A quarter panel (

British English British English (BrE, en-GB, or BE) is, according to Lexico, Oxford Dictionaries, "English language, English as used in Great Britain, as distinct from that used elsewhere". More narrowly, it can refer specifically to the English language in ...

: rear wing) is the body panel (exterior surface) of an

automobile A car or automobile is a motor vehicle with wheels. Most definitions of ''cars'' say that they run primarily on roads, seat one to eight people, have four wheels, and mainly transport people instead of goods. The year 1886 is regarded ...

between a rear

door A door is a hinged or otherwise movable barrier that allows ingress (entry) into and egress (exit) from an enclosure. The created opening in the wall is a ''doorway'' or ''portal''. A door's essential and primary purpose is to provide security b ...

(or only door on each side for two-door models) and the trunk (boot) and typically wraps around the wheel well. The similar front section between the door and the hood (bonnet) is called a fender (front wing), and may sometimes also be referred to as a quarter panel. Quarter panels are typically made of sheet metal, but are sometimes made of

fiberglass Fiberglass (American English) or fibreglass (Commonwealth English) is a common type of fiber-reinforced plastic using glass fiber. The fibers may be randomly arranged, flattened into a sheet called a chopped strand mat, or woven into glass cl ...

carbon fiber Carbon fiber-reinforced polymers (American English), carbon-fibre-reinforced polymers (Commonwealth English), carbon-fiber-reinforced plastics, carbon-fiber reinforced-thermoplastic (CFRP, CRP, CFRTP), also known as carbon fiber, carbon compo ...

, or fiber-reinforced plastic. A quarter panel is typically a welded-on component of the

unibody A vehicle frame, also historically known as its ''chassis'', is the main supporting structure of a motor vehicle to which all other components are attached, comparable to the skeleton of an organism. Until the 1930s, virtually every car had ...

structure. Replacement of a sheet metal quarter panel typically requires it to be cut off the vehicle and a replacement part to be welded (or sometimes bonded) to the vehicle. Due to the high amount of specialized labor, a quarter panel may often be repaired rather than replaced by hammering the damaged area to a relatively flat surface and then applying a body filler to smooth out the damaged area to match the original surface. The panel is then usually painted and often clear coated.

References

Automotive body parts {{Automotive-part-stub

See also

References