Dent Repair

sprint_9

Rookie
I need to repair a box side on my C10, I think its safe to say this box side is cursed. I stepped on a stupid floor jack and tipped the damn thing into the box side. As hard as it it Im shocked there isnt more damage.

My first thought was to try a paintless dent repair guy to see if he can get the dent out and then just treat the chip as a rock chip, a coat of base and then fill with clear till its level and then cut it flat when I cut and buff the outside of the box later this fall.

My second thought was to repair on my own if he cant get the dent out. Im not really sure what steps I should take if this is the case. I would assume sand the clear, not sure on a grit to use?, and then epoxy, and then probably some dolphin glaze, spot in base and re clear the box side?

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Sure wouldn't hurt to let the PDR guy try and get the dent out, but more than likely you will end up spotting the base and reclearing or YOU'LL know it's there. I would just block that spot with a small 2" block with some 180 or 220, feather it out with 320, epoxy, fill with filler of choice, more epoxy, base and clear. Sorry for your pain:(
 
That was pretty much my thoughts, I figure I will end up repairing it but maybe Ill get lucky, nothing else maybe I wont need as much filler. Worse part about it is masking all this is going to suck, that is honestly the part Im looking forward to the least, the rest will be easy.

Thanks for your set of steps with grits.
 
That sucks. Is there access to the back of that dent? Hard to tell from the photo but I have to agree that the color/ clear is damaged and you will probably have to spot in and re-clear to make it right again.
 
ld have the pdr guy get that nice and flat then compound it a little and very carefully touch it up with a toothpick and some single stage, finesse. Keep it tiny. ...Unless it's a show truck. May be less noticeable that a panel blend.
 
From my experience, I don't think you will be happy with the touch up method. Especially since the rest of the truck looks perfect.
If you have access to the back side try employing the PDR technique of applying pressure to remove the dent as best you can.
From there you will need to sand, fill, prime, base the damaged area and then re-clear the entire panel for best results.
 
That sucks man! If you have a PDR guy come and push it out and you're happy with the contour, you can always try using a small brush to touchup the chip with base and clear and sand it smooth. If you don't like it, you can always do a spot repair with high build and repaint just that side of the bed. If you end up repainting that bedside, you can blend that panel and it would probably look good.
 
I was thinking about access to the backside and while most of the box has ample access, where this dent is does not have a whole lot.

I'm almost thinking it will be a lost cause with the pdr guy due to bad access and with how thick this metal is compared to a new vehicle. Maybe if the metal were thinner the access wouldn't be such an issue.

I'm wondering If I should use regular filler or putty, how much would you fill with putty?
 
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I had this truck come back with a chip in the hood. Owner had put a tarp over it and the buckle came loose and smacked the hood.
He tried to fill it but at cars shows people would walk right up and point to it.
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I used a DA with 80 grit to clean and feather the area to about twice its original size.
Applied filler to level and block sanded even with the surface.
Sprayed just the sanded area with 2k and wet sanded the entire hood 600. (Since I painted it, I new there were 3 good coats of clear so no worries about sanding through.)
When ready I dusted just the spot with base, next coat of base I went a bit farther and third coat even farther. At this point the repair looked invisible and the blend was perfect.
I sprayed 2 coats of UV clear and then one more with reducer added.
Hood.JPG
 
I went out to the shop and measured my box side after I posted earlier today. As best as I can figure at the top of the side the two panels really come together and at most there is a 3/16 of an inch of space between the inner and outer skin. Given that info I pretty much gave up on the pdr guy and will just fix it myself by filling, spotting and re clearing. If things go good with the long weekend I should be able to maybe get it done this weekend, if not then some day next week I can clear.
 
I dont, I know a guy that does have a cheap one. Is it worth it to get it down to metal and use one? Its pretty shallow and no bigger around than a quarter, the chip itself is about the size of a pencil eraser and its down to 2k.

Looking at it today after the red mist had cleared the shop I didnt think it was as bad as I thought when it happened.
 
Even with a small dent it is always preferable to work it out rather than fill it. Even with small dings like that it can sometimes cause the metal around it to go high, and then you have to knock those areas down to get it to block out. If you have access to one it would be nice. Take the area around it to metal. About the area of a half dollar. Weld a stud, use the slide hammer, gently tap with the slide hammer, or if you have a slight high around it, (even if you don't you can use this technique) use the slide hammer or some vise grips and pull and hold some tension on the stud and gently tap around the dent. The tension combined with the tapping will cause the low area to come up. Get it close, then either epoxy then glaze, or glaze then epoxy and proceed.
 
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