TheSamba.com :: View topic

Wed Feb 18, 2004 8:20 pm

Well, it finally happened. I cut a corner too short and clipped my passenger side between the rear of the sliding door and the rear wheel on a parked car. there was already a dent there but I'm still bummed.

Of course it couldn't have happened on the sliding door, where there is already a dent and scratch. I have a pristine door ready and waiting to replace it.

Can a sliding dent be removed from this area? It's very low. I looked inside the body and it's below the area where you can see. The older dent extends upward enough so that one can probably be pounded out.

Is it advisable to have the dent removed quickly before the metal gets used to the new shape? Some sort of elastic rebound effect?

Wed Feb 18, 2004 8:50 pm

ive got ya beat man. ive got all kind of dents. i even dented it a few times myself. ( most recently by hitting my wifes volvo)

Wed Feb 18, 2004 8:52 pm

Sorry to hear about the dent :cry: I hate when that happens! As far as removing the dent quickly, it won't really matter. Metal doesn't have an real elasticity to it, it has already been stretched by the impact. I would take it to a good body shop and see what it would cost and maybe they could tell you how they would repair it and then you can go home and do it yourself. Most likely they will recommend cutting out the damage and welding in new metal. Good luck. Todd

Thu Feb 19, 2004 7:26 am

Right after shooting my 69 westy as I was assembling it my son accidently started it while in reverse smashing up the rear end a bit. Neither of us were hurt,and the bus can be fixed. But it still pissed me off at the time.

Thu Feb 19, 2004 8:36 am

awww sorry about that man...look at it this way its a 30 year old car alittle dent just adds character :D . hope it goes well ficin it.

Thu Feb 19, 2004 9:23 am

If it is a narrow dent line, you can zip a couple of self-tapping screws along its length and pull out with vise-grips, the final 1/16" inch you tap the upper and lower margins of where the dent first bows inwards. Your "self-tapped hole-tits" must remain within the radius of the curve of the body.
Sand down to metal, bondo, primer, paint. I wonder if High Temp Chevrolet Engine Orange would match your car. Paint the whole damn the car while you're at it. You saw my car right? It had the sliding door/rear quarter dent also when I bought it. After 22 years, one day I said, let's fix this thing. It only took 3 months of after-work evenings and all of my weekends. My right tail light area had been pounded in by some crash long before I bought the car, and I used waaaay too much bondo there, on the outside AND the inside of the engine compartment in that corner, and it has held up really well in the past three years, through temperature extremes and really bad rock-strewn West Virginia swimming hole trails. . .I wonder if bondo on both sides of a dented panel makes it stronger or something.
Colin