Dented my door...

[fabienX]

I backed out into a pole (dumb, dumb...) last week-end while camping. Rains for a couple hours, the tent (5 years old and no so water-proof anymore) starts taking in water, we move to the truck, bad night of sleep, stupid mistake in the morning, you get the idea of a camping week-end gone wrong (*)... I bended my passenger side door. I actually didn't do too bad considering. There is no scratch visible but the door panel is slightly recessed in one spot (about 10" wide and maybe a 1/4" deep). How difficult would it be to take the door panel off (inside) then hammer it out back to shape with a malet? Do you guys know which screws I need to take off to do this?

(*): For you campers out there, I just picked up a can of water-proofing spray at our local hardware store. $10.00 canadian which is worth every penny if you plan on staying dry through a storm (especially if your tent is older). I thougth I'd share the news to spare others of our recent misfortune...

[Schludwiller]

If the paint isn't damaged you can get a Paintless Dent Removal guy to fix the dent. Very cheap, and will be done in less than an hour.

You should be able to find some guys in the phone book, or you might want to call some body shops and see if there is anyone they would recommend.

I always sleep in my truck when we go out on runs. Just get one of those inflatable mattresses with the battery charged inflater. Very comfortable once you take out the rear seat cushions.

[hobbes69]

I've been looking at getting one of those tents that go on the back of the Xterra, but I had some questions. If you have two people sleeping in the back of the truck, where do you put all your camping equipment? And if its an off-road trip too, then you have even more stuff. I guess you could put it all on top. You have to put it somewhere since many places your cooler will get emptied by racoons or other animals if you don't.

Richard

[OffroadX]

For a dent as you describe, I wouldn't try a mallet. First try hitting moderately around the perimeter of the dent towards the center with the soft outside edge of your fist. There might be enough tension on the metal that you can jar it into popping back out on its own. Of course, take care not to make it worse by mistake. Next I would try pulling the interior panel and hitting the dent with the same soft part of your fist and see if it will pop. I've also heard that dry ice can sometimes put enough stress on the metal to cause it to pull itself back out.

Using anything hard to try and take it out will most likely take care of the large dent but leave tiny ones where the tool was in contact with the metal. Make sure whatever you use is as large as possible in surface area, nearly flat, has no sharp corners, and preferably is padded with a towel folded 2-3 times.

If that fails, it's probably time to see a pro like a PDR shop.



Hobbes,
I suppose most of your gear could go under the truck and under the tent/hatch area, with food etc. on the roof and your clothes etc. in the front seats.

Brent

[rhombus]

Try a plunger
It might be able to *pop* the door back into shape.

I have do this before and it has worked.
If that fails then you might have to try other things.

Hey how are things going?

[OffroadX]

Good idea. Better yet, you can get a more flexible dent-puller from most parts stores, looks a lot like a glass-worker's suction cup. I forgot I used one on my Toyota once. Didn't get it all the way out, but it sure made it a lot better. It was more the dent than the tool that kept it from coming all the way out.

Brent

[fabienX]

Awsome! Couldn't find the plunger - this can be another day's little problem , so I went down empty handed. I basically applied pressure to the outer periphery of the dented sheetmetal. It did snap back in place most the most part. It's now barely noticeable without looking for it. Much better. I'll try the hardware store for a dent puller and see if that totally fixes it. Thanks for the great tips guys!

Rhombus, I am well. We are back on the summer camping schedule. I hope we can have a few soxc outdoors events this year again (camping and kayaking were great last year). I'll drop by soxc to greet the gang.

[xterra2k]

Doesn't "popping" the dent out spider or crack the paint or clear coat so you will eventually have the "broken China"" look. And that is why, or the sales pitch of the Dent Wizards that they remove the dents slowly so there is no damage to the paint.

Maybe someone much more knowledgeable on the subject could interject

[SilverLotus340R]

DONT "POP" OUT THE DENT

my aunt did that to her hood of her SAAB and now when you wax it it is all spider veiny (if thats a word) and it has that cracked china look...and it is realllllllll noticable

[OffroadX]

I dented in most of the upper half of my driver's door weekend before last when I tangled with a tree. I tried the suction cup and got it about half back out but it was waaaay to inclined to pop back in at at a slight touch. So I took the door panel off and a few other parts inside to get at it from behind. I was able to pop it all the way back out and get the right "tension" on the panel so it wouldn't pop back in again with pressure. I'm left with 4 small creases at the 4 "corners" of the dent, but it looks pretty straight. Paint looks just fine, despite flexing several times when the dent was popped in and out.

Brent