Today a friend and I were pulling out of a parking lot to go to the track and he hit me on my rear left panel just behind the door...In comparison i would say the dent is about as round as a head of lettuce...and its about 2 to about 2 1/2 inches deep...Can someone please give me some advice on what I should do...the rear panel doesnt look like it comes off easily....please someone let me know what I can do for this. I know its my first post and all so please dont flame me for that...Thanks in advance!


Josh

 

that panel is welded to the unibody... ie.- you cant just unbolt it and take it off to fix....

If it has a crease in it, it will be hard for anyone to pull it out and make it perfect.... looks like its time to bring it to a body shop, unless you are a professional and can fill it and paint it.....

 

Well you can pull the dent out with a stud gun. Or buy a new quarter panel and replace it but i replaced the driver side quarter panel on my 01 SS and from GM it was $550 for the quarter panel and there are about 100 spot welds. I would say if you know how to pull a dent using a stud gun then give that a shot or just take it to a body shop.
Brent

 

yea mine is an 01 SS and this is the only thing thats ever happened to it...it really pisses me off cause i knew that it was welded on there so i wasnt sure if the stud gun or not would work...and i know that if i take it to the body shop its gonna cost an arm and a leg to have it looking the same...so should i just buy a new panel? or have someone try a stud gun? thanks for the advice anyone else?

 

A few years ago I got mad and kicked my 'Z in the exact same location that you had your accident, and received the same type of damage. I went to a few body shops and they quoted me about $1300!
A coupla' months later a co-worker and I were talking about the damage and out of nowhere he "punches" the dent with his fist and it just popped out. I'm not saying that you can get off that easy, but I'd research as much as possible and maybe even try something before you take it to the professional (thieves)...

 

as long as it's round and doesn't have any kinks in it, you might try to find someone (or someone at a body shop) who has a suction cup. obviously it's gotta be a pretty big one, but when i was taking my auto body classes we had a bunch of spare fenders and stuff, and our instructor just made a dent in the fender or hood or whatever it was, then stuck the suction cup on there and it popped it back out. BUT it still would have needed a little bit of work, which i'm gonna guess is what will happen with yours. If you can get it to pop out, i doubt that it will be perfect - and if you're picky then you're still gonna need some work done to it.
and trust me, if you're thinking of replacing the quarter panel it's not as easy as just cutting out 100 spot welds or however many there are. It would take a lot more work than that. We replaced a quarter panel on a 01 or 02 camaro at school and it was a PITA. then, once you replace it then you have to have it painted, blend the paint into your door, and maybe your hatch, which means re-clearing all of those panels as well...

if it was mine i'd just see what could be done about the dent itself instead of replacing the quarter. depending on how bad it is any good, competent body guy should be able to fix it. then, you would only have to paint a smaller spot on your quarter and then just reclear the quarter panel, then you would be done.

Sorry for the short novel, just thought i'd try to help

oh, and it would help alot if you could put up some pics too!

 

^^^LMAO at the suction cup idea!! Even if you can pull it out with a suction cup (Which I doubt there's one strong enough if it's what I'm picturing), it would still need to be shrunk and then have the body work done to it.

Take it to a body shop, you can't make it look any better by yourself.

 

ill post up pictured tonight...and you guys can look at the damage and give your .02 on it...pictures will be up soon

 

Take a heat gun and heat up the area hot to touch but not blistering the paint.. You also can use a hot hair dryer but takes longer.. Once the area is hot take a can of air .. The kind used to clean electronics... Flip the can upside down and spray the hot area.. It will cool the hot metal down super fast pulling the metal back into place.. This only works on NONCREASED dents that arent crazy deep..

 

hmm...sounds like an interesting way to go about it...anyone else ever heard o this method?

 

yea Im interested in the same method as well...sounds like itd work

 

I still say that you can pop the dent out. Obviously it won't be as good as before the accident, but do you really wanna' spend over a grand for that minor dent? Get an estimate from a bumper repair type of business-I bet they'll give you a more friendly price. And yes the suction cup method can work depending on the damage!

 

Ive done the suction cup quite a few times, Ive just never heard of the hot air gun before

 

go to your local dealership body shop and ask them if they know anyone who does paintless dent repair, i know that you dent is pretty big and you really only here of them doing it on door dings and such but a good pdr guy can fix it of at least make it look better at a fraction of the cost of having a bodyshop fix it. when he is done if its not to your liking then take it to a body shop and have them fix the dent it will still be cheaper because most of the dent will be gone. do not replace your quarter panel over a dent and also hope your car is black any other color and a body shop will or should blend your door for color match which just means more $$$$.

 

Probably not the best advice.

 

quit laughin i'm not the only who said it might work... lol

 

Here are some pictures of the dent...Let the advice pour in now that you can all see the damage...

 

Hmmmm.....I was thinking for some reason it was up higher. Was the paint chipped before this little mishap?

 

on the very rim of the door yes...other then that no...why you ask?

 

Oh and I just entertained the idea of the whole hot gun and CO2...and that was a no go...