Rear Quarter Panel. Repair or Replace. Need advise.

[TheONE24]

Long story as short as I can get it. A couple of days ago on my way to work a lady hit my rear passenger quarter panel while I was turning left at a 4 way stop sign. Insurance already paid me but will adjust based off what is needed. They gave enough that I should be able to get the entire quarter replaced. When I took it to a guy that was recommended by some local BMW owners he was pretty confident that even though he could replace it, it would not be best to replace the whole quarter and that he would be able to pull most of it with just PDR and then let me come look at it to see just how little bondo he would have to do. His theory was that by going in and pulling all the rivets around the full panel and all the extra work it would possibly introduce new strange quirks and require any blending to go much further. Plus the cut lines for the fender would still have bondo/filler as well. He also mentioned possible structural integrity and integrity of spot welds where it attaches the quarter since they would be drilled and redone and now also possibly subject to rust.
Here are some pics.
Thanks,

[TheONE24]

The trunk gap line is good and the main body line that runs down the side is good as well. The only real section I'm worried about is where the quarter meets the bumper and tail light. If I repair it I will have the cash leftover to grab a set or LCI tail lights. Bumper will be pulled repaired and resprayed as well.

[Eric S]

anytime you can keep original panels like this is better.

That doesnt look too bad. I'd let him PDR it, metal work it, then bondo, skim coat, primer, paint, clear.

[LVI]

That panel is creased to the point where it will require quite bit of body filler to reshape. The taillight area and the bumper seam area are deformed quite a bit. Best to replace the panel IMO. There are no rivets, just spot welds. this is probably not the guy you want working on your car either. there should be no quirks if they know what they're doing.

If the bodyshop is skilled, the cut/weld seam will require minimal filler. painting will be the same regardless since they will need to blend into the door and pillar. definitely find a good body shop to do the work. this won't be cheap.

[TheONE24]

I didn't mean to say rivets, that's my fault. I think I'm going to let them see what they can do with PDR and get a good idea of how close they can get it. If it looks like a bad idea after the PDR I will swallow the PDR cost and have them order the side panel. Car goes in tomorrow so if there is anything else I should think about let me know. I'm going to have them pull wheels, refinish, and powder coat. Also, going to see if they can paint my exhaust and tips black. I tried using super high temp barbecue grill paint on the muffler. Looked great for about two months and now it's come off in ugly patches. I'm guessing it's due to not prepping the surface right. Pretty sure they are stainless on stock exhaust.

[maniz]

Originally Posted by Eric S

anytime you can keep original panels like this is better.

That doesnt look too bad. I'd let him PDR it, metal work it, then bondo, skim coat, primer, paint, clear.

+1. If it were me, I would do exactly what that body guy suggested. Removing windshield, cutting the OEM spot welds etc. just to avoid a little bondo is overkill for this repair and could indeed cause other problems.

[aBMWfan]

I’m no expert, but that seems a bit beyond repair

Even if the pull out the dent, the bottom seem might not go back straight

There is a guy here parting out his car, ask him to cut that panel for you if you choose to replace it

[TheONE24]

Originally Posted by aBMWfan

I’m no expert, but that seems a bit beyond repair

Even if the pull out the dent, the bottom seem might not go back straight

There is a guy here parting out his car, ask him to cut that panel for you if you choose to replace it

If it comes to that it would be a good option. Not sure if the guy wants to drill out all those spot welds but we may be able to get away with a cut along the main body line down to the wheel well. I will cross that bridge when I get there, but thanks for the heads up on the part out.

[aBMWfan]

Originally Posted by TheONE24

If it comes to that it would be a good option. Not sure if the guy wants to drill out all those spot welds but we may be able to get away with a cut along the main body line down to the wheel well. I will cross that bridge when I get there, but thanks for the heads up on the part out.

He seems to be a great guy to work with, I'm sure you can work something out with him

[icegrill]

Totally agree that it can be worked out without any major intrusion to the car. Looks like a lucky hit if you can even say that in the same sentence

I had a truck rear bed hit similar and they removed the dent and blended the paint perfectly. No cutting of panels.

[LVI]

Originally Posted by TheONE24

If it comes to that it would be a good option. Not sure if the guy wants to drill out all those spot welds but we may be able to get away with a cut along the main body line down to the wheel well. I will cross that bridge when I get there, but thanks for the heads up on the part out.

Did the bodyshop suggest that approach to you? You do not want to cut along the body, thats a hack job. Buy the repair panel or quarter panel skin (if they offer it separately) new from BMW, not from another car. Again, hopefully your bodyshop is not operated by a bunch of hacks wanting to take shortcuts.

[bmwbaltimorem5]

Hope this helps...
I had something close to that and I ended up going with a local PDR shop, this is their site https://www.arsdentrepair.com .
Results are great, but the original dent on my car was smaller than this.
Anyhow I think it's better to go with PDR first and get it as close as possible to original

[soulcrft]

Keep us posted. Interested to see how this works out. Good luck!

[TheONE24]

All in all it turned out pretty good. Their glass guy broke the quarter glass but replaced it with BMW OEM. The paint matches really well. They were able to pull a lot of that dent out even at the body line. The only thing I really noticed was some vertical lines that looked like creases in the body further towards the front from where they were working. Not sure if those were stop lines from painting or what. Overall I think I'm happy with the work. I will say that I don't think it would have been any better if we did the full side panel. I also had them PDR out everything they could find, re-paint my exhaust and tips, and got Euro LCI taillights. I will try to get some new pics when I get my car back. I just dropped it off again to get the rear window re-tinted(bubbles in factory tint) and my stock wheels powder coated gloss black.

[TheONE24]

Here is a couple of pics while they were working on it.

[NPuter]

Had them paint the muffler? Looks like great work!

[maniz]

Wow that looks nice and straight; they are certainly talented. Good that you went this route, plus the paint blending must be restricted to a much smaller area now, which is always good.

Post some final pics when you get it back.

[icegrill]

Glad to hear you're happy with he outcome. Always nice when a shop takes pride in their work.

[bmwbaltimorem5]

I wonder how long the body filler holds up...