Vx, Front Left Hand Panel replacement and Plastic Body fading

[StanVX]

Hey guys,
Just bought a Commodore VX Lumina 2001 (First car), Its got a few problems with it which im gonna start fixing up and just looking for tips and suggestions

First
Front left hand panel has damage.
Going to be finding another Panel (Probs from wreckers) and having it repainted, are there any suggestions for a body painter around Ringwood, Victoria?
And also are there any ideas on about how much it would cost, the paint is Capricorn (dark green metallic).
And would i remove the body coloured Lining and place it on the new new panel?


Second
Plastic Body kit fading
The Black plastic body on the bottum is Faiding and want to repaint it
How do i go about painting it?
And just wanna know your opinions on repainting body colour or Stock black.


Thanks in advance

[StanVX]

Bump...
Anyone with any suggestions... Pleaseeee.

[James_yo7]

go and buy a bottle of this. go sick on your skirts with it. it works like a charm it will bring alot of the colour back and protect it from fading anymore. If its still bad then just go and get the right color plastic paint and spray them.

as for your guard have you tried taking your tire off and just hitting out the dints with a soft hammer? you cant take alot of the damage out of it. its in a spot where you can get to the dints from the inside.

[StanVX]

HA! i got a Armor All package with Protectant Original for christmas :-D,
I'll def give both of your suggestions a try,
I dont have anything to lose by trying to hit the dints out with a hammer since if that doesn't work i'll proberly just be replacing the panel
Thanks Alot James!

[And_ROOS]

How easy does that panel come off anyway?

I went to push my arial down manually and it dropped down completely...

[Mick1988]

How easy does that panel come off anyway?

I went to push my arial down manually and it dropped down completely...

The panel itself isn't very easy to get off because there are welds involved. However, I've got good news for you because you can get to your aerial without removing that panel. What you will need to do is remove the inner wheel arch cover (the black bit of plastic that runs inside your mudguard. There are a few bolts to undo and from memory you need to remove the plenum box to get to some of them.

I was able to remove a broken aerial and replace it with a functional one without removing the tyre, but I would assume that removing the tyre would be a big help.

[James_yo7]

HA! i got a Armor All package with Protectant Original for christmas :-D,
I'll def give both of your suggestions a try,
I dont have anything to lose by trying to hit the dints out with a hammer since if that doesn't work i'll proberly just be replacing the panel
Thanks Alot James!

no worries take some before and after pictures so we can see the difference

[StanVX]

Hey guys, Got my car couple of days ago and today been washing it and working on a few things especially the side skirts

Before


After Scrubbing with a damp rag.

Seems to be working really well, once i finished with that i'll apply the armorall and send a few more pics :-D

[Dayvo]

The panel itself isn't very easy to get off because there are welds involved. However, I've got good news for you because you can get to your aerial without removing that panel. What you will need to do is remove the inner wheel arch cover (the black bit of plastic that runs inside your mudguard. There are a few bolts to undo and from memory you need to remove the plenum box to get to some of them.

I was able to remove a broken aerial and replace it with a functional one without removing the tyre, but I would assume that removing the tyre would be a big help.

The front panel is held on with about a dozen bolts . There are no welds involved.

[StanVX]

hey Peoplesss! finnallly finished with it and Results are Fantastic!!!!!
Once again :-P
Before


Andddd Nowww!!!



Now i gotta work on the Dint and later a few of the scratches.
Thanks Jamess!

[StanVX]

Today i started working on taking the wheel off so that i can try to bang into the front lhs panel.
But i am having trouble undoing the screws inside the guard which are holding the plastic inner guard on.
They seem to be really worn out and not unscrewing some turn although idon't actually undo and the screw head just gets worse and worse from the screwdriver
PLEASE HELP!!!

[Mick1988]

Today i started working on taking the wheel off so that i can try to bang into the front lhs panel.
But i am having trouble undoing the screws inside the guard which are holding the plastic inner guard on.
They seem to be really worn out and not unscrewing some turn although idon't actually undo and the screw head just gets worse and worse from the screwdriver
PLEASE HELP!!!

Use a flathead to apply pressure outwards as you unscrew them and this will help them unscrew. If the heads are rounded out all you and do is make a new flathead slot using a hacksaw and use a big flathead. You might need to buy some new screws..

[Calaber]

Grab the head of the "screw" with a pair of pliers and pull. You will pull the screw out with the plastic plug that comes with it. You can re-use them when you re-assemble the car. Take the screw out of the plug, squeeze the four little tongues together and carefully insert the plug into its hole. Make sure all four tongues go through, then push the screw in all the way.

[HVXII]

also on your skirts you can use tyre shine brings them up nice & black that what i do to mine

[Cohan]

Same problem in my side panel. Fml.

[Killr6]

Same problem in my side panel. Fml.

quit digging up threads this is like the 4th one.