Broken wheel arch moulding

[burfadel]

I just got back from holidays, and on my trip I came across a bird in the middle of the road. I was thinking it's going to fly off... it's going to fly off... it didn't fly off! I ended up running over what I believe was a Common Bronze Wing Pigeon (a native bird). At 110 kph I wasn't going to swerve for it, nor slam on my brakes as there were cars behind me. Anyways, I heard this very loud noise, much louder than I thought a pigeon hitting the front of the car or underneath should sound.

I pulled over, and saw the damage the bird did. The wheel arch moulding on the left side, at the front, from the bottom up now has a huge 'n' shaped hole in it at the front, and it is broken down the bottom. I'll attach a picture tomorrow. Basically, it's a Common Bronze Wing Pigeon size hole (much bigger than a feral pigeon) and I can see inside the front of the bottom of the engine bay!

What I believe happened is I ran over the bird, it got (or started to fly) up into the top of the wheel arch, and the tyre spinning at 110 kph launched it forward and down and created the hole. Before you ask, yes I did get part of what was remaining of the bird out from where it entered in the hole, it backs up what I think happened.

The question now is, how the hell do I fix it?! The problem is the force of it also damaged the plastic bits it attaches to, just enough that replacing one part would still require glue and patience. The plastic is fairly thick really, it must have been an incredible amount of force to break it cleanly like it did.

[CJsportback]

It's hard to say without a picture. I think once you've uploaded the photo we'd be able to provide more insight as to how to fix it. You may be able to get away with a new moulding and some clips, you may not need to buy anything. There's really not much we can say without seeing for ourselves

[lancerdarryl]

Well,that sucks. Did the same sort of thing near Broken Hill a while back. Interested to see a few pictures of the damage.

[Mystique]

Ouch!

[Dannn]

I have nothing to input on the topic but Daryl, i may be wrong here but damn that looks funny.

[lancerdarryl]

I have nothing to input on the topic but Daryl, i may be wrong here but damn that looks funny.

It was the unlucky one out of a flock.Had to pull the inner guard off to get him out of the oil cooler.

[Dannn]

I have nothing to input on the topic but Daryl, i may be wrong here but damn that looks funny.

It was the unlucky one out of a flock.Had to pull the inner guard off to get him out of the oil cooler.

With that picture in mind and looking at your forum sig, my question is, did you back off? Haha

[burfadel]

Okay, here's the damage. As you can imagine it made quite a noise when it got projected forward through the arch.



Sorry about the angle, it was the best I could do given the angle and using a phone.

[lancerdarryl]

Wow that did some damage! Be worth a trip to the wreckers to try and find what you need.New parts would probably be expensive but I'd still check on the OEM price...you never know.

[burfadel]

I looked on the Upullit website at the stocklist, there aren't any actual CJ Lancers in Adelaide at their locations. There are CJ Lancers listed, but they are all before 2007 (so not CJ Lancers).

I would imagine the OEM parts would be expensive, plus I won't know if there are any other issues until it is replaced. The other thing is how would I describe the part? It would probably have to be ordered in from overseas considering there is probably zero demand for it.

Who knew a stupid pigeon (Common bronzewing - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common_bronzewing) could do damage like that?! I think it must have just been a one in a thousand (if not more) shot. Typically you would expect such a bird to take off and not just stand in the middl e of the road looking around!

[lancerdarryl]

It's called a "wheel arch cover" from memory.If you describe it to the parts person I'm sure they will be able to identify it.

[lancerdarryl]

Also have a look at the autObarn website they have them listed in their body panels and crash parts section.Sorry I couldn't get it give me a link.There was no price listed either

[Lancer1993]

Sorry to see the damage, the worst I got on a trip last year was a few pot holes and 6000km of bugs coasting the front of the CJ.

You still did the right things, so many have tried swerving only to end in a ditch or worse causing way more damage. I did come close to hitting a small Kangaroo that decided to jump out in front of me in rural NSW, lucky just slowing was enough to avoid it.

[sarusa]

Hard to believe a bird that size could do so much damage. Perhaps what could have happened, bird caused initial damage causing the panel to come into contact with the rotating tyre and from there varoom!!!!

[burfadel]

That's a possibility! Although it would have happened within a fraction of the time that it hit. I don't see how it could have come from the front, so I still think it hit from the tyre launching it into the panel. What may have happened is the bird punched the flap one way near the top part, which the impact also broke the clips attaching it, the wind flowing through the grill pushed it forward onto the tyre and the tyre pulled it down and ripped off the section? With the huge hole there it didn't push the panel again, probably enough room for the air to flow through. Actually technically it probably has improved the drag coefficient at highway speeds on the left side!