700 miles... Already a bruise...

Well just goes to show I can’t ever have nice things for long.

Last night in the dark my dad and I were loading a saw into the bed, naturally a cord got stuck in the tailgate and popped the tailgate off.

my wife things I should just take it into a body shop but I hate the thought of putting another $1000 into the truck right after I bought it.

Already took a piece of wood and a rubber mallet to bend it back but I notice the figment is somewhat off.

thoughts?

Truck is an MGM 19 Platinum with 700 miles...

 

Just get it repaired. I doubt it's $1000 to fix. I have a little place that I need to have spotted in on my rear fender that was there when I bought it. It's hardly noticeable but it's still on the to do list down the road.

 

That sucks man, but I don’t see much scratching if any, maybe you could take it to a PDR guy and they could body work it a little better for you. Least you got the first one out-of-the-way.

 

First picture has the scratch.

I’m debating on just buying some matching paint color off Amazon for $10 for that small amount.

top of the tailgate looks acceptable to me after I banged on it a bit but now I’m trying to figure out what to do about the fitment of the tailgate.

 

Ryan, agreed that it shouldn’t be that much, but still sucks handing over a few hundred $$$ on a new truck, buddy. Personally, I think the decision to repair is based on your usage and preference. Some guys run their trucks for the purpose of a truck (hauling, trailing, mudding, etc) in which case, to hell with the little scratch. Others baby the heck out of their Toy.

I don’t think it’s that noticeable from the photos, so you should be okay running it for a while. Maybe run it for a few months and see if it remains an eye sore. I suspect you may even forget that it’s there.

Good luck, brother!

 

Insurance fraud is always a good time.

 

Ditto ^^^^ post #6.. Sucks getting that first scratch or worse. Doesn't look too bad. If it bothers you then get it fixed. If you intend on using it to haul a lot of things like a work truck......let it be.

 

Yea sure, go ahead and commit insurance fraud.

 

I’m going to let it ride for now to see if there’s any issue.

 

Honestly, I would repair it as best I could without causing more damage. I could always have it fixed later. It also repels more dings and dents as every time I had something like that fixed, I almost immediately got another.
I currently have an almost unnoticeable ding in the right front fender from fixing a rock peck in the windshield.

 

Well to your point I’m going to leave it alone and my wife is going to take it to a paint less dent repair person I used in the past on another vehicle.

Looking back, I may have caused the fitment issue of the tailgate flush against the taillight and the bed by hanging on the top of the tailgate to get the one piece flush....

 

just to be clear I will not be calling insurance over this...

I just picked up some touch up paint for $10 and I’ll see if a paintless dent repair person can straighten out the tailgate to look new...

also now I’m hoping they can fix the tailgate...

 

i say fix it the best you can then keep driving it. it will get more dings and scratches. I do use the touch up paint bottle from toyota I got on Amazon. good enough imo.

 

Here’s what I got. Some so so reviews but it appears I need to shake the hell out of it to match the color.

 

yep that's the one I have. You can also get the clear coat one.

 

Sorry about that

 

Actually OP can buy a nice lite 5th wheel camper and not even need his tailgate......problem solved......

 

One of those things that pretty much no one will notice, except you... which is annoying. I have a few things like that on my truck that I decided not to fix yet.

 

Thanks guys.

as put by my wife, I’m throwing a temper tantrum over using the truck like it should have been used; it was only a matter of time before something happened.

that said we’ll see what touch up paint and PDR can offer but no one will ever notice the alignment issue but me.

 

Your wife is wise!!!

 

Let my wife drive it a few months and you won't even notice that anymore. That's why she doesn't unless I'm in the truck.

 

I get where you are coming from. I have two almost unnoticeable dents in my truck. They drive me batshit crazy when I look at them.

I'm more on the "baby the truck" spectrum personally. I like my things sorted out.

 

Wife put a big scratch on my tailgate. Gave me a reason to put a big American flag to cover the damage. ( can still tell, but its a truck and couldn't see spending a few hundred to fix a scratch. Used touch up paint, little sanding and some clear coat. Good enough. To many other war wounds to treat it like a garage queen.

 

So update...

brought it to a PDR guy and he says unfortunately he can’t bend it back since the outside sheet metal is fine but he things the entire tailgate has shifted ever so slightly out of line.

his recommendation is to sell this gate used and get a new one...

 

Eh. I know where you are coming from with a new car and everything, same happened to my BMW. How far down the rabbit hole are you willing to go before you decide it's not worth the money anymore? The first ding always hurts and I don't know about you, but I know I will always get more dings due to the nature of where I live and park so I just decided to live with scratches and dings. Then one day someone decided to crash into my rear bumper so I got a new one courtesy of their insurance but few weeks later, new scratches showed up. Whatever, not worth my money anymore. However, there are people who want their ride to look perfect and such so you have to decide if it's worth it to fix right now.