New project

tHomBleached · June 23

Hit a concrete raise at Calais port yesterday and scraped the skirt rocker pretty bad with a slight dent.

I can easily fix the dent with a heat gun and then send it to be sprayed.

But.... I can't for the life of me work out how to get these clips off. Had anyone seen them before?

Lexus want £500 just for the part and I can either repair for maybe £90 or get a part off a breaker for £100 so no brainer to DIY IMO

Has anyone seen this clip before? There were three others similar to it but they came out with needle nose pliers

tHomBleached · June 23

Scratch that got the little bleeders out with a bit of stern talking.

Now to heat gun the offending panel..

tHomBleached · June 24

Well, gave it a good go but couldn't quite get one dimple out on the ridge. Shame. But I've found someone selling one that needs respraying. If anyone ever wants to know the part number and have a similar issue it's 75850-33170 (exactly the same part that goes on the Camry)

tHomBleached · June 25

Got a good price on the part and I've got the colour match so should look like showroom again once I'm done.

Just gutted that I couldn't fix it. TBF I think they're designed to take the pressure in a light dink so it doesn't touch the frame.

If anyone ever needs to take it off for any reason, let me know and I can guide you through it. Pretty simple job (apart from those very frustrating fasteners - again probably designed to be onetime use so I've bought some more new for pennies).

Only real headache is you need to take the rear wheel off to get to a couple of bolts (unless you have the worlds smallest socket set)

tHomBleached · June 28

Update time.

The kind gent who was going to spray it has been taken ill so I'm biting the bullet and having a crack myself this weekend.

The part I bought looks as though the scratches haven't gone through to lacquer so as long as I'm careful taking the paint off I think I'll get away with just doing paint coats.

Never sprayed a part in my life so...wish me luck!

🤞

tHomBleached · July 2

Getting there. Finished off the clear coat day and a half ago. Should be good to cut and use my special 3M polish compound tonight 🙂

Cars in a mood because she's out in the open and not in her home. Patience dear...

tHomBleached · July 6

And......she's done and happy back where she belongs.

Came out like a mirror, no orange peel, absolutely flawless - almost better than original paintwork IMO 🤫

Picture doesn't really do it justice as it's reflecting the dirt on my garage floor, but very pleased to have taken the time to do this Vs give lexus £700

Spacewagon52 · July 6

36 minutes ago, tHomBleached said:

And......she's done and happy back where she belongs.

Came out like a mirror, no orange peel, absolutely flawless - almost better than original paintwork IMO 🤫

Picture doesn't really do it justice as it's reflecting the dirt on my garage floor, but very pleased to have taken the time to do this Vs give lexus £700

Brilliant! I know who to ask in future!