Car dents appear on a vehicle’s body due to various reasons. One probable cause is a minor road accident. Or it may also be due to a hailing storm that just so happens to pass by when your car’s parked in the open. Whichever the cause, car dents can nevertheless be unsightly.
When the car dent is too big or complicated, then it would wise and practical to take your vehicle to the auto body shop with appropriate tools that can be used to repair your car properly. However if the dent on the car seems like something you can repair on your own, then settle on a more practical DIY car dent repairs.
Assessing the damage is the first step you need to do, you need to closely look at the car dent. If the metal has ripples and bumps that make the metal surface appear to have been folded, no question, your car needs a professional repairer. Otherwise, the car dent repair may just be done your own. There are common dents, which have not managed to crease and crumple the metal, that can be repaired just by tapping or popping it out back. For heavily dented car metal surfaces, a smart and logical solution is to just buy a panel replacement for that car section where the dent is.
For DIY car dent repairs, one useful tool that you will need is a common plunger. Just make sure the plunger is clean, though. Place the plunger on top of the car dent. In a considerably slow action and in steady manner, depress the plunger as you use it in the bathroom until no air remains. Make sure too that the plunger’s rubber head and the panel have a tight seal in between them. Then holding the plunger with a strong and heavy grip, steadily pull the plunger to pop out the dent from the metal surface of the car. For a more effective and tighter sealing, a useful tip is to slightly wet the rubber head of the household plunger. This process is ideal for use in side panels of the car where tapping procedure may be hard to accomplish.
The car’s hood, roof, trunk or parts of the vehicle which are flat and large are ideally applied with the tapping method of repairing car dents. The required materials for this methods are rubber mallet, block of wood and piece of old towel. The size of the car dent and the area you will be working with determine the measurement of the wood block you will use. However, the most preferable and convenient block of wood to use is one which you can grip comfortably with just a single hand.
The towel is to be wrapped around the wooden block. The block of wood obviously have edges or possibly some rough surfaces that will likely scratch the paint or the interior lining of the car. This is the reason why the block is wrapped with the old towel. Lay the block gently on the opposite side of the metal panel where the dent is then start tapping with the use of rubber mallet. Perform the task slowly and make sure you hit the wood on its flat surface and not on its edges.