Hit a deer for the first time, heart broken...help please
 

Dear all,

Please see the photo below. My Bonneville 2002 hit a deer two weeks ago, causing damage to the headlight assembly and fender on the right side.

I decided to repair it by myself, so I ordered a new headlight assembly for 120 bucks and a used fender for $135.

But I have no experience on fender replacement. I have following questions:

Is it difficult to remove the fender? :confused:
I think I just need to unscrew several bolts to remove it, right? :confused:
What type & size of tool do I need? (some wrenches or screw drivers?):confused:

Help appreciated!

Thanks
Porter

dont know much about your car to tell how it comes apart, but just make sure you look along the rad support and inner fender to see if they are strait so you have a good starting point

its unfortunate, but could be much worse. we have a ton around here and my run ins have been mild. the worst one thankfully hapened to a jeep i had that was all scratched up from offroading it. my wife was driving it at the time she it "ran into her"

If you take the bumper off (and I believe you also need to remove the rocker panel on that side) you will find that the fender is held in with those big torque bolts. You should be able to remove all the bolts, pop the fender off, and then assess the damage to the area it is mounted too.

I had very similar damage done to my car, just the opposite side. One thing I will tell you about fenders and hoods is they are not all the same. The fender I ordered on my own looked right from a distance, but once it was installed left big gaps and ended up having to be replaced with a higher quality piece. Same with the hood.

I ended up having the frame checked and straightened (it had a very small tweak in it I was told), the side of the engine bay got chopped out and a new section welded in, and I installed a new radiator support. Then new hood and fender. Total was $1400 including the fender but not the hood or headlight. Paint is the expensive part....

I had this same kind of thing happen to my old Cavalier. It did a lot more damage then was apparent by looking at it. The door did not line up with latch any more and was difficult to open and close. Seems like everything got pushed back a bit. I ended up beating it back into shape so I could use the car but it was never the same. Like the others says, look for damage once you get the fender off.