joegreen

Hello, i got in a fender bender and i damaged just the hood. The front of the hood is pushed in between the headlights and it buckled up a little as well maybe 3 in. What is the best route to go to get this fixed. Absolutely nothing else was touched besides the hood. I have looked on craigslist for a parts car and have also been to one junkyard and no luck on a hood the same color. I still have another junkyard to go and check out. So should i get this hood fixed if thats even possible or should i buy an aftermarket hood and get it painted the same color as the car or should i try to find a used hood the same color as the car and just swap hoods. Cost is a factor and finding a used hood would be the cheapest route. How well would a used hood match if it is the same color code. Did the color differ a lot between paint batches.

PFB

I assume you're referring to your 2000 es300. Even if you do find the same color hood, becxause of fading after 14 years, the colors may not match perfectly.

Post a clear picture of the damage, and well be able to advise you more meaningfully.

speedkar9

If your hood is crumpled between the headlights there's a good chance the radiator cradle was pushed back a bit along with the hood latch. Your going to need to pull it out to make things line up again before thinking of a replacement hood.

joegreen

Yes it is for my 2000 es300. Nothing behind the front part of the hood is bent or damaged. Even at the back of the hood the body lines line up. What happened was i was sitting at a stop light and sort of hit the gas while bending down to pick something up. Totally my fault. So i more or less pushed my hood into the car in front of me. I will post up some pics.

Fritz330

Damn, don't ya hate when that happens.

joegreen

Here are the pics. Sorry it took a while.

joegreen

more pictures

speedkar9

Does your hood latch operate properly? I still think your rad cradle might be pushed in.

A body shop might be able to straighten the hood, since it has no major folds or creases.

joegreen

the hood does latch and unlatch properly. i know it looks like their might be damage behind it but the hood stopped bending before anything got touched. i looked very close at everything behind the hood from multiple angles and it looks perfect.

ES300NZ

looks to me like the latch is moved position an the hood is bending to allow for that. It might be that the hood was bent.

If the hood is bent I'd just use my hands to bend it back after dealing with the latch issue. but I'm a big guy, and I'd done this sorta thing before. It might help if two people held the hood about mid-way, and someone at the front moved the hood upwards against them. Be careful, it's easy to screw that up.