In a moment of real stupidity I dropped a load of wood blocks on my hood and now have about 6 small dents. The body shop quoted $1,100 to fix the hood but said it would never be quite right unless I purchase a new hood for an additional $1,550. My paint is not perfect since I do track days and live in the mountains with lots of junk on the roads. Does anybody have experience trying to straighten out the hood? I'm trying to avoid an insurance claim.

 

I've had great success with small dents with one of those "paintless" dent-repair guys. I found a really skillful guy who fixed about 8 smallish dents and dings on my Cobra for about $100. This same guy fixed a golf-ball dent on my friend's M3 hood. Make sure you get some recommendations (maybe from a detailer), and give it a try. It doesn't sound like it can do any harm.

 

I agree with the old stinky guy, the paintless guys can do alot. Especially when the back is as totally exposed as the trunk lid.

Pete

 

Ditto

 

I have also had several dents take out of my car. It worked great with the dents that I had.

Of course, you could always just buy a carbon fiber hood

 

Bob,

I knew you were going to recommend that cf hood! It is a cool piece!

Hal

 

I have been consistently amazed at what a good paintless dent removal person can do. Give it a shot.

 

The DentPro guy came by and said he didn't want to touch the hood because some of the dings were creased and he'd never get it perfect. So looks like it's time to buy a new hood.

 

The local Porsche dealer told me they actually have those dent wizard guys drop by once every week to fix any small mishaps on thier inventory cars.

Did someone say carbon hood? Unfortunately most of the ones on the market aren't really too great.

Hopefully I'll have a custom one made to accomodate an exit path for hot air once I get my Setrab cooler mounted. Still figuring out just how I want to seal the ducting around the oil cooler to the hole in the nose.

 

It's possible to remove a crease. I had 26 dents, dings, and creases removed from my 750iL that spent 10 years in Manhattan. The cost was $750 but the car looked brand new when he was done (took two days). The ding guy I found locally actually teaches other people this skill as well. I would still call a few more places, particularly high end dealerships, unless you are okay with the cost of the traditional repair. Some of these dent guys are great and some are average and some are lousy.