Door skin replacement?

[spongerich]

I walked out to my E53 the other day and discovered a MASSIVE dent in the driver's door. It's right at the molding line and pushed in about 1-1/4". The dent is about 8" across. I haven't started getting estimates, but was thinking it might be cheaper to just source a new door skin from a dismantler. The car is black, so finding one in the right color shouldn't be too bad.

How big a job is this? Obviously the door needs to come off and all the interior parts (window, card, trim, switches, mirror) need to be swapped to the new skin.

Is this something that a reasonably competent home shop mechanic can do in a day?

Any major gotcha's that make this a bad idea?

TIA

[Roman D]

look in for sale section, there are 2 e53's being parted out, both metallic and flat black.

[spongerich]

Thanks Roman.

I'm trying to figure out how big a project I'd be taking on to get the door skin swapped. If it's something I can get done in a day or so then I'm probably game, rather than getting it repaired and eating my deductible.

[Joshdub]

It looks like the door hinge pins pull out. If that is the case, it would be a pretty straight forward swap. Replacing the door guts shouldn't be too terribly difficult.

[Roman D]

Agree to that, if you dont have to go with whole hinge but just a pin, the rest is just a routine.

[Chris F.]

Door skin and entire door are two different animals.

Replacing the skin keeps the door frame and you re-weld a skin on the outside. It is a lot of work. A lot of shops don't re-skin doors because the labor cost is just as much as a new door - it's that much work.

It is cheaper and more efficient to find a parted out X5 and grab a door from that, otherwise take it to a body shop and they can fill it and repaint it.

[Joshdub]

Originally Posted by Chris F.

Door skin and entire door are two different animals.

Replacing the skin keeps the door frame and you re-weld a skin on the outside. It is a lot of work. A lot of shops don't re-skin doors because the labor cost is just as much as a new door - it's that much work.

It is cheaper and more efficient to find a parted out X5 and grab a door from that, otherwise take it to a body shop and they can fill it and repaint it.

That is true. I believe OP was referring to the entire door assembly as the door skin.

[puddinboo]

the door skin is definitely just the metal on the outside of the door and is very easy to replace if your a body man which I was a few years ago. if not you might want to get the whole door and hopefully even get the right color so you don`t have to paint it.

[Roman D]

I thought that OP actuall meant to swap the door as well, surely, if you plan to just swap an outside sheet and keep the frame, it will have to be primed, painted, clearcoated.... Then, given the age of the paint on the car, it will be too obvious that door had been repainted. Most reasonable resolution - get a nice door in same color and swap.

[Ricky Bobby]

Have you not considered an estimate from a PDR guy? They do amazing work