Long story short, my new-to-me 2010 MX5 got bonked in the right door at the family July 4 get together. Now I'm looking to get it repaired without bankrupting my niece's college savings fund. I stopped at the local dent repair place and had them look at it and because the skin creased a bit over the protection bar and the body line is pushed in for about a foot they suggested just buying a used door in the same color. By the time I get done shipping a blue door to Wisconsin I'm looking at $700.
I hit the Mazdamotorsports parts website and found what looks like a door skin - NE51-58-031B. parts.mazdausa.com says I can pick one up locally for $110. Then I'll need a body/paint guy to install and hopefully match Stormy Mica Blue on a 14 year old car. Does this idea sanity check?
I doubt you'll be able to get that done for less than $700 all-in with paint and labor.
Yeah, what Kieth said. Also of note is a replacement door is very unlikely to be perfect, so depending on what condition you demand the replacement door may need some touch up or even a full repaint (which of course could get expensive). Top quality (A) replacement doors only guarantees no dents. They generally seem to assume they will be repainted so scratches and chips are allowed.
ddavidv
UltimaDork
7/9/24 6:54 a.m.
You'll never get a good color match with painting a single panel. You may get lucky with a used door the same color. May. If it was painted the same day/year as the car you own. If the skin is in so far you can see the intrusion beam imprint, the beam may also be bent, which means it really should have a door replacement.
Rodan
UltraDork
7/9/24 8:07 a.m.
When I bought our NA, it had a dinner plate sized dent in the passenger door. I bought a straight door, and repainted it myself. The materials cost ~$300... in 2012. Adjust that for inflation, and add labor, and I'm pretty sure you'll spend at least $700 for a repair, probably more.
With the used door, you've got a decent shot at a match... I'd just make sure to get pics to show it's undamaged before pulling the trigger.
I've replaced 3 doors on 2 different miata and tried to knock one back into decent enough shape as a driver. Insurance payed for 2 of those instances and IIRC it was ~$1,200 check for one (thought for sure they'd total out). Luckily found them in the junkyard/part outs on Craigslist/marketplace for red & white NAs. An important thing to swap the locks so the key's work the same and then at least one I went into and swapped the mechanism to give me power windows. Make sure if you're getting one shipped from a junkyard or somewhere that it includes whatever you might need. Some of the carpart ones would only be door shell and not include glass/door cards/door handle/speakers/etc. with the quoted price online.
The silver NB I bought that way, put a new mirror on it and tapped the door with hammer enough to get it to open and close well enough and just lived with it.
Go to www.car-part.com and look for a door. You will sort by make, model, year and then look for color and condition. I got very lucky finding a white door for my old Toyota Tundra when I did something stupid and needed a new drivers door. I found one 2 hours away in the same paint code from a Sequoia which to my surprise was the same door with some extra trim taped on. After a bunch of wet sanding, buffing, buffing and more buffing, it went on and looked like the original door.
jwagner (Forum Supporter) said:
By the time I get done shipping a blue door to Wisconsin I'm looking at $700.
There should be plenty of Miatas at salvage yards in Wisconsin, so I don't think you'd have to get one shipped in. Plus, in the northern states Miatas tend to be stored during the winter so finding a rustfree example shouldn't be difficult.
I looked at the Milwaukee Craiglist and found this place advertising Miata parts: https://chicago.craigslist.org/wcl/ptd/d/joliet-auto-parts-mazda-miata-mx-used/7755643536.html They're in Joliet so not exactly next door, but close enough that you could drive there.
Doesn't look like we're going to do this on the cheap unless we get real lucky - thinking fbook marketplace or craigslist, etc. @lotusseven7 - I did check car-part.com and there are several doors three states away and shipment seems to run about $250-300. Maybe one will pop up locally.
Dammit, why didn't she just look at where she was backing the car??? There was a large blue object directly in the path of her car.
When we ran our salvage operation, we had stacks of doors. They don't tend to get damaged in a typical accident, and certainly not both sides. We almost couldn't give them away and ended up scrapping a bunch of them. They are a royal pain to ship.
If you are looking at shipping, no need to restrict yourself to nearby states. Check out SNS Miata Parts. South Carolina and very helpful. They may even have someone coming your way on a parts run.
Keep looking!
The door in OH is really cheap, needs a bit of cleanup. I'm not up for a 16 hour drive but maybe the guilty party involved might be. I'll keep looking at the used door option since finding one in the same color would be the cheapest route, especially if it's local enough to pick up.
The easy button is to take it to my local body shop that I've used for a couple decades. My buddy retired and closed his old shop, but I just found out that one of the employees bought it and I talked with him today. Wants $750 for a non-insurance job where he would straighten the door out and put a light skim over the body line after working most of it out, then painting both the fender and the door because that will guarantee a better color match.
