Ok, so yes, I'm a typical female driver and I re-ended someone haha! Now I need help. Most of the repairs I can do myself..the headlight assembly's, the bumper, fender liners aren't all that hard to change. but what about the hood and the upper radiator tie bar? I just want to make sure that I'm not getting over my head and mess something up. The hood seems like it will come right off, but again I'm looking for advice. Should I do these myself or get a professional? I own a 04 Dodge Stratus R/T 3.0L V6 2DR coupe. I figured since it needs fixed I can finally but some aftermarket parts in it also! If anyone could help or has any suggestions that would be great! Thanks!

 

the first thing i think about is if you fix it will a insurance co insure it for comprehensive if you do the work. just be carefull jacking the car up, double check it to be stable. bigger cars mostly need two people to lift a hood, but a car your size i dont know. sounds like a good time to go to a flame paint job.
moe7404@gmail.com

 

most parts aren't hard to change ,the hood a pain it will come right off you'll need help removing and replacing because of size of it,you loosen all bolts take them all out except bottom one on both sides,make sure hood is supported by someone on each side as you take off last bolt don't want it falling into windshield.to install reverse procedure you will have to align hood so it closes properly b4 you tighten bolts all the way

 

Yes, Ive already talked to my insurance company about the whole thing. They are cutting my a check so that I can do that work myself. Also, I'm going to go to a hobby shop and use their lifts. I wouldn't trust a normal floor jack to be steady enough, or lets just say I'm not going to chance it. Flame paint job huh? I'm thinking about going to a carbon fiber hood but idk I'm in LOVE with my gun metal grey color. does anyone know anything about the upper radiator tie bar? It looks like all I have to do is take a couple blots off and but the new one on? I'll be sure to recruit some muscle when I plan on changing the hood. Thanks for you help

 

That's cool that you're going to fix this yourself. You said hobby shop, I assume you are in the military and have access to the hobby shop on base? They should have a ton of tools and a lift there for you to rent. Before taking things apart, it might help taking pictures before you remove things to see how it all went back together. It may help later.

As far as a lift vs jackstands, as long as you have good jack stands and place them on the frame, you should be good to go. Before crawling under, just push on the car a little bit to verify that it is stable. Just make sure the car is sitting on the jack stands and chock the other wheels (if not using 4 jack stands to lift the entire car up). Anything as simple as a brick would be fine.

I would follow BillS recommendation on the hood. It might be good to have someone help you with the rest of the parts especially when attaching the new parts to help line things up. Get things lined up with all the bolts back in before you tighten all the bolts down. (NOTE: take a set of zip lock bags to place bolts in for each item and mark the bag so you can keep everything sorted, it will take a lot less time to put it back together).

The upper radiator tie bar, I assume you're talking about the radiator support that runs across the front of the car that the radiator attaches too? It shouldn't be more then a few bolts, most on top and off to the side.

I would advise wearing a set of gloves, similar to mechanics gloves for any possible sharp edges. Biggest thing is take your time and do it right. Good luck and let us know how it turned out.

 

I'm not military myself but I have access through my dad. haha I've already taken pictures and I have bins labeled for parts. I will get help with the hood.Yes I am talking about the radiator support. When I got the vehicle inspected they said they do not think the radiator is damaged, but they "do not know" so I think I'm just going to get a second opinion and go from there. My brother and I got to talking and he mentioned a Duraflex hood vs. a Carbon Fiber hood. Does anyone have opinions on this?