JC Whitney Body Panels

[bga]

I've heard the tales of aftermarket body panels not lining up, and body lines not matching, but has anyone had any experience with JC Whitney's stuff?

A full fender for $60.00, a door for $99.00, and grill for $30.00 seems to good to be true, but at the same time it's hard to pass up.

 

[dodgedude99]

i have been around the autobody trade all my life (my dad has been doing it 30+ yrs, my uncle has been doing it for 25+ yrs and had a shop i use to work in during the summers).
the sheetmetal is a thinner gauge, not as rust resistant, doesnt line up, or isnt the correct shape.

i unfortunetly had to use 2 aftermarket fenders on my K5 (even at dealer cost 2 new fenders were going to set me back about $700, and doors were $425 each).
it took the 3 of us a better part of a saturday to get the fenders to line up, and not including me, thats 50 years combined experience doing it.

i lucked out on the doors and found some donors that were in good shape.

for repair panels like floors and rockers i would say ok, but anything else look for GM.

dont just take my word for it, ask a few body shops about how much they like working with Jap tin.

 

[devilsquid]

I've only bought 2 things from them, a new tailpan and a new outer rocker. The tailpan was exactly right and the rocker needed some effort to get it to work right, but it was easier than just fabricating something on my own.

 

[jarheadk5]

I got my front inner fenders fron JCW a couple years ago. They went on OK. Seemed a bit thin, but they're just inners. I primed them real good, then sprayed the wheelwell portion with an entire can of Mar-Hyde rubberized undercoating. The truck is currently rusting around them now...

 

[TrcksR4ME]

I have some cheapo fenders on my truck now, it took a day to get them on and some of the bolt holes were off, but all in all it wasn't a big deal. I think of the thinner metal as "weight reduction" /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif

I got some other parts from JC Whitney like headlight bezels and tailights. Bezels are cheap plastic, but look ok (more weight reduction haha). Tail lights work great and look good too /forums/images/graemlins/thumb.gif