Big left door dint, scratches and door handle totalled

monkeyslayer

Whoops, was taking left turn and got too close to a a very large and very hard Ballard... Wondering any ideas what the cost of this might be? I'd be happy to have the dint out and the handle bsck in and working again. The handle survived it just came loose and fell out when I pulled it. 07 Ford Focus

soups05

standard plunger will take out the dents, scrap yard for the handle, chrisfix on youtube for the paint work tips.

TheBoyConor

Be handier if you could just pick up a whole door at the scrap yard and stick it on. That way you've no messing about with dents or paint or fiddly handle pieces. Assuming you can get the right colour though.

colm_mcm

And assuming the wiring looms and internals match. You’d imagine they would but I had to swap out window regs and wiring loom on a seemingly identical i30

monkeyslayer

Yea sent on some pics for a quote plus a few places on part finder seem to have doors but I can't specify color so not rely sure just yet if it's the right door. Id be happy just to get the dent out so the handle can sit back in again. I think I could live with scratches. The DIY thing hasnt really worked out for me in the past.

monkeyslayer

Would a door from a 2005 focus fit on a 2007?

colm_mcm

Yeah.

monkeyslayer

colm_mcm wrote: »

Yeah.

If I bought a scrap car door can I just rock up to any garage and ask them to put it in? I'm in d7

TheBoyConor

Yes you could. Unless they are pricks or really busy they will fit it.

Noccy_Mondy

Don't fall into the 3 door 5 door trap though :pac:

Del2005

monkeyslayer wrote: »

If I bought a scrap car door can I just rock up to any garage and ask them to put it in? I'm in d7

Or you could ask the garage to source you the door. They'd have contacts who would might have parts not known to the public.

monkeyslayer

turns out they don't have in tonic blue afterall... got a quote for 300 to take the dents out and put the handle back on, does this seem ok? another 200 for the scratches but I figure I'll live with them

Alanstrainor

monkeyslayer wrote: »

turns out they don't have in tonic blue afterall... got a quote for 300 to take the dents out and put the handle back on, does this seem ok? another 200 for the scratches but I figure I'll live with them

It kind of depends on what they mean by that. If they're not going to be painting it, I wouldn't think they're going to do anything major with the damage. Pull out the dents with a plunger and then that's it? Seems mad to me. To do it proper there would be a need to grind back/fill some surface area and paint.

TheBoyConor

If it's only a dent in an 07 Ford why would you even bother with the dent and paint?
Just fix the handle so it works to pass an NCT and forget about the cosmetics. At 07 is worth nothing anyway regardless whether it's mint or full of dents.

colm_mcm

That’s a bit like saying you shouldn’t bother painting your house unless you live in a good area

Some people will prefer to keep their car tidy regardless of age.

TheBoyConor

Doing cosmetic work on a car or that age is a waste of money unless it is a rare or collectors car, which a focus is certainly not. It's a utilitarian grunt car.

colm_mcm

Agreed to some extent, but if the OP doesn’t want to drive a damaged car it wouldn’t be a purely economical decision anyway.

monkeyslayer

300 seems like an awful lot, I pulled out a large part of the dent with a plunger but I'm struggling with the area around the handle, I need a small plunger or suction cup, I think I can get the handle back in if I managed to get rid of the major warping in the area. The cosmetic damage will annoy me not just for economical reasons but dont wan to pay some guy 300 for something he'd spend ten minutes doing and profiting fomr my igorance and or lack of the right tool for the job.

TheBoyConor

If you pop of the interior door card you might be able to get a length of timber in around the door handle area. With an assistant holding a decent block of wood against the outside of the door you can hit your length of timber a few belts of a hammer to pop out the worst of the dent. That should allow you to get the handle back in.

tcawley29

You could try the hairdryer and compressed air trick. Look it up on youtube

monkeyslayer

Cool yea might do, gonna buy a smaller plunger and try the bit around the handle with some boiling water etc too. If can get that bit flush the handle will sit back in. I can live with that for another few months.

monkeyslayer

Some plunging of my own and with a bit of help from the local garage, costing only a tenner ( I won't name them because its far from something to be proud of but dead sound of the guy nonetheless) I'll probably shop the scrap yards for new doors in time but happy enough for now considering I hardly use the car for anything other than the supermarket and the odd recreational jaunt.


Before




After

James Bond Junior

Well done, not perfect but a fine job nonetheless.