Bent Door post

Nice!!! I hope you got the name/number of the idiot!

Um, you COULD get a chain, and another car, and tug it out GENTLY! But considering what the damage is and where it is, take it to a frame shop. They are (almost) all laser with the correct parameters for the car programmable into the system. It will cost you $200-500 to do this, but it is really the best way to get everything straight.

The other method is to get your hands on a portapower and press it back into shape; the downfall of this is that you may end up pressing the OTHER (bracing) side of the car instead.

Good Luck!

I have to agree with Hachi, Gary - If you are looking to save money yet have good results when you are done, bite the bullet and take it to a local body shop with a full frame-pulling and tramming setup, where they'll get it all straightened out properly and quickly. And most important without doing any more damage - like you said, if you tweak the roof or floorpan you just multiplied your problems.

But when you ask for an estimate, make sure they know you'll take care of all the prep and paint work afterwards, and you only need them to pull it out straight and true (and fix the welds if needed).

If you don't get the pillars (and the hinge and latch mounting pads) back in exactly the right places, you'll play hell getting the doors hung straight and latching easily...

Body filler, shaving, sanding, priming and painting is the easy part

- it just takes a boatload of time to do it right, or a whole lot of experience to do it fast and right. For regular paint, even I can get a decent finish with proper techniques - but there are certain paints like Metallics, Pearls, Two-tones, Chroma change, etc. that you really need to be a professional 'shooter' to match properly. Ask the body shop if your car is one of them - you may end up doing all the body prep, primer, spot putty and sanding work, and taking it back to them to shoot the color coats.

(Long ago I did a quick and dirty paint patch job on my Corvair decklid which is a metallic acrylic lacquer, and it stands out if you look closely because the "grain" of the metal flakes doesn't match at all. But it kept the rust away, which is all I wanted.)

If you want the repair to be reasonably invisible, you have to paint and bake the doorjambs and door edges before you hang the doors again. And carry that over onto the interior panels if they were messed up, it'll slow the rust monster.

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No, but I know it must have been a pickup or something. Hit right between the front and back door, but didn't bend the lower frame or the top of the car. Just the doors and the post.

Here's what I've done so far. Took off both doors the front and back seat and the center console.

Put a 2x4 along the hump in the floor and a floor jack against that and a pipe into the bent part. I've got it bent to within 1/2" of where it really should be, but it appears twisted sligthly (Front in

So now I need to twist it somehow.

Yeah, that's probably next. But if I do it, I'll take both the doors off again and the seats out before taking it in for the estimate.

When you look at it from behind, it's concave about 1/2 inch in. And yes, the worst part was getting the front door working correctly (Seat belt only moves if the door is closed all the way). It works now, but I've got to slam the door.

Heh. Should have mentioned in advance: About a year ago, I bought another 89 Cressida that was FORD on the freeway and hauled to the salvage yard. Paid 200 bucks for it and stripped it _BARE_. I've already installed the new doors. Oh, btw, it's the same color too. :)

Gary L. Burnore wrote in news:d0vdhq$9jt$ snipped-for-privacy@valis.databasix.com:

One technique I've seen used successfully: Put the door back. Get a socket (or two) that fits between the post and the door so that the door can not be shut. Now push and bounce the door hard against the socket, which should flex the post more-or-less straight again, at least most of the way. You're using the door as a lever and the socket as a fulcrum, twisting the post straight again in the process.

This works well to correct the damage that's caused by allowing the wind to fling the door open. Whether it will work in your case, I do not know.

I'll try it with the old door when I get some time. Sounds like it just might work. The logic is quite sound.

Hook a chain around it to the bumper of a Tundra, stab the throttle till its squared up.

What a moronic idea. Of course, considering the source, I couldn't expect much better. (Besides, the Cressida is much better built than the new Tundra models so it'd likely just pull the bumper off.

Well, push the pile of s*it over a cliff then.

I'd rather sell it. You can still get a good amount for a Tundra, even with the bumper missing.