dents!!

[Avengerdude]

so im wondering how hard it would be to bang out a dent in my front right fender. Its pretty decent sized about a little bigger than a palm. im wonder what techniques woould work best for doing this. any good ideas just throw them in there.

 

[nothingfiction]

Might not be the recommended way to do this, but what i did was i took the fender off completely and softly pounded out what i could from the rear with a soft rubber mallet. Just got to be patient and not over-do it or you will make it worse. Just take it slow and cautious constantly double checking the specs. Dont expect perfection, but it can help depending the size of the dent.

 

[Avengerdude]

is it pretty easy to take off the fender and put i back on
and how big was ## dent

 

[krackit]

haha. take it to a shop. mine is going in this week. a flat bed truck tried to squeeze between my parked car and a pile of bricks. well he missed the bricks while his back duelies attempted to run over the hood of my car...f'd the driver side fender right up. 990$ to repair and repaint + blend.

 

[Avengerdude]

ha that must suck man. yeah i bought the car with the dents and i just dont feel like paying for a body shop so idk i might try the rubber mallet but idk yet.

 

[nothingfiction]

are we talking about a DSM? or your avenger? i don't know about your avenger. i have done this on both a 1G dsm and a 2G.

on my 1G Eclipse a deer jumped in front of me on a rainy road one night when i was much younger and stupid me i hit the brakes without realizing how wet it really was (the road was wet but wasn't raining) and i tried to avoid the deer and went into a ditch going 95Km/H. it was out in the country and i just tried to keep control of the car and not hit a electric poll. Well after passing poll by poll slowly getting closer and closer i finally hit one. Slapped my passenger fender pretty hard and bounced my car away so luckily it didn't hit the mirror or the door or anything else. Removing it was easy as hell. Just try not to break any bolts off.

On my 2G (current car) i was parked in a parking stall on a fogy night, had my drivers side open so i could pop the hatch (my key doesn't work for the hatch) and i left it open. some cocksmoker didn't see my door and going half the speed of snail tried to tear my door off. marked up the bottom off the door but caught the fender pretty bad. i had to get a new door hinge and i tried to save the fender myself. i took it off, it was easy except one or two bolts on the inside near the light. but with a little work i got it off, since i had it off i took out the rest of the stock air box assembly i couldn't reach before because its literally inside the fender. Putting it back on was easier (but again, i did break a few bolts).

 

[Avengerdude]

yeah its on my avenger. I looked at it and it doesnt seem to bad to get the bolts off. im just worried about when i try to take the dent out that i mess up and make it look worse

and ive been lookin around i found a set of slr style fenders made of "high quality fiberglass" do you guys think itd be any worse the having norman metal ones?

 

[nothingfiction]

thats why i say use a rubber mallet. the rubber is flexible and will give some give and play. a normal steel hammer will be too blunt and you will have hammer rings all over. if you want you could use a board on the inside between the hammer and the fender. like a piece of a 2x4 because wood will give some bend too (if you use the right wood). depending how bad it is (if its not that bad) put a towel in there to soften the blow (it will make it a lot smoother and less risk of hammer rings).

 

[Avengerdude]

yeah il try it. any opinions on the fiberglass fenders

 

[nothingfiction]

Depends. My opinion... i like the look of some of them, like me personally i like the F1 fenders. But if i could find them made of steel or aluminum or whatever the stock is id jump on them in a heartbeat. Nothing against fiberglass, just ive seen what happens to a lot of the fiberglass bumpers around here and thinking of putting that on my car? No. That's just me tho. i haven't really looked but i'm sure someone sells aftermarket metal fenders somewhere. if i can't find someone online il order stock replacements and have the shoppe turn them into F1's for me. As for bumpers and bodykits... There's poly-urethan out there that holds up better than the stock abs plastic we have.

 

[vargs55]

If the dents not to big and the paint isnt cracked try finding a PDR guy in your local area. (Paintless Dent Repair) Some of them are really good and you will never be able to tell it was ever there. Just beware of the hacks.

 

[2FoX2]

If the dent isn't on a metal fold you can try the compressed air/hair dryer method to see if it will pop back out. Heat the dent and surrounding area up really well with the hair dryer and then immediately spray the compressed air can (upside down) over the heated area. It may pop the dent right back out, no harm in trying.

 

[Avengerdude]

what kind of compressed air can. like where would u get them

 

[2FoX2]

The kind you would find at any computer store, Staples, Office Depot, etc.

 

[Avengerdude]

so you just like spray it upside down over the dent then heat it up?

 

[PieEyedPiper]

Other way around.

 

[Avengerdude]

i gotchya. well il give that a try this weekend and let you know how it goes!