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Best way to remove dents?

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Tophatchef

Jedi Hopeful
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What is the best way to remove dents from my 1989 xj6? I have several minor dents in the rear, and one fairly large one about .5inch deep, 1.5 inches wide, and about 10 inches vertically. The proverbial little old lady who was the original owner of the car didn't know how to back up.
 
The smaller ones can probably be dealt with by one of these dent doctor franchises. The bigger one? Worth investing in some tools and learning how to work the metal I think.

Don't pound the dent out directly, but work in gently from the edges with hammer and dolly.
 
A second vote for the travelling dent removal guys.
They usually just charge for the work done regardless of the make of car and in my limited experience are quick and efficient.
The only limitation seems to be in that they will only handle small dings and dents.

For the larger dent I would look for a bladder / bag method of dent removal.
The limitation is the need to access the panel from the back so removing all the trim may be time consuming and fiddly.

Basically a bag is inserted behind the dent and inflated. The pressure pops out the dent and the pain is usually untouched.

Any decent body shop should be able to give you all the plusses and minusses of having it done.

Cheers , Pete.
 
I had one major dent in my MK2, some moron backed into it at a gas station prior to my ownership.
Hit the top of the Lucas FogRanger, bent the metal between headlamp and FogRanger, so headlamp pointed somewhat down and in, FogRanger up and out.

Had to remove headlamp bucket, and complete FogRanger, insert a Port-A-Power through headlamp opening, braced to suspension frame, and using many ends (including sideways sockets), jacked it out.

Had to hammer-and-dolly the sharp bits, sanded, hit with a automotive glazing compound, mixed up the color with thinner in a Preval spray unit, hit it with color, color sanded, buffed, installed lamps, can't tell.
 
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