Teach Me How To Pop Out a Dent...

Some a-hole kicked a good sized dent in the door of my '63 chevy truck a while back and I'm tired of looking at it. And I've got a small dent (like almost every '60's chevy truck I've ever seen) where the door opened too far. Teach me how to pop them out properly.

I should say, I'm a complete novice with any kind of bodywork (besides grinding off rust and spray bomb, lol). I've seen or read enough to know you go at them from behind with hammers and such. These dents are easily accessible from behind by removing the door panel.

So tell me what to do. Give me all your tricks. The more details, the better. Thanks very much in advance for any help and/or suggestions. And thanks for this great forum.

 

You should post up some pictures and tell us what tools you have to work with.

 

sometimes, you can pull the dent out with a toilet plunger. wet the surface and the special tool used by plumbers and push it onto the dented surface, pull quickly and you might be able to pull the dent out. it's worth a try...

 

Hit it with this till it comes out!!

 

I suggest using the ol' BFH as well

 

This is the only picture I have handy at the moment. It was taken before I got the big dent. It does show the small dent from the door opening too far at some point. Check the top of the door near the front edge. The larger dent is essentially the same shape (vertical crease), just bigger and in the middle of the lower half of the door.

As for tools, I'm lacking in hammers and dollies, but I might can borrow some. Failing that, I'll buy some. I have your basic hand tools, drills, and grinders. Tell me what I need.

Thanks again for the help.

 

You gots ta get one a those pops-a-dent kits like I seen on the tv. "Squidbiilys"

 

have you removed the inside door panel and tried just pushing on the dent?, if you have to use a hammer and dolly then you will be painting the door, if theres a dent remover guy in your area he may be able to take it out with out painting, to find a dent guy just call a local new car dealer.

 

I chucked a couple of clowns out of the local watering hole, the chicken shit assholes kicked the door in on my truck as a thank-you. My buddy said, No problem, close the windows and turn the heater fan on high. I did it, and he took the door and just slammed it shut, like he was trying to blow it out the other side. Boom! and the dent popped right out, you couldn't tell it was ever damaged. Worth a try! Air pressure can do some funny things.

 

The small one looks creased towards the top so it won't pop out all the way. Get it close but its gonna need some lovin to get right. As for the big one, try pushing on it in a broad area to get it to pop out. If not then go with the hammer blows. Try not to distort it too much with the BFH.

 

Painting is no big deal and would be easy enough to fix. It's just satin black enamel spray bomb and I've got more in the garage. It looks a lot better in the picture than in real life, lol. I'd rather do it myself if I can than pay some clown $200 to pop out two dents.

 

That and the plunger idea sound pretty cool. And easy enough to give it a try first before I start hammering more dents into the door.

 

If I should have to go with the hammer, where should I hit it? In the middle? Around the edges? Or all over?

 

I'm a total suckass novice but will pass along the one thing I know.....

A thousand little hits yields much better results than 20 medium hits. Every time I start getting confident with the striking instrument (notice I didn't say hammer) and step the force up.....it proves to be a stupid decision.........tap tap tap. Literally.

good luck

 

No shit- O/T, but I bought an older Saab 900 (for $200) that a tree had fallen on, got a plunger and a jar of vaseline, and sucked and kicked the shit outta that thing for a whole afternoon. Drove it for 40k miles, and sold it for $900....

 

Work it from the edges in. If its creased at all, chances are its goin to laugh at you. But Shifty made a good point, start small.

 

If you can access it, I've used a chunk of 4x4 lumber, or something similar on the dent and give it a good whack with a hammer.

If the metal is creased at all in the dent, it will most likely still be creased after you pound it out.

I'm no body guy, but I have been able to fix less serious stuff.

 

+1

"striking instrument" oh, how true.

 

Thanks for all the tips guys. Keep them coming.

 

Had a pretty big dent in the front quarter of a 67 lincoln continental and used a plunger on it and most of it popped right out and it least it looked pretty good until it was fixed by a pro

 

Terd can you reach the back side of the dent with you hand?? If you can have a buddy weld a nail on the middle crease you can then pull on the nail to try and remove it . It you can get to the back side of the dent you can use the handle of a hamber to easy the dent out.
Push a metal plate that contours to the door panel in that are and push it onto the dent from the inside while usinf the other hand to tap the outside with a plastic faced hammer . hard on hard stretches sheetmetal while softer material hitting harder surface helps to shrink material in between

 

i drilled a hole in my door, then put a big headed bolt through it from the access panel on the inside. i yanked on the bolt and the whole dent popped right out then i just welded up the hole i drilled. pretty ghetto, but fuck it worked great

 

Thanks again for the replies guys. This is all good stuff. I appreciate it. I'm going to start with the plunger tomorrow on the big dent. Then I'll work up to the hammerin' if necessary. Keep the hammerin' tips coming too.

 

Several things you need to know before you start.
Metal has a memory.
People generally hit the metal too hard when trying to straighten it out.
Always start working the metal at the last place the metal moved.

On your dent in the picture you want to put a dolly behind the top part of the dent and start gently tapping the metal where the crease is. Work it slowly and you will see the metal in the crease start moving back into it original position. Keep working the top area and start moving down the sides a little with the dolly in the center of the crease. The crease should start to rise. It will take time to get the dent out. You don't want to just start hitting on the metal and stretching it. If you do you will have a very difficult time getting the panel smooth. If you do stretch the metal you can use a shrinking disc, know you don't have one, to shrink the metal back to make it flat.

During the process described above you want to hammer off dolly. This means that you are never hit directly on the dolly. When you hit on the metal with the dolly held tightly against the crease on the inside of the panel and hit lightly on the outside of the panel the dolly will cause the metal to move outward.

Hope I haven't confused you, this is hard to explain easier to show and do.

Joe

 

More good stuff. Thanks Joe.

 

Joe has you on the right track.... except, I don't agree that the metal has a memory (at least not in any way that is useful for dent repair) or that you should not hit on dolly. On dolly helps smooth the metal, and shrinking is easy with the right tool. Being afraid of stretching the metal is the initial road block of many beginning metal-finishers. My youtube videos show simple dent repair... parts 8 or 9-12 of custom metal bodywork:

http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=GullWingInn&view=videos

John www.ghiaspecialties.com

 

Is there a crease or anything ???

 

Homemade44, great advice I know for sure how easy it is to stretch metal, years ago I had a panel so screwed up, I had my Buddie Dan fix it for me, I think his comment was " I have never seen a cluster !!!k like this in my life "

 

Yes, both dents have a crease. The smaller one is creased worse than the big one (just a slight crease).

 

The big dent will likely come out easier than the small crease. Chances are you can push most of it out by hand, or with a block of wood and a hammer. Then work on the creases that are left around the perimeter with a hammer and dolly, and light taps as stated earlier. Smack it too hard and you'll make a mess out of it!