TomP

So my friend was hit by a deer, the stupid animal ran right into the driver's side of his bonneville. It dented in both doors, front and rear, but luckily, didn't get the rear quarter. I told him I'd fix it for him (he has no collision on it, older car, and no $$ to bring it to a bodyshop). So at first I was thinking about just getting two junkyard doors and painting them, then, I wondered if I could just bang the metal out. Yeah it's more work but I don't mind, it's a good learning experience- especially since it's not my car!

So, how would you take out a big dent? Don't you use a hammer & dolly to work from the outside of the dent in? I don't want him to wind up with the oil can effect. I plan on using a thin layer of filler to finish the repair.

Should I use a slide hammer? Near the rear of each door, the deer dented those areas in, right against the verticle edge of each door. I don't see how a hammer/dolly could get in there, so I was thinking of a slide hammer. But, will I get the oilcan effect?

Also, should I be using a shrinking hammer? (Still not sure how those special heads actually shrink the metal...) Or should I use a shrinking dolly? Or should I use both? And the dolly goes in the area you "can't swing a hammer in", so the dolly would be in the door panel, right? What's the proper use for a heel dolley as opposed to the normal dolly? Or are they just used for "available space"... space is small, so use a heel dolly?

Thanks for the info... on my car, my dents were small enough so I could just use filler on 'em; they were mostly door dings. The few bigger dents I had, I used a rubber mallet, and finished it off with filler. There was no oilcan effect, but, the dents weren't on big door panels like my friend's.

Haha, one more thing- I see a ton of hammers out there. Some have a flat back and a pointy tip, some have a flat back and a shrinking back, some look like a double ended chipping hammer, what are these for? I figure I'd leave the double ended chipping hammer alone, and buy the other two, but I don't really know why you'd want a pointy tip on a body hammer- seems like it'd dent the metal!

And if there's any good links on the net, or books I could buy, let me know! Thanks!!

TomP

Geez, nobody's swung a hammer or dolly in here? Am I in the wrong forum? I'll try reposting in Appearance, I guess...

Black85TransAm

the only thing can say is bang it out as best you can then what is creased, fill it w/ bondo sand that down and prime and paint it........

TomP

Well yeah, but I could do that with a rubber mallet. I'm interested in using the correct tools for this job... on the bodywork I did on my car back in '96, for some small dents, I used the mallet, and it worked fine... but no way a mallet will help these doors!

As a side note, Pep Boys is suddenly out of the body hammers. Figures. I guess everybody's trying to fix dents this summer, eh? I should've bought these a few months ago.

Chad Oliver

I use the hammer on the inside of the panel and place a dolly or rubber mallet on the outside(painted) surface to catch the blows and keep the metal from stretching out too much. A piece of 2x4 is always helpful for broad sections. I would try to stay away from the bondo and slide hammers.

TomP

Why stay away from Bondo? I certainly don't know enough (or have enough patience) to work a panel perfectly straight- do you? If so, that's cool. If not, what would you suggest I do? Or, are you suggesting the obvious, that I not use a thick coat of filler? People think that using filler results in a poor repair, but they've only seen poor filler work.

I finally used my body tools! I beat the hell out of a scrap piece of rusty 1/16" steel plate that's been in my basement, and used the hammer/dollies to work the dents out. I even "fixed" an oil-can effect! The steel became flat enough to use the "correct" thin coat of Bondo. I hope to work on the doors this weekend...

TomP

The door came out damned nice! I worked on it this Saturday; started around 2:00pm, so I didn't get enough time to finish it. But, I used the hammer & dolly to work most of the panel out. On the extreme edge, we had to use the slide hammer, and then I tapped "against" the slide hammer. While pulling on the handle of the slide hammer, I'd tap with the body hammer on the door... sort of like using the slide hammer as a dolly.

The metal came out so good, it was almost flat! I tapped it in a bit so I could throw a thin coat of Bondo on it.

I wound up with the oilcan effect near the end of the job. I tapped around the area, "off-dolly" technique, and the metal got firm again. Amazing! It was really slick to see these tools work, instead of just read about how they should work.

All that's left (for the front driver's side door) is to grind the paint away, weld the slide hammer holes shut, put a thin coat of filler over the area, get the panel flat, prime, and then paint! Then I have to go to the rear driver's side door (worse damage).

Stupid deer!