Door dings - how to fix them?

[BadVRod]

I'm no body man but I understand the process. What I'm dealing with are parking lot dings on the body line of the door...on both sides. Some of them are up to 1/8" deep. I know I could just fill them, bondo them, or whatever. But it doesn't seem that's the "right" way to do it. I'd like to get them better before applying body filler. What options do I have? Should I leave the metal working to the professionals or is it something I could do myself? I really don't want to make the situation worse by hammering willy nilly. Any suggestions would be fantastic!

[78w72]

i would suggest leaving that to a pro....i like to think i know basics of body work & have done some pretty decent simple work, but if you want the job done better than just bondo, that does take alot of skill & or knowledge. especially on a crease line.   

i recently had a baseball size dent fixed right on the middle of my passenger door, it actually had rippled areas in it.   it looks almost as good as new.   only because i know it was there can i barely see it.   i was amazed at how he saved my original rust free door.

take a class or let a pro do it is my opinion. 

[iinvertedi]

The good thing about metal is you can mold it it a lot of different ways (again and again if necessary). 

I think the best way is to go to a paint-less dent removal place to take them all out ($60 or $70?).  They have the tools to work the dent out.

I don't think you have good access to hammer the dent out from the inside of the door.  If you had to do it yourself, you could weld a stud to the ding, then pull the ding out, cut the stud, grind the weld out, refine the contour of the metal, then paint.  Kind of overkill for dings though.

You could use bondo, but you would still have to paint and it wouldn't be done "right". 

[BadVRod]

I had thought about the dentless repair option, just didn't know what it would cost. I'll give them a call and see what they can do. Thanks!

[stephendsp]

I have the same issues as you do, and went to the body shop, used a stud welder, welded 17 studs in different places, and pulled them out. He showed me how to do it once, and i did the others, have to do the other door now, but wont be as many. Looks a lot better now too, but the biggest problem with this is that is over pulls the middle, and under pulls the outside edge. But done right, looks good, still need bondo, but very little!!! Good luck on this.

[xtrme_ta]

You have to use a stud welder on the seam. Theres no access from the inside of the door because of the crash bar behind it.

[BadVRod]

Looks like I'm gonna leave this one to the pros. I've never welded a single thing, and I'm not gonna practice on this car. Now if cars were wood...!

[mrpontiac80]

Looks like I'm gonna leave this one to the pros. I've never welded a single thing, and I'm not gonna practice on this car. Now if cars were wood...!

 

We'd all have accounts with terminex right???

[critter]

Nope. I've had Terminex. Never again.

[watchn]

I used to be a service manager at a car dealership. We used to use a paintless dent removal place. Like doctor dent or dentworks, theres lots of different names. But anyways to the point, these guys can do some amazing stuff but they also sometimes have to drill holes in places where u dont really see but some poeple dont want holes in there cars so be sure to mention that to the guy doing the dents.Each car used to cost around 100-130 depending on how long it takes.I've seen these guys pull out 5 inch long creases and you can hardly tell after there done.

[Red]

Yep ive had it done , onmy 79 hood and on a 79 camaro door worked great it was only $50 to $75 here i use them on my suburban all the time too.