Indentation
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... nope, not talking about the kind in source code. Talking about the kind on a car. :doh: Anyhow, here's my situation, I have a dent about the size of a baseball (not that deep, but about that much area) on my front bumper. I also have some scratches and scrapes scattered around the car. Well, I'd like to get that all fixed up. Since this is a relatively older car, and I'm always up for learning new things, so I was considering trying to fix it up myself. First off, has anybody done this kind of work? I've read instructions, but of course, that is nothing compared to actually *doing* it. Any gotchas, or am I better off sucking it up and taking it to a body or detail shop? An expert is somebody who learns more and more about less and less, until he knows absolutely everything about nothing.
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... nope, not talking about the kind in source code. Talking about the kind on a car. :doh: Anyhow, here's my situation, I have a dent about the size of a baseball (not that deep, but about that much area) on my front bumper. I also have some scratches and scrapes scattered around the car. Well, I'd like to get that all fixed up. Since this is a relatively older car, and I'm always up for learning new things, so I was considering trying to fix it up myself. First off, has anybody done this kind of work? I've read instructions, but of course, that is nothing compared to actually *doing* it. Any gotchas, or am I better off sucking it up and taking it to a body or detail shop? An expert is somebody who learns more and more about less and less, until he knows absolutely everything about nothing.
According to the infomercials from late night TV - this works wonders Ding King Dent Repair[^] Steve
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According to the infomercials from late night TV - this works wonders Ding King Dent Repair[^] Steve
I think you will find that that thing only works on certain types of dings. They have to be pretty large and shallow. Most dings you will find are of the small variety. Also I doubt it will work on a bumber which is plastic. Joel VssConnect - Remote SourceSafe(r) Access http://www.voxcode.com[^]
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... nope, not talking about the kind in source code. Talking about the kind on a car. :doh: Anyhow, here's my situation, I have a dent about the size of a baseball (not that deep, but about that much area) on my front bumper. I also have some scratches and scrapes scattered around the car. Well, I'd like to get that all fixed up. Since this is a relatively older car, and I'm always up for learning new things, so I was considering trying to fix it up myself. First off, has anybody done this kind of work? I've read instructions, but of course, that is nothing compared to actually *doing* it. Any gotchas, or am I better off sucking it up and taking it to a body or detail shop? An expert is somebody who learns more and more about less and less, until he knows absolutely everything about nothing.
I've done it, and it can be satisfying work, but if you're looking for a professional paint job you're going to spend far and above what a body shop would charge for the job on the required equipment for painting, if it's even allowed in your area. Due to the nature of modern automotive paints many municipalities don't allow the old 'I'll paint it in my garage' bit due to environmental concerns. The body work itself just takes patience for the most part. I'll do my own body work on my current project (1965 Shelby Cobra replica), but I just can't justify the expense and health risks of trying to paint it at home. I've heard that in some areas you may be able to find paint shops willing to rent out their spray booth if you really want to do your own paint. I haven't checked into this yet...
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... nope, not talking about the kind in source code. Talking about the kind on a car. :doh: Anyhow, here's my situation, I have a dent about the size of a baseball (not that deep, but about that much area) on my front bumper. I also have some scratches and scrapes scattered around the car. Well, I'd like to get that all fixed up. Since this is a relatively older car, and I'm always up for learning new things, so I was considering trying to fix it up myself. First off, has anybody done this kind of work? I've read instructions, but of course, that is nothing compared to actually *doing* it. Any gotchas, or am I better off sucking it up and taking it to a body or detail shop? An expert is somebody who learns more and more about less and less, until he knows absolutely everything about nothing.
It depends what you want to do and where the damage is. If it is a plastic bumber that has the ding then you are pretty much stuffed. If it is steel read on Filling is easy, painting is murder If its not very big you can probably get away with using a two part automotive putty (aka car bog). This stuff is great because it dries as hard as a rock and is easy to work with after. Your main problem will be getting it to stick. You need to sand back to the bare metal and really rough it up with 50 grit sandpaper or something similar. Then I would drill some holes in the dent so that the filler has something to hold on to. Another option is to cut the dent out and weld a new peice of steel to the back of the panel. Then use filler to blend it all it. But you will need pretty serious equipment to cut the panel and weld in a patch. I have done this a few times with small rush patches and it works ok. I just spray some rust proof primer on afterwards and leave it at that. Painting is a whole different story. Most cars are painted with a 2part epoxy paint. This stuff is lethal to breath and must be mixed as you need it as it doesnt last long. The advantage of this paint is that after you bake it in an oven it gets super hard which then allows you to use polish to get that showroom shine. If you try and polish normal paint you will rub right through it very quickly. Also matching the colour of a warn paint job is a realt art. You need to compare your colours under different lighting conditions. So if you just want something to do and your happy to have a patchwork of differnt primers on your car then go for it. If its an old car with a few dings then why bother? It all adds to the character