bent fender bracket help

[nda0602v6]

All this talk about wax lately put me in the mood to wax my car today. So while laying down to wax the sides of the rocker panels I noticed the front fender was very slightly sticking out past the door. I started freaking out thinking the car had been wrecked once but when I looked under the car, I think I spotted the problem. Where the front fender wraps way under the car and attaches to a metal plate with two bolts.. its bent. :eek: (see picture) My guess is the dealership or wherever placed a lift there and bent the he#@ out of them. Anyone else's camaro/firebird like this? Just doesn't seem like a good place to try and lift the front end.

Anyone got any ideas of how I can straighten out that metal plate without damaging it anymore than what it is?

[cam84bk]

You might be able to take two pieces of thick wood or thin pieces of long metal, take a pair of vice grips with a piece of wood or what ever on each side of your fender and move it to were you want it.

[nda0602v6]

Thanks I'll give it a try and see what happens. Hopefully the metal is thin enough for me to bend.

[CAMAROWIDBASS]

mine is like that. It will just bend again everytime you jack up the car.

[C.O.Jones]

Both sides on mine are bent like that. The passenger side is actually broken!!! :mad:

The fender doesn't stick out much, but I notice the flex in it when I wax the car.

[cam84bk]

sure thing.
My 84 camaro fenders are attached the same way so I try to jack the car up on the A arm.

[RdBrd83]

I think it's a big problem for pretty much everybody that has had there car worked on somewhere. Where I used to work, the shop would use that spot to lift it from, until I pointed out what it was doing to the car. Basically what I did to mine, was unbolt the 2 bolts holding the fender to that piece, this will allow you to pull the fender slightly out of the way to get some vise grips back there and bend it straight. Then use touch up paint to fix the paint that was scraped off from the vise grips, and bolt the fender back up.

[nda0602v6]

I will be sure to explain to any technician who ever works on my car in the future not to put the lift there.

I could've swore my old 94 bird had some sort plastic pad under there as a lifting point; I can't remember. I don't see anything like that on my 02. There's gotta be a better way to lift the front of the car without using that fender bracket. lol

[Loochy88]

My car was like this when i got it as well. If i recall correctly there is lettering on the car right there telling you speficicly not to jack the car on that plastic area. If you do you will bend the panel out. This posed a problem for me when i was getting my gfx installed, but it was easily bent back into shape. Just be careful not to crack any paint.

[CAMAROWIDBASS]

Originally posted by Loochy88:
My car was like this when i got it as well. If i recall correctly there is lettering on the car right there telling you speficicly not to jack the car on that plastic area. If you do you will bend the panel out. This posed a problem for me when i was getting my gfx installed, but it was easily bent back into shape. Just be careful not to crack any paint.

Actually the words DONT JACK HERE referes to the area in front of the letters. The black honey comp looking peice is where your suppose to jack up the car from.

[nda0602v6]

Yeah that's what I thought my 94 had (the black honey comb plastic). They aren't on my 02, nothing under there but sheet metal. Maybe they fell off?

[ April 14, 2004, 01:43 AM: Message edited by: Loochy88 ]

[Loochy88]

actually, if you check the manual it tells you the correct place to jack the car is where the notches are on this metal lip right here. There is an area where they recess in slightly-the jack goes there. I always thought that jacking on the honeycomb plastic would lead to the panel bending.... or other bad things

[nda0602v6]

Thanks for the photo Loochy88. Looks like that pinch weld you're pointing to is doubled up in thickness so i'm sure it won't bend. I'll look at it tomorrow.

[Tobes]

This is exactly what is wrong with my car. Now I know whats up with it. I was freaking out cause my drivers side fender is slightly sticking out just past the mirror... When I have the time i'm gonna have my dealership bend it back. interesting that this is not an unusual problem

[Loochy88]

Originally posted by Tobes:
interesting that this is not an unusual problem

nope, quite common actually.