Dent Repair

No, I didn’t do it!!

Wondering what the pros have for ideas on how to repair this dent? If possible. What tools or techniques do you just use that might work here to try to bend this back out.

Replacing the whole quarter panel is not an option nor something I really want to do.

Thanks!

 

That's a big topic. Try a basic book or some u-tube tutorials to get started - then learn as you go, as we all do with our jeep hobby.

Looks like there is already some bondo in that corner, maybe some rust. Needs to be excavated. A 4-1/2" angle grinder is a great tool for many many purposes.

Alternatively, of course, the classic response is a diamond plate corner as a cover-up.

 

The simple answer is - apply force opposite to the direction of impact.
The steel has some memory of its original shape, and will go most of the way back if you reverse the trauma.

The Key To Metal Bumping (panel beating, auto body repair bible).pdf

If you search for "metal bumping" and/or "dent repair" you will find plenty of articles and videos to learn from.

 

Even if it's not sound, if you don't want to replace it, the hammer and dolly it will be. I'm not seeing bondo but maybe it's just my poor eyesight. I would use a stiff wire cup brush on a 4 1/2" angle grinder to take the paint and bondo, if it is there, off. That will tell you if you can successfully weld up the crack and beat the dent out.

 

Thanks guys! I’ve never done body work... looks like I’m about to learn! I will check out a hammer and dolly. Agreed on wire brushing off everything back there on that panel (and elsewhere too).

So there is zero bondo anywhere on my Jeep. That horizontal crack is just the metal that stressed from the dent impact years ago (I believe). The frame and body have remarkably little rust and weathering, it sat in a barn for the last 40 yrs or so. Seems to just be old metal, but she does have at least 4 coats of paint that I’m slowly getting removed. I think that helped protect the metal some.

 

Another comment - before I started to hammer on the backside, I would weld a tab to the center of the dent and pull on that. I'd guess body shops would use either a stud welder and slide hammer or the porta-power and a post anchored to the shop floor to pull the majority of the dent. Then work over the remaining minor distortion with a hammer and dolly. Not much personal experience, other than hanging out around the body shop back in the day.

 

I doubt you'd need that where there is good access from the rear. Good hammer/dolly technique will incrementally reverse the sequence of the original impact.

 

the stud gun is faster than hammering but that dent will respond well to smashing .

 

Watch out when you start cleaning things up. Mission creep can get you here.
I was going to freshen up the inside of the tub.

 

M38. Congrats! IMO, the best of the low hoods.