the name, but they usually advertise in some of the trucking magazines.

 

Rarely have I ever seen a good hood at a scrap yard/salvage but it's always worth a shot to keep your eyes open.

The OP should have no problem fixing his hood with some body filler and paint.

 

Not sure what PACAR calls it but GM calls it a "sheet molded compound" or SMC. It's a petroleum based product with very, very, very short silica strand added for strength.

The first time GM used it was when the Saturn came out. The Corvette is now made from this stuff beginning with the 97 model year.

From a manufacturing standpoint it is cheaper and easier to make then either fiberglass or steel. As such its intended that crash panels be completely replaced.

For gouging and body filler can be used as long as it has been well scuffed and has a heavy grain to bite into. There are special plastic body fillers and these do work best.

For broken panels an epoxy is required to bond the pieces together. Those panels being bonded MUST be completely free of greases and oils (including fingerprints) in order to bond correctly. It is also HIGHLY recommended that some type of re-enforcement or bracing be added to the back side of the repair. This should be held in place by the same epoxy used to join the panels together. In my experience... wood works best for this. Something like a paint stirrer broken to an appropriate length.

 

I wonder how much the smc weighs compared to fiberglass?