DarkSouljur

Okay, so ... i have no idea when it happened but i didn't notice it till saturday night. But i'm pretty pissed off. I went to go pickup my friend from work and on our way walking to the car i noticed a dent on the door, dunno how it got there or how long it's been there for. But obviously i'm pissed off.

Also there's another ding on top of the driver's side wheel well.

I have no idea how either of them got there but i'm guessing that they're bother hit and runs ... and if they were both hit and runs they would have both been done in a 2 or 3 day span. And i haven't even been driving the car for a month, so you can imagine how upset i am.

Now i don't have money to buy a new door ... and i don't want to go through all the trouble... so simply, is there any way for me to fix the dents without replacing the part? Thanks.

sdaidoji

iTrader: (1)

there were some guys here using the pull method.
Lollygagger?
welcome to the club - they usually happen in grocery stores...
I named most of the dents in me car already...

DarkSouljur

Yeah i was just checking out his https://www.civicforums.com/forums/1...-progress.html thread. I've seen it before, i believe i commented on it somewhere.

Anyways, bondo was also suggested to me by a friend.

I've never done anything like this before so what's the degree of difficulty i'll most likely be facing? Any idea?

If lollygagger could reply here it would be very helpful

sdaidoji

iTrader: (1)

oh, yeah, i was searching for it.
PM lollygagger - he would not mind replying

DarkSouljur

PM sent, but any other suggestions from people are still welcome

Thanks sdaidoji

Kennykid2002

iTrader: (1)

depends on extent of the damage, I couldn't tell you what to do without seeing pictures

DarkSouljur

I'll take a couple when i'm out, they'll be cellphone pics though I'll post em tonight.

7genmarathon

iTrader: (1)

I used a suction cup to pull out a dent I made in the old truck tailgate, I backed into a tree. They are cheap and might work. Idk how deep the dent is or anything like that.

2005civiclx

you can try putting a hair dryer to it and it might pop out. heres a vid showing the process.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ILVWPzO_swY

Kennykid2002

iTrader: (1)

Yeah, like I said, theres a lot of methods, but hard to say without knowing the extent of the damage

Some body shops even use plungers to pull out big dents

jono237

i know your frustration my car is actually sitting at the body shop now from a hit and run and the damage for me was beyond pulling the dent it needs paint too so im not gonna tackle that. But i was litteraly steaking out the block to find who did it but nothing.

lollygagger

Oh man I am sorry. Probably some crazed blonde who was too busy blathering on her phone at the mall or something. I've learned to park far away from anything possible, take the biggest parking spaces, etc...

Well, if the dents aren't too big You could try the air duster can trick:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dnmJBzfboOI

I tried this on my front fender dent. It was substantially large but not deep. Probably about as big as your spread hand. I ended up using a full can of spray and it wasn't too effective. I'm not sure if I heated it up enough but it's worth a shot before diving into any real work.

I've also tried using those giant suction cups from Harbor Freight. Those are tough because the dents need to be uniform.

As far as bondo work (and I'd only do this as a last resort because it is time consuming and you will need it painted) I had these things handy most of the way:
Drill with carbide bits
Dent Puller
Slide Hammer (For deep and sharp dents)
Rubber Mallet
Flat hammer (I think it may be called a bump hammer)
Bondo "lightweight body filler"
Putty Spreader
Spot Glazing Putty
Steel Utility Dolly
Sheet Sander (I used 1/2 Sheet)
Rough grit 1/2 sheets for sander
Rubber sanding block
Fine sandpaper for block
Rattle can of filler primer

Oh and a ton of patience As far as which route to go, I'd try all the cheap easy stuff first. Depending on the extent of the damage it's hard to tell, I mean my car was practically obliterated so it needed filler. Let me know which way you wanna go and I will gladly help!

DarkSouljur

Alright, first off thanks for replying :P

Second, i'm sorry for not getting pictures, i was at a friends house watching a movie and lost track of time. Also the weather is really crap right now so i'll take a picture tomorrow hoping it clears up a bit.

I'll go out and try that hairdryer thing on the smaller 2 dents before i tackle the one on the door. Don't get me wrong none of the dents are huge but the one on the door might need some bondo.

For the suction thing, what would i use to suction the dents? I'm not sure what harbor freight is, probably because i'm canadian :P

And 2 quick questions. 1) why would bondo be a last resort for you? 2) Did you paint yourself or take it to a bodyshop?

Kennykid2002

iTrader: (1)

Bondo should be the last resort for anyone

If they can be hammered/popped out, that is of course the easiest way to deal with a dent

Bondo includes prepping, sanding, bondo, sanding, smoothing, and repainting the entire panel
.....Hence last resort

If there are no paint chips in the dent, I would highly recommend just trying to pop it out

DarkSouljur

Thats what i would like to do. But i don't think it would be possible for the door And i think there's a small chip of paint and a couple small scratches but nothing major wrong with the paint.

MindBomber

Call a paintless dent removal company for a free estimate, they're usually able to completely remove any trace of a dent and they're relatively inexpensive.

lollygagger

http://www.harborfreight.com/suction...ase-46900.html

cheap tools. Cheap prices, cheap quality lol. yeah don't get into bondo unless you wanna pay for paint too

HG-2003Civvy

That sucks..I've got two door hits too that left a mark and someone rubbed their white paint on my mirror..it sucks. Just saw you're an Ottawa man too Darksouljur. Bayshore and Algonquin are the worst for that. Spots are wayy too close with too many people

lollygagger

I took mine to get painted. Whole car needed it as there were dings and dents everywhere. I also had the lips painted while I was doing the car. Definitely go for the cheap harmless methods first.

DarkSouljur

Never heard of this before :P

lollygagger

We have one around here called the ding wizard i think lol. you can always use Billy Mays "Ding King"

Kennykid2002

iTrader: (1)

Lol, there are a lot of paintless dent removal companies out there that are mobile, look in your phone book.
& I have the "Ding King"
...and it sounds like some big womans toy tbh

Shift-E

That's beyond amazing! I have a small ding right by my passanger door. Bought the car like that, but nice to know there might be something i can do about it! I'll have to take another look as to whether or not the position of the dent would allow for a pop out though..



Woohoo! Another ottawa CF member! Awesome to know

DarkSouljur

Sorry civvy i completely missed reading that ottawa part of your post lol. Me and shift-e are kanata boys ... unfortunately :P

PICs!!



Okay the big dent is pretty obvious, but a bit to the right of it, like right underneath, there is another dent... it's smaller and it's like RIGHT ontop of the wheel well, not sure if you can see it though.



It might be a little bit hard to see in this pic so i tried highlighting. This is just a side view of the first picture... If you look close enough you can see the bigger of the two dents, and then see the one on the side :P



This is the door, i'm hoping that i don't have to tell you where the dent is lol. This was about a day after i took my car through a car wash so it's sorta clean :P. Anyways the dent doesn't look as bad as it feels. This is the best picture i could get of it, because quite frankly ... every other picture you couldn't even see a dent.

lollygagger

definitely try the air cannister trick on all of those. they're still new enough where the metal hasn't settled into that state. it's just been knocked out of its equilibrium point and that trick sets everything back to its original stress points.

sdaidoji

iTrader: (1)

ouchie! these are more than dents...
watch "canada's worst drivers" in discovery channel and try to see if you reckon some of them... some where in ottawa...

Kennykid2002

iTrader: (1)

I would suggest a pop-a-dent, or Ding King kit to remove both of them,
But for the fender, I'd prolly remove the plastic under the fender, and pop it out by hand, and use the canister for the door panel

Just use a hair dryer, heat up the door panel for about 5~10 mins, then turn a compressed air can upside down, and spray it there for about 10~30 seconds, and it shud pop out.

If it doesn't work, then buy a dent kit

7genmarathon

iTrader: (1)

Just wait until I clay bar my Vic and post pictures. Waxing makes dents makes em show up REAL nice!

Can't u possibly take off the door panel and apply heat there with the window rolled up? It's been awile since I took one off. I may be forgetting something in the way.

HG-2003Civvy

No worries.. hey and Shift-E too, nice. Maybe see you sometime this summer, I go to cruise show on marivale sometimes.

DarkSouljur

@ Kenny and Lollygagger: Me and Shift-E are probably putting on his new SRI tonight, so when we're done that i'll try the air canister trick on all the dent, hopedully it will work, if not i'll buy a dent kit ... i'm just wondering, are the dents small enough that i dont need to take it to a garage?

@ sdaidoji: Lol i love that show, don't watch it often but if i see it on i do :P, but what did you mean those were more than dents :O

@Civvy: Don't forget me when u guys meet up lol