[cwellman]

The short of the long....

Within 4 hours of purchasing our new 06 DC L Tundra the unthinkable happened......our first damage to our blue baby.......

As the wife is pulling the truck into the garage she suddenly stops and throws the car into park. She promptly gets out and tells me that I have to pull it in because she is scared. Keep in mind that we have a double garage but the length is just long enough and the height isn't exactly roomy when putting this beast in. I "man" up and jump in. She pulls the car out of the garage and proceeds to park it a little down the block. Being the brilliant man that I am I deciding not to wait for her to return and assist my maneuvering. Instead I make the worst decision of that day by pulling the truck in. Just as the wife makes it back around the corner we both hear the sound.....you know....the scraping sound........We had, and I am emphasizing had, an old swinging garage door. It has a bar that spans the base for support. That bar is supported by a dagger like v-shaped bracket that juts down about 2 inches from the inside (underside when opened). About 2/3 of the way back in the very center of the cab it happened......the death bracket as I like to call it touched down. It was about 1/4 of an inch low enough that it scraped to the metal from the contact point back about 18 inches...just shy of actually hitting the lighting housing for the cab brake light...to this day my stomach still gets ill every time I think about it......

You can not see the damage...it also did not dent or damage the cab in any way.....other then the 18 inch gouge..... ...so it is not nearly as bad as it could be......anyway.......now that the story is out the real question can be posed.....

I have already looked into having this fixed and everyone has told me that the entire cab will need to be repainted if I want to stand a chance of having the paint matched properly. (And that the gouge is too deep to repair regardless of the matching issue) The wife and I got everything we wanted on this truck with the exception of the DVD/Navigation/Bluetooth and the Power Sunroof/Moon roof. I am using this horrible incident as a means to get the Sunroof/Moon roof. I mean come on.....if the cab has to come off anyway.. ..so would it be easier to have the S/M cut out of and installed into this cab or should we look at just buying a cab with the s/m already installed by the factory....can we even buy it from the factory? What would something like this possibly cost? Any and all advice will be greatly appreciated!

 

[The Phoenix]

Complete cab repainted to get that small scratch/gouge fixed and color matched = True.

Installing an aftermarket sunroof isn't a bad idea. You can do it for sure, and I'd go with a Webasto. They make solid aftermarket roofs. I had one installed on my Tacoma before I got it from the dealer, and never leaked once, especially after going thru 3 winters here in the northeast!

Webasto Sunroofs

 

[miadlor]

Listen to me........I am the pickiest person when it comes to body work, I'm never satisfied.

I recommend the following:

• Do not paint the whole cab! The paint will most likely be off.
• Since it is on the roof and can't really be seen...... have it blended. They will fix the smallest area needed, base coat the color and then clear the whole top (just stopping at body lines)
• This will ensure the least damage since the majority of the color will be the original.

Just hope the body shop is good and they're able to match the texture of the paint.....again, it's the roof and won't be noticable.

 

[IForce Country]

I ripped the wing off the top of my suburban as well as the garage door from the house one day...I feel your pain..

 

[Dee Cab]

Grow up. It's a damn vehicle. It's not like you lost a child. Get the thing repainted and move on.

 

[tempetom]

I like miadlor's suggestion. Paints are a lot easier to match and blend in nowadays. I had the roof painted on my Acura and the painter said to paint all contiguous parts would cost a lot more than just the roof ($700). I told him to blend it as good as he could and he blended it at the post areas. When I got it back, I couldn't tell where it transitioned.

 

[VTer]

I wouldn't repaint the entire cab. Chances are, if the scratch fix wasn't going to blend with the rest of the cab, the newly-painted cab paint won't blend with the rest of the truck, either. Then you'll have an even BIGGER mismatch (and 20 bucks says they'll to offer to paint the whole truck, this time - for even MORE money).

When I lived in AK, my wife actually ran into my truck in the driveway and did a similar kind of scraping/gouging damage to the side. She actually did it TWICE - after I had had it fixed the first time (DOH!). It was also pretty deep, but in neither instance did the body shop tell me that the whole side had to be painted. And this was in Juneau, where getting ripped off on just about any service is the name of the game (because they know you can't drive somewhere else to have it done). Both times, they matched the paint perfectly by using Toyota paint, in that exact color.

If you have it painted and it still doesn't match to your satisfaction, you can always track the roof for some load bars and/or install a roof rack/cage over it. But heck, trucks are trucks: you may have gotten your "dent" sooner than most, but in time, they ALL get dented.

 

[DevinSixtySeven]

If you're ever considering a cap with a rack and carrying anything like ladders, kayaks, canoes, surfboards...think about a color-matched Line-X or Rhino coating on the roof, from the edge of the windshield surround to the rain gutter rubber, back to the rear window surround. A thin coat will do fine.

Not for everybody, tho. The sunroof is a better bet :tu:.

-Sean

 

[Buckeyefan]

It's a truck, and it's going to get scratched and dented. Call is character. You are lucky it's out of sight. Imagine if you would have gouged the side of the truck.

Put it into perspective. Tomorrow someone may nail you at a stop light, and that small 18" scratch won't mean anything, especially if you snap your neck.

Get some anti rust primer and hit it (tape off the paint) while you decide what you are doing. If a sunroof or sun/moon roof is reasonable (I'd say $800 - $1300 may be worth it), go that route. They are very handy to ventilate the cab in the summer if you leave your truck outside in the heat. They also cut down on fuel costs by allowing you to bypass the a/c on < 90 degree days.

 

[Diego]

I know how you feel Shortly after I bought my 05 AC 4x4 I had a deer run into the right rear box panel Mine wasn't damaged too bad but still needed some body filler plus paint and clearcoat. Since your truck is still new, I think they should be able to blend the paint pretty good. Plus it is on the roof so even if it wasn't 100% perfect nobody would notice. They repaired the damaged area on my truck "silver sky color" and blended the paint because the box panel is large and was just damaged at the very back end and I honestly can't tell the difference, looks like new again. If you did desire a sunroof this would be a good time to do it though. Good luck.

 

[HeartsOfWar]

If you have the money and most of the scratch can be removed by putting in a sunroof, I would go for that and just have the remaining scratch leveled off, buffed, and blended.

If you cannot afford the sunroof, just have the scratch leveled off, buffed, and blended.

 

[dsrtrcr01]

In order to do the job correctly they need to paint the whole cab which does not include the doors. The paint they are actually matching is the clear coat. They can match the paint but with different clear coats you will see a difference. I worked at a body shop and see many hack jobs now becasue I have a "Trained" eye to see body work and paint. Why not have the sunroof installed and then get it painted? They will feather the scratch out so there is no "Lip" where the paint is scratched.

Since it is on the roof you can do a spot blend and no one would know BUT that is not the "correct" way to do it and those that are picky and want things done right like myself would not do it this way. I know of a good body shop with an Excellent painter in Escondido if you need a reference I worked there and the painter painted my front Chrome strip and my Jet ski. both are in my gallery.

OR just put in a rag top. I had one in my 1961 VW Bug and LOVED it. I belive I was quoteed $3000 installed and painted with 1 button operation and a warranty.

Like this one
1994 Toyota Pickup Truck - Featured Vehicle Review - Mini Truckin' Magazine

 

[cupidstoy]

ha! liking the convertible idea!! that would be pretty unique....

something for the sunroof idea. i believe these are mostly port installed options. meaning, they are farmed out be toyota in each region and not installed by the "factory" much like leather seats, etc....

so, you are basically looking at an aftermarket part anyway, which is to say, it is made to toyota specs but not by toyota. most of the major systems on a vehicle are done like that these days, anyway.

so, if you want a sunroof, do your homework and pick a well rated one and have a good shop install it. i wouldn't think the dealership could offer you much more in the way of quality. the only advantage is it would be covered by warranty but you'll pay through the nose in labor and parts markup, so that's a judgement call.

as far as painting the boo-boo, ask your local dealership about that. in our town, the dealer doesn't do the work directly, but pointed me to a shop next door where all their warranty painting work is done. not cheap, but at least you know they have the right paint and skills to do a decent job (warranty quality) on the toyota brand.

good luck!

 

[dsrtrcr01]

as far as painting the boo-boo, ask your local dealership about that. in our town, the dealer doesn't do the work directly, but pointed me to a shop next door where all their warranty painting work is done. not cheap, but at least you know they have the right paint and skills to do a decent job (warranty quality) on the toyota brand.

good luck!

Just more info. The worst repair job I have ever had done was done by a Toyota Body shop. They cut corners and the paint did not match very well at all. All the plastic parts were scratched up and missing clips. So do your Homework

 

[adamjt]

ugghhh...sorry to hear that. I had a similar occurence with my 93 camry SE and swinging garage doors back in college. I used to pull it out of the garage with the drivers side door slightly open (an inch or two), because I had to get out to shut the swinging doors. Well one day the door somehow closed just enough at just the right time so the hinge somehow caught the edge of the door and bent the door a few inches up, completely dented in the fdoor rame at least an inch and twisted the crap out of the hinges. I hung on it to bend it down enough so that I could drive it.
Went to a used car dealer to test drive a camry the next day and had to jump out the sunroof because the only working door lock that accepted the key was on the drivers side door which no longer worked. I asked the sales guy how much for a trade and he didn't see the door yet, he said $300 and didn't wanna work with the newer camry so I walked away....the look on his face as I climbed up the car and jumped in the sunroof was priceless.
Went to a junkyard the next day and found a matching door and fixed it up.