Sunday night someone tried to break into my 855T by crunching the front fender just ahead of the door. Maybe they were going to try and pry the hinges off.

Something must have scared them off since that's as far as they got. No damage to the door, mirror or wheel, but the area behind the "Volvo" side badge is caved in and the fender is creased badly. Can't drive it since the wheel rubs when steering.

So, I know I can find a good fender and liner at the U-pull-it yard but I'm asking for any experienced advice on removing the fender. What is the order of disassembly? Bumper cover? Turn signal? Are there any bolts in the now crunched area ahead of the door that need to come out?

I don't want to file a claim for the repair. My deductible is too high for a simple bolt-on job.

Once I have a replacement on the car I'll have a paint shop re-spray it. Unless that same colored 855 is still in the salvage yard.

We've had a rash of car break-ins around here lately. Low-life Christmas shopping.

Thanks,

Erwin

Sorry about the "Midnight Auto" visit.
Be sure to notify the cops. It sounds like some
Back yard body shop getting creative with parts sourcing.
There's a car near you in need of that fender, keep a lookout.

It's certainly too hard for the cops to tear themselves away from their
donuts to look at recent accident data with your style car and maybe find
the SOBs.

Bill

The fender is still on the car. I'm taking it off tonight to see what has to be sourced from the salvage yard. At the very least I'm looking for a fender and liner panel.

What I was hoping to find out is what I need to take off to gain access to the fender mounting bolts and where any hidden bolts might be.

There were two reports of other car break-ins in our neighborhood this week. In one, the entire dash was pried loose to try an get an in-dash nav system.

Thanks,

Erwin

As you probably found out by now, there is a bolt accessed by opening the front door. The inner fender is attached by pop rivits. The front bumper cover has a bracket to be removed. Remove the bolts at the top of the fender last.

When putting the replacement fender on, position it and loosely insert a top bolt towards the rear of the engine compartment. Then put the bolt through the door opening in, and do the front bumper bolts on before doing the top bolts.

Have fun with the pop rivits.

Klaus
--
Did you do your Random Act of Kindness today?

Thanks. I started doing it backwards from your directions by going for the easy top ones first. I'll backtrack. Sounds pretty easy actually but I'm surprised at how thin the fender actually is. Just a pretty skin while the unibody provides the strength I suppose.

If I'm lucky, the 850 of the same color at the salvage yard is still there and hasn't been crushed yet.

I have a pop rivet gun, rivets and even a bunch of the Volvo rivets for mudflaps. Sharp cutters work to get rivets out where drilling the head just spins them.

So far the damage looks superficial and confined to the fender and liner.

Erwin

Hi again Irwin,

I've never had a fender off, but think it is held on with many sheet metal and/or
machine bolts. If no one chimes in, I'll phone one of my local auto guru's to find out.

Bill

That's ok. It looks pretty easy. I've started and will finish Saturday.

Thanks,

ER

Got it off. No big deal. There are two bolts inside the door frame, on at the top, one near the bottom. Everything is 10mm.

The fender liner rivets can be drilled out with a sharp 1/8" bit. Remove whatever plastic nuts you find (2) holding the liner to studs on the unibody, and pull the liner and mudflap out.

Doing this at the U-pull-it yard will require a battery drill.

A couple of tight access bolts for the fender are at the bumper/fender overlap ahead of the front wheel, and the turn signal must be removed to access two bolts at the front. There is one hidden and it looks like it would be for grounding as I can't think of any other reason for it, is a flexible tab at the very front, also with a 10mm nut, accessible low and ahead of the battery.

Items removed:

Wheel, battery, front turn signal, fender liner, fender.

The turn signal spring retainer broke off so that's another part to find in the yard.

Cut-n-past in browser...

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/0803/eroman/HPIM1347.jpg

The hole circled in red is where the small tab from the fender bolts. Nut is in the engine compartment side.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/0803/eroman/HPIM1355a.jpg

Erwin in Memphis