Ok before I get this thread started this isn't about my Mustang!! I figured this would be the most relevant section to get good answers from though!

So here's the story... I used to be a back seat driver with my girlfriend and I learned my lesson about doing that. It's a no-no. So I shut my mouth up after (almost) 2 years. This morning I wake up and there's a thin layer of snow on the ground, she picked me up in her Mini-Van to go to school. We're driving out of our neighborhood and we come to a T intersection. She turns left and of course we dont turn... we slide Straight. We were sliding right towards a Telephone pole and I grabbed the steering wheel (I'm in the passenger seat) and yanked it to the right where a guy's driveway was... we slid perfectly into his driveway. No harm done, no problems, nothing. So she put the car in reverse and starts driving. We come to yet ANOTHER T intersection and the SAME thing happened. This time there was no where to go and we ended up on a "cement island" that houses 3 signs... She ran over a sign and it didn't do any visible damage surprisingly enough... So I get in the passenger seat and drive off the sign. I then tried opening the drivers side door and it gets stuck because the fender is bent in a bit. ALSO her front bumper now rubs on her front left tire when you turn right, turning left is still fine.

Anyone know of some DIY fixes for these two things? It doesn't have to be quality or anything I just want her door to be able to open properly and we need to fix her tire so it quits rubbing... HELP?!?!

 

screwdriver/prybar and a rather large hammer lol

 

I tried that but it wont budge... I'm thinking we might have to pop the fender off and hammer it; but I have NO idea how to take one off.

 

To get a fender off, usually there are 4 bolts along the inside edge under the hood, mayber one or two behind the bumper cover, and two inside the door, just take them off and you should be able to get it. Of course, you may have to drop the one side of the bumper, take out the headlamp, and maybe take off the cowl grille. just depends on the make and model of the van. Also, to try to work the fender off the door, I have two dollys that are shaped almost like a spatula that work great on those types of incidents. Though the best bet is to just take the fender off and see if you can't do a DIY repair.

Oh, and take your wife's keys away...permanently. lol

 

Driver mod







And you can try pulling it off and checking the mounts. That and the factory usually gives a bit of room to move it around whilst bolted on for these kinds of things exactly

 

Do you think it would be easier to take the fender off or the door off?? I'm sure if I took the door off I could do the fix that way too.

 

I had a friend come look at it and it looks like I'm just gonna pop the fender off and take a hammer to it... as far as the tire rubbing goes I'm going to try hooking the front bumper up to a rope/chain and tying it to a tree and put the car in reverse to pull it out an inch so it wont rub on the tire.

 

A "quick fix" for the tire rubbing is to stick something like a baseball bat between the tire and the fender. WEAR HEAVY GLOVES while doing this!!!!! ==>

Hold the bat while someone else SLOWLY drives the car forward or reverse. Let the bat roll with the tire around the wheelwell, and that should buy you your wheel clearance.

DON'T BLAME ME IF THIS CAUSES MORE PROBLEMS!!