Avoid the Body Shop and Repair That Dent Yourself

When you have a fender bender or any major damage to your car, you don't think twice about taking it to the body shop to have it repaired. After all most of the time, this is covered by your auto insurance. However, what about those annoying little dings and dents that happen as just part of the daily wear and tear of a vehicle, or those mishaps liking backing into that lamp post or the shopping cart bouncing off the car door? Minor little things really, but if you take pride in your car, those blemishes can stand out like a sore thumb. If you wash your own car, there it is, all pristine and shiny, except for that irritating little dent!

So what can you do? You certainly don't want to spend money out of pocket to pay a body shop to repair something that's really not that big of a deal. A tiny dent can turn into big bucks when it comes to hiring someone to fix it. Maybe you could fix it yourself! Now, if the thought of changing the windshield wipers on your car makes your head spin, then this might not be the job for you. On the other hand, if you know what a spark plug is and feel comfortable with things like changing your own oil, then fixing a small dent should be a fairly easy task.

The first thing to do when you attempt to repair a dent is to try and push the dent out with your hands. If this doesn't work, use a wooden block and ball-peen hammer to tap the dent out from the back. If the dent is not accessible from the back, drill a small hole in the center of the dent and screw in a long self taping screw leaving about half an inch exposed. Use a pair of self locking pliers to grasp the end of the screw and slowly pull the dent out.

Hopefully, you have now popped the dent out and can sand the area with sand paper or wire brush. A nice tool to use when working with very small dents is an electric rotary hobby tool with a small sanding disk. Remove all the paint from the dented area and with a plastic spatula smooth body filler over the hole and remaining blemish and let it harden. Once the filler has hardened, shape the area with a rasp or coarse grade sandpaper, moving to a medium grade then to fine. Run your hand over the area to check for any imperfections.

When it comes to matching the paint for your dent repair don't just grab a can of spray paint that looks about right. To make sure you find the right color for your vehicle, you need to find the paint color code. This number can actually be located on your car and your owner's manual should tell you exactly where the code is located. Use this number to find an exact match for your paint color.

Once the area is ready to paint, mask off all surrounding areas with newspaper and masking tape. First use a spray primer, applying three coats, allowing each coat to dry and sanding with a fine grade sandpaper. When applying the top coat or the final color coat use the same steps you did with the primer and sand lightly between each coat. On the last coat use a polishing compound that won't scratch your new finish.

Repairing a car dent is not a chore for everyone. It can take some time and patience and a bit of skill, but if you're up for the task you can repair those small dents, save some substantial money and have the pride of knowing you did it yourself!