Help w/ repairing a dent...

[ScubaSteve]

Folks:

Some J@CK@$$ hit me (and ran) while parked out in front of my condo... that's what I get for calling in sick I guess.

ANYWAY, I have a decent sized dent now right above the fuel door. All the damage is pretty much confined to the metal - nothing else was affected. Any suggestions on repairing it myself? Gotta love the $500 deductible... :( I'm thinking that I can take the interior apart and tap it out. I'm leaning to believe that the dent should just pop out if I hit it from behind. Then I can just buff out the scratches...

As high as the impact is, I'm guessing he/she had a pickup w/ debris from hurricane isabel in the back and backed into me, hitting me with a tree limb or whatnot.

Anyhow, suggestions are GREATLY appreciated.

-Scuba "believes in karma" Steve;)

[Lightproof]

Have you checked with your insurance company? It may be covered under your comprehensive coverage, which generally has a lower deductable.

Too big for the Dent Wizard (or Dent Doctor), huh? Those guys do a pretty good job...

[Dallas4u]

I don't have much experience in auto body repair, other than listening to what adjusters say when walking around cars I have owned that needed repair work. Some dents are fixable through paintless dent removal. Some need to be drilled and pulled. I'm not sure anything would look good if pounded on from the other side... I could be wrong, but I don't see how you could get a smooth surface using anything to pound it out from the inside.

I would take it to a dent removal shop and see what they think.

[RobVX]

I agree with the other posts. My VX has been a hail magnet this year...got hit on 3 separate occasions. The paintless dent repair guys can work miracles, and they will be able to tell you if they can get it out or not. Good luck. Rob A.

[VehiX]

Buy the "as seen on TV" Ding King ;Dy;

[ScubaSteve]

for reasons i wont get into here, insurance isn't an option.. plus i have a $500 comprehensive deductible.

when i say hit it out from the inside, i'm not talking about a friggin' sledge hammer, i'm talking about the palm of my hand pushing it out. it looks like it'll just pop right back out into place - like its just flexing in. i dunno... i'll find out soon enough i guess.

hard to cruise around in my VX and look cool knowing the first thing everyone sees is that big @$$ dent in the back:(

[Raque Thomas]

Same thing happenned to me, but on the driver's side just above the tail light. Must have been a truck mirror or something. I'm going to try one of those paintless dent places.

[VXcaver]

If you can reach the spot the palm of the hand method might work fine, but you should consider the paintless dent removal services mentioned in some of the other posts. They repair stuff like you describe all day long.


I've used the Ding King, and it works like a champ. No drilling. Uses hot glue to affix a tab to the center of the dent, and a second screw handle tool to slowly pull the dent out. Ding King runs about 19.95 at the local Checker Auto, but requires a little practice to do it right on a larger dent.

[ScubaSteve]

hmm how do you get the glued tab off?

[VehiX]

You peel it off, they even provide an adhesive remover that is safe for you paint if I am not mistaken.

Key thing is to let it dry long enough (5-8 min.) before you start to pull the dent out. I have one but have not had the oppurtunity to use it yet. It was a Birthday gift from a cheap relative :rolleyes:

[SoilDoc]

ScubaSteve,

My door was kicked at my condo in Fairfax (a disgruntled waiter). There was a big dent that popped out but it was creased a little at the door handle. I called the dentless guy from the internet in the area and he came to my work, charged me $250, and within 15 minutes had the dent worked out. Many saw the remains at the Rockville meet about a year or so ago. I still see what's left over every time I look but others tell me it's not noticable (unless you know it's there).

I bought SCUDD's load warrior. Now I wish I had something to put in it!!

Sorry to hear about your misfortune. Did you ever get your VX inspected...where'd you get the tires?

[Dallas4u]

Originally posted by ScubaSteve
...when i say hit it out from the inside, i'm not talking about a friggin' sledge hammer...

Oh, sorry... when you said "Take the interior apart and tap it out" in your first post, I assumed you meant with a hammer, as tapping with your palm didn't even sound like an option.

No one here knows what your dent looks like, so that makes it even harder to tell you what we think you should do. I still say go to a paintless dent removal shop and at least have them tell you what you can do. They'll give you a quote as well.

[VXcaver]

Yep- the Dent King tool comes with a mild solvent to remove the glue. Once you affix the tab you let the glue cool thouroughly as mentioned above, then atach the screw tool and slowly turn the knob. It draws the tab out until the dent *pops* and the bond between the glue and the paint pops apart. Then you remove the glue, and it mostly peels off with your fingers.

I used this to remove a dent that was about 1/4 in deep and about the circumfrence of a baseball. I've since repainted my truck, but at the time the dent was nearly invisible. Ding King wont work on dents that are in creases or too close to the edge of body panels and seams, but it works wonders on small, uniform dents, golf ball strikes, and things like that.

[ScubaSteve]

Thanks Guys... i'll go to AutoZone this weekend...

Soildoc:

Passed inspection Thursday afternoon:) Ordered some "flexi flares" from JC Whitney and adhered em using trim tape. Lasted the inspection but one fell off afterwards... got lucky i guess. I think the inspector felt a little sorry for me:)

Oh and just for the record I ripped em off before I drove my VX outa the parking lot:rolleyes:

[johnnyapollo]

Flexi-flares! That's damn funny and good thinking! Kudos!

-- John

[ScubaSteve]

no what's REALLY funny was the mechanics' reactions to how i ORIGINALLY tried to "install" the flexi-flares.

keep in mind i wanted something very UNpermanent... so i went to lowes and bought 15 feet of industrial strength VELCRO:)

they called to tell me it passed on everything EXCEPT my velcro'd on flexi flares.... thats when I went to walmart to get the trim tape:)

hehehe hey i had to try!