Ok, so over the summer my driver side rear tire burst and caused some excessive damage to the rear corner panel. When the tire burst it bent and pushed most of the metal up underneath the truck so that it is still there. Very little actually broke off.



As you can see in this picture all the metal has been bent and folded up underneath. I haven't touched that since the incident.


I've since taken the truck to the shop and they estimate about $3600 to fix it. Which to be honest is not worth it in my book. I'm in college and between college books and rent, I'm not going to justify that much money on my DD and offroader only to beat those corner panels up again. Besides a new corner panel would be hard to match paint wise and I would have to buy a new stripe to match which is more money.

I was already budgeting a new rear bumper to replace the stock bumper before this and wanted to run this idea by you guys and see if you have any ideas or solutions.

My plan was to pull down all the bent up medal and from there install the RTE Heavy Duty Rear Bumper.
(This one - http://www.rte-fab.com/products?page...category_id=43)

From there because of the damage to the wheel I wasn't sure how to fix the wheel arches, and then I saw the Flexi Flares which cut away at the wheel arches for larger tires. So this would cut around the areas that have heavy damage and give me a clean wheel arch look again.
(These wheel arches were my thought - Lucky8 Llc. - Take the road less traveled...)

From their I would have only put it 1500-1800 in parts and would still keep the original rear panel and would be able to justify the rear bumper and flexi flares being I wanted to do them anyway and now they could be used to help restore my truck so that it doesn't look damaged but rather modified.

If any of you guys have done something similar or have any suggestions, criticisms, anything really feel free to share it. I have no problem with telling me this is far stretched and a stupid idea or saying it's possible but will be alot of hard work. I'm no stranger to metal work, or working on my own truck. Let me know what your thoughts are

Thanks in advance for any help guys as I feel like this will be a fairly big project.

 

You could just buy a whole rear quarter panel from a used parts distributor like Paul Grant, Marty Powell, Will Tillery, PT Schram, etc for a couple hundred dollars and have it painted.

 

If you want to get a used quarter panel, I am in the area and have an 2002 that I am parting. The panel is excellent shape.

 

I've looked into getting a new panel. My only issue is then I need it painted and I will need to get a new decal. I've located the decal and by taking that route it could cost me up to a $1000 more. The decal is about $450, to have a panel painted is going to cost me a couple of hundred bucks, including to buy a used panel. I'm trying to keep cost down because I really don't want to throw $4k into a truck that is technically functional without it. I know I have a head gasket coming in the next year or two, so I would much rather drop big money into that then this. Keep in mind, i'm in college guys.

Thats why I'm trying to figure out if this plan will work. Essentially allowing me to get the bumper I've always wanted and desperately need because I'm always dragging that stock bumper off rocks

 

If you don't care about the originality of the G4, why do you need the decal?

 

I think he does care about the originality of his G4, but he made a good point about the panels taking a heavy beating while off-roading so adding the bumper and flares may prove more cost effective down the road when say he damages another quarter panel or damages the rear bumper. If he spends a couple grand restore the panels to factory G4 spec and the panels get damaged again later down the road then thats not cost effective. Ive seen plenty of modified G4 Rovers - some look alright other not so much.

I say if it works for you and your sure it will hide or remove the damaged metal then go for it, especially if your on a tight budget and dont have lots of free time right now. By the way that is the cleanest off-road bumper Ive ever seen? Usually the corners are boxy and in my opinion they ruin the look of the vehicle, but that RTE rear bumper has completely rounded corners so it looks very clean and almost factory while still offering off-road quality. Think Ill be adding that to my wish list for next year! Wish I could find a clean front bumper with rounded corners for my 04 D2 with colored endcaps so it still looks like the factory bumper....

Good luck man and let us know how it turns out. Also consider getting some advice from the people at RTE and Lucky8. Show them the pictures, who knows they may have a better solution for you that meets your budget.

 

how about you go to a sheet metal shop have them bend you two pieces of diamond plate, to match the bend in the quarter paint it flat black. I mean tall like an inch below the G4 striping rivet them on and then replace the fender flare with a used stock one.

You will need to install bracing from the bottom of the diamond plate to your frame, easy enough.

you could probably get out of it for under $300.00 no paint , no decal needed.

Also there is a guy in the FS section that just built a nice looking rear bumper that you could get for a whole lot less the $1200 RTE bumper.

you might be able to get out of it for less than the cost of the rte bumper?

ps. install one piece on each side of the truck

 

Great tip! And this is why I love this forum! Theres ALWAYS somebody with a "simple" money saving solution to otherwise pricey issues - what the hell would we do without this community? lol

PS: Im loving the G4 more and more, but seeing the pics of his truck above leads me to believe that any G4 edition D2 will be overdue for a paint job.... notice how the paint is all faded and the decals are discolored and I hear that it costs alot more for a color like that than say a simple white or black paint job. Repainting his quarter panel is absolutely out of the question because it would make the rest of the body panels look like crap. Just saying.

 

Hey guys, great tips and solutions so far. TRIARII, I'm going to email both those companies and see if they offer any help in the matter. But I just want to add, you hit the nail on the head TRIARII, I do care about the originality of the G4. I just like to off road too. But as you guys were discussing repainting that panel in that orange color would be really expensive. I knicked the front bumper last year and scratched it pretty bad, so I had it repainted. Just that little front corner piece cost me $245, so having a panel painted I can only assume would be around $1000. Oh and TRIARII, since living in CO and having this truck out here, the sun has beat up on the orange and causes it to fade quickly. Even given my best attempts to save it, including countless waxing, which is not fun with a car that has a roof rack. Major pain in the butt! But its the price to pay for trying to keep this car has close to originality as possible, which also makes it hard to find parts for it that I like.

 

You might check another dealer for the decal. Not every dealer charges msrp for parts.

The Kansas City dealer has a website and very good prices. You might have to call with your vin to order special vehicles parts though.

Also you might be able to get a sign shop or vinyl wrap place make you a copy from a photograph.