Dent removal

[FDF12389]

Linky

Anyone know if this technique actually works?


Cliffs:

Heat up panel then cool it with a C02 air duster.

Its supposed to cool the metal enough to contract and pull out the dent.

 

[M2008S]

no idea, worth a try tho. maybe those little dings or dents in thin panels.

 

[OUCaptain]

The technique works very well. You can just use a shop rag dunked in a bucket of ice water though. It may take several times to get it out depending on the dent.

 

[Dman877]

How could ice water do it? People leave their cars outside in sub-zero temperatures and it doesn't un-dent any metal panels.

 

[boomerang]

Originally posted by: Dman877
How could ice water do it? People leave their cars outside in sub-zero temperatures and it doesn't un-dent any metal panels.

This is a test.
What was the first step in the video?

 

[bruceb]

Heat the panel with a hair dryer.
It may work as they are heating and then
cooling it rapidly. All to do with thermal expansion.
Metals expand and contract at different temps
depending on the alloy.

 

[Nessism]

That technique only works on large shallow dents. I tried it on a couple of dents in a motorcycle gas tank and it didn't touch them.

 

[bruceb]

That is about what I would expect. It can't really dig into a dent
that is very pointy or where the metal is dented in many directions.
A dent that is say made by a ball hitting the panel or similar profile
should pop out with no issues.

 

[marvdmartian]

I know that here in Texas, there's always places that pop up every spring (during storm season) that will advertise hail dent removal. I believe they use dry ice, and are fairly successful with the shallow dents you can get from a seasonal hail storm. I think they say it's better to get it done as soon as possible after the metal's dented, but don't know if that's due to the metal getting a memory, or just due to them trying to get more business into their shops.

 

[daveymark]

hmm, may have to try this on a few dimple sized dents left by gravel flying up from the road

 

[FDF12389]

Ok, looks like it would be worth a try! I have two dents, one of them is creased so I'm fairly certain this wont work, but I'm hoping the second dent will come out.

 

[alkemyst]

dry ice is the next step up.

 

[Mermaidman]

So you end up with out-ies instead of innies? Time for mythbusters.

 

[bctbct]

Dont know if its true or not but I always heard that dry ice would cause the paint to flake off.

 

[alkemyst]

Originally posted by: bctbct
Dont know if its true or not but I always heard that dry ice would cause the paint to flake off.

With any dent repair the chance of the paint cracking is there.

With dry ice you want to watch some of the videos on detailing forums and esp youtube.

A lot of people have problems rolling fenders too because they don't heat the paint up right or go too fast.

 

[dsity]

I was just about to ask this...good thing I searched.

Does anyone know how to remove tiny dings? Quarter to nickel sized?