Bill Ball

OK, I know you need pictures, and I'll have some later, but maybe someone can advise me anyway.

My driver side front fender made contact with the garage door frame while backing out. Paint was intact, so I didn't swear too much. The fender got a couple of pushed in areas ahead of the wheel, close to the front edge.

So, I called the local dent wizard who has done tech days for the local PCA for 3 years. No problem he said. I removed the wheel well liner and forward partition and he started to go at it with the long bent rods. The major dent pushed out but popped back in. He levered on it with his full body weight with the same result. After a while he said the aluminum must be tempered and it is too tough to push out. He could not find a closer lever point so he could put more force on it. We removed the turn signal housing but he said that athough it was a good lever point location closer to the dent, the bumper plastic would crack under the force. He said he would likely crack the paint (despite heat) and not succeed with more force. He said he had a similar experience with an Acura NSX. He hammered on a highspot as a double check and said the metal did not respond to the hammering, so he believes it will require a standard bodyshop approach.

Any other ideas besides dent the other side to match?

heinrich

Bill, try pulling it with a sucker (wet). Also, you can apply heat. Actually pulling the fender is a hell of a job but can be done, at which point you should be able to do the job for yourself with no paint involved.

Jim R.

Bill,

Check the eastwood company catalog for airbags made to push out dents(eastwood.com). This may get a better result than the dent wizard guy. They come in different shapes and sizes and work off compressed air. Worth a shot prior to any bodywork and paint.

Jim R.

Sierra Shark

Forged/stamped aluminium usually has alot of "memory" built into it. If your dent is oval or round shaped (sharp crease forget it) you can use a rounded dead blow "rubber" mallet (not a flat one) and lightly (LIGHTLY) tap the outer edges of the dent going around in a clockwise, or counter clockwise motion from the inside of the dent out. This will relieve some of this memory (surface relief) and in most cases the dent will pop out on its own. This technique is used by guys who do antique car and aircraft restorations. Usually to remove dents in curved roof panels. If you don't have a rounded dead blow hammer you can shape the end of a flat one by grinding off the edges forming it round. Doesn't work all the time but worth a try.

Robert_H

Bill,

You can always put a bra on the car like I did... those cover a multitude of sins.

Rob

Bill Ball

Oh, yeah, Rob, the bra was my first thought, but, you know, there are times when you just want to take your bra off.

Bill Ball

Great suggestions (even the bra for the time being). The guy was probably right to stop, even though I tried to encourage him to pound away. I will give these ideas a try. There is no crease, but there are more than one area affected, the lower edge where the fender meets the lower bumper panel is slightly pushed in, and there is a high spot above one of the dents. You can pop out the major dent with your hand, but not far enough to prevent it from springing back. He figured if he got enough leverage he might be able to push it out enough that it would spring back, but would crack the paint in the process. I'll try to ease it out with a combination of all the ideas - heat, suction, pressure from behind and dead blow malleting inside around the circumference.

Jim bailey - 928 International

Ever notice how little children when they knock over a glass of milk (why is it always a full one?) always say.... Mommy the milk spilled ! kind of how this thread goes, Bill.."My driver side front fender made contact with the garage door frame" .... Still not sure why the children call me Mommy ! So Bill you better screw that door frame to the house and keep it from jumping out in front of your car like that . Yes the alloy is hardened and somewhat brittle which is why they do not get little dents when you drop a wrench on one of the fender pads....

Bill Ball

OK, Jim, so you would notice the passive voice that better English teachers tried to persuade us not to use. I figured I keep this neutral and not blame anyone, even if it was me.

Chazz

No leaping garage door frame here, but my car came from the previous owner with a couple of minor dents on the nose that I had assumed until now that I could simply have removed by the paintless dent removal (PDR) guy. So this afternoon, I called and spoke with a technician at a local body shop that does a lot of work on aluminum bodied cars. He said that almost any repair will damage the paint because, A. paint doesn't adhere as well to aluminum as it does to steel and B. aluminum usually requires quite a lot of heat to relieve the work hardening and the heat burns the paint. I'm still going to try the PDR route but I'm now resigned to more $$ in case it doesn't work. I googled this subject and found that Boeing has an electromagnetic dent removal service for aircraft skins that they claim works fine on painted surfaces and only requires front surface access. Anyone on the board know anything about this? Possibly some specialty shops may have similar equipment for cars.My guess is that it doesn't leave a pristine surface after the treatment.

Jim bailey - 928 International

Bill considering some of the recent "news" your little dents seem not so bad besides it might reduce your frontal area .....when is your next open road event ?

marton

well just avoid doing it in daylight.

If you can push the dent out and hold it out with something (wife, girlfriend, neighbour, mole wrench, etc.) then try genty tapping it with a rounded or rubber mallet

Bill Ball

Chazz:

The hood and doors don't appear to be as hard as the fender. I've had dents taken out of both by the paintless guy with no problems at all.

Jim bailey - 928 International

Bill I wonder if the additional bending involve in stamping the fender "work hardens" the alloy since the hood is nearly flat and gets moved around a lot less.

Daniel Dudley

Marton is right. Get a piece of 2 by 4 and smooth one end to the shape you want. pad it and cut it so you can jam it behind the dent, pushing out slightly. You could try poping it with your hands or a padded wood block, or hammer aound the edges with a rubber mallet or a hammer on the padded block. Advanced technique would be to block around the edges of the dent just inside the dent and work the dent to the inside. Always use just enough force to do the job, and work your way up to that force. Work hardened is a bad word combination culminating in bodywork. Is your car a common color that might be found on a used fender? That might be an option. In any case resist the temptation to **** away at it. If you can get it to pop, you can usually off dolly hammer it to a fair contour. good luck.