Blog · Collision
Bedside and Quarter Panel Repair on Pickup Trucks
Why a pickup bedside is one of the harder panels to repair, when it is fixed versus replaced, and how paint gets matched on a truck that lives outside.
The bedside on a pickup is one big panel, from the cab to the tailgate, with the wheel arch running through the middle of it. It is also the panel most likely to get hit: backed into a post, clipped at a gate, creased by a trailer, dented from the inside by a load that shifted. Here is why it is a harder repair than a door, when it gets replaced instead, and what the paint side involves.
Why a bedside is different
A door is a bolt-on panel with a skin you can replace or a shell you can swap. A bedside is welded to the bed floor, the front bed panel and the tailgate opening. Replacing it means cutting the old one off and welding a new one on, which is a bigger job than it sounds and has to be done right or the bed will never be square.
So the first question on any bedside is whether it can be repaired. Usually the answer depends on where the damage is.
Damage in the flat
A dent or crease in the flat area of the bedside, above or behind the wheel arch, is a repair. The metal gets worked back, filled where needed, primed and refinished. If the paint is intact and the dent is shallow, it may even come out paintless. This is the easy case.
Damage on the wheel arch
The wheel arch is a body line, and body lines are where metal gets stretched when it is hit. A crease across the arch is hard to work back to the original profile, and a repair that leaves the arch slightly out of shape shows every time the light hits it. Depending on how bad it is, an arch crease is either a long repair or a replacement.
Damage at the edges
The top rail of the bed, the tailgate opening, and the corner where the bedside meets the front bed panel are all structural edges. Damage there often means the bed itself has shifted, which shows up as a tailgate that will not close square or a bed cap that no longer fits. That is a replacement conversation.
Repair or replace
We look at the damage, and we look at the truck. A truck that is staying in a fleet for five years and lives on a lease road may get a solid repair that will never be pretty from three feet but is straight and sealed. A truck that is coming off lease or going to be sold gets whatever makes the repair disappear. We will tell you which we recommend and why, and the estimate is free.
On a replacement, the new bedside gets welded in, seam-sealed, primed and refinished. On insurance jobs, the adjuster's estimate will often start as a repair and become a replacement after teardown, and that goes through the normal supplement process.
The paint
Whichever way it goes, the panel gets refinished, and a bedside is one of the longest continuous panels on the vehicle, which means the color has to be right. On a white fleet truck that has been outside for years, the white on the truck is not the white on the paint code anymore. We spray the formula on a test card and hold it against the cab and the tailgate before anything goes on the truck, adjust until it matches, then blend into the cab corner and the tailgate so there is no edge. Here is how the matching works.
Bed liners and accessories
A spray-in bed liner that runs over the top rail complicates a bedside replacement, because the liner has to be cut and redone at the seam. A drop-in liner comes out. Bed covers, toolboxes, headache racks and fifth-wheel rails all come off for the repair and go back on after. Tell us what the truck has at the estimate so it is on the sheet.
Fleet trucks
Bedside damage is one of the most common things a work truck comes back with, and it is the kind of repair that turns into a maintenance stop at the same time. Tell us what the unit is due for and we will handle it while the bed is apart, so the truck goes down once.
Damage from the inside
A load that shifts and pushes the bedside out from the inside is a different shape of dent, broad and low, and it often does not break the paint. Those can be good candidates for paintless work if the liner is not in the way. Send a photo and we will say.
FAQ
Can a bedside be repaired without repainting the whole side?
If the paint is intact and the dent comes out paintless, yes. If it needs filler or the paint is broken, the panel gets refinished, though the blend can sometimes be kept to part of the panel depending on where the damage is.
How long does a bedside replacement take?
Longer than a door. Cutting, welding, sealing, priming and painting a long panel is several days once the part is here. We give you a date after teardown.
Do you match the bed liner?
A spray-in liner that has to be cut at the rail is redone at the seam. Tell us what liner it is.
Can I get an estimate from photos?
Yes. Text the whole side of the truck, the damage close up in daylight, and the VIN to (432) 220-3243, or drive in to 7033 W 24th St.