question re 63 beetle paint

[CamKK]

I have a 63 turquoise beetle, nice original faded paint, that has a big dent in the front hood. I want to fix the dent, but don't want a new shiny painted hood. How do I get around this issue (if I can)?

[Raisedup58]

Are you wanting to perfectly repair the dent or just pop it out.
It would also help to post a picture of said dent, popping out dents is something us original paint lovers have to deal with. some dents are easier than others.
_________________
L245 Original Paint Light Bronze 1958 Ragtop
L456 Original Paint Ruby Red 1961 Sedan
Orignal Paint Beetle Wheel Collector
Instagram: Raisedup58
VW's At The Springs
facebook.com/vwsatthesprings

[Pruneman99]

Definitely post a photo of the dent. Each "style" of dent would benefit from a different technique to repair it, especially if you're trying to save the paint.

If there are hard ridges, or stretched metal, it will be harder than a round, shallow dent with no hard edge.

If it's a patina car, even some loss of paint with some carful hammer and dolly work wouldn't look out of place.

[carcrazed]

Best method I use, and it won't come out perfect, but will look decent, is get a sand bag that has some give to it. I am in video production, so we have heavy cloth sand bags to hold down lighting equipment stands and they work perfect. Take the hood off and turn it upside down and put the dent over the sand bag and push the hood firmly into the sand bag so that is gets the shape of the dent. take a rubber mallet and start to lightly pound the center out towards the edges. it will take some re-positioning of the hood, but will get most of the dent out. That sand bag absorbs and spreads out the force from the mallet without ping dents. Old school trick. Worth a shot for ya and it wont crack the paint.
_________________
1965 Herbie Replica. 1776cc dual Kads.
1961 Beetle 33,000 Original Miles

"Just When you think you are getting ahead, you're always wrong."

[pbenn]

Yes, need picture of dent.

Also, check Paintless Dent Removal (PDR) videos on Youtube. Simple dents are locked in by surrounding ridges which are high, above contour. You use rubber tipped PDR tools on the ridges while applying pressure to the valley/center of the dent from the rear. Bigger/shallower the dent, the blunter the rear pressure tool should be. General theory here. Need picture of dent.