2001 RS hood replacement?

[Tslak]

Hey all, I just dropped the down payment last night on a 2001 RS with 93,000 on it from a dealership, only problem is the hood is a bit banged up and the grill has a crack in the top. It doesn't look too horrible, but of course it will need to be fixed in the relatively near future.

The front lip of the hood is creased down and theres a slightly bigger dent on the passenger side, I thought you folks might know where I could get a price check on a replacement hood and grill. I assume any Subaru dealer would be able to order the part for me, and pretty much any body shop would be able to get the BRP paint?

Edit: Also, if anyone has a link to a good method for touch up painting I'd love to see that, there are a few scratches and a bit of rust on the rear quarter that I'd like to take care of sooner rather than later.

[krzemienr]

look on the classifieds for hood and grill, a dealer will over charge you on both, you can look at getting an aluminum hood or even CF for a little weight savings. you also try junkyards. As for touch up:
-wash the car or at least area being touched up and let fully dry
-use a degreaser on the effected are to remove any wax buildups
-if it's just a couple scratches then use a hole puncher and punch a couple holes on some 1000 grid paper and place those little pieces on the back of a pencil eraser and clean up the are of the scratch making sure all loose paint is off (if you got rust make sure all rust if off and sand down to the bare metal)
-if you got rust use a rust inhibitor
-then use a toothpick and dip it into a primer and allow the small drop of primer to fall naturally onto the body of the car (put a couple coats on with about 30-45 min in between)
-i like to wait about 24 hours for the primer to fully dry/cure
-then use the same toothpick method to put the paint on in a few layers and clear coat as well.
-if you did this right there should be a little mound/bump where you just painted (not very notable, but there).
-wait 24 hours for paint to cure
-get some 2000 and 3000 grid wet sand paper, soak it over night
-sand lightly the area where you painted, then simply buff out the scratches and wait a while before you wash the car again (i like to wait a month) for the paint to fully cure

[Tslak]

wet sanding! Of course...why didn't I think of that when I was touching up my Buick? I had obnoxious little brush marks from using the tiny brush that came in the tube of paint, and that was pretty much exactly what I wanted to avoid on the Subaru.

Got any specific product recommendations for the degreaser, rust inhibitor, primer and paint? Would the dealer be the best place to get the right color-code paint, or would I get overcharged on that too?

[stoke]

Originally Posted by Tslak

Would the dealer be the best place to get the right color-code paint, or would I get overcharged on that too?

Touch-up paint is pretty cheap, and the dealer will be able to get the exact shade.

[iskitlez]

i have a hood for sale =) 2 of them

[Tslak]

You're in Jersey?

Seems like it would be an expensive item to ship halfway across the country...lol

[TimHansonE36]

Originally Posted by Tslak

You're in Jersey?

Seems like it would be an expensive item to ship halfway across the country...lol

and it says no shipping

[Tslak]

I didn't even look at the ad itself...lol

It'll be a while before I can afford to do any serious body work, but I'm definitely going to avoid the carbon fiber. No offense to anyone, but I've always hated the way cars looked with hodgepodge carbon fiber parts. I'd prefer to replace it with an OEM hood.

[drumbee23]

u will pay out the ass for a hood at a stealership....i would try subarugenuineparts.com for a close price...they tend to be alil cheaper then actually goin to the stealership

[Tslak]

the site told me it would be $225, which doesn't seem that awful for genuine, brand new OEM body parts...I'll have a while to mull it over before I can afford to replace the hood.