Automobile Dent Repair: How to Gear up a Dent In Your Car

DIY paring repair saves hundreds of dollars

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Introduction

If y'all follow these steps, you can patch a car dent yourself in just an afternoon and save a few hundred bucks over body shop prices.

Tools Required

Materials Required

  • Body filler
  • Finishing glaze
  • Latex gloves
  • Sandpaper
  • Tack cloth
  • Wax remover

We've patched quite a few car scratches and dents in our day. We used to do information technology the same way we record drywall, by applying 5 pounds of body filler and so sanding off 4-9/10 lbs. And so we went to "boot camp" at 3M and learned there'south an easier way (as in, the right way) to do auto torso repair.

We asked practiced Jenn Melt, a senior technical service engineer at 3M, to walk you through the same machine dent repair process. Once the car dent repair is patched, y'all just spray on a primer glaze and matching paint from the dealer or an auto parts shop. The repair won't look like a professional job, but at to the lowest degree it won't stand out similar a sore thumb. Here'due south the process.

Project stride-by-stride (6)

Step 2

Remove the Paint

  • Start by removing the paint within and around the paring with 24-grit paper.
  • Switch to 80-dust sandpaper and paw-sand the unabridged dent.
  • Employ the same sandpaper to crude up and feather the pigment effectually the edges of the paring.
  • Clean the unabridged area with wax remover and a clean rag.
  • And then wipe with a tack material.

Sanding the car

Step 3

Mix the Filler

  • Spread the filler downwardly the mixing board in an S-shaped bend.
  • Then scoop information technology up and fold it over.
  • Repeat until the filler has a consistent color.
    • Don't mix body filler on a fleck piece of paper-thin. Instead, employ a mixing board or an old, clean cookie sheet you lot're willing to toss.

Mixing the filler

Step 4

Employ a "Tight" Start Coat

  • Scoop upwards some filler and press it hard into the rough metal.
  • Spread the filler to grade a "tight" coat. That volition burp air out of the scratches and wet the bare metal.

Adding the tight layer

Pace 5

Add together More than Filler

  • Wipe on a thicker "fill coat" layer of filler to completely fill up the paring.

Adding the fill layer

Footstep six

Sand to Shape and Glaze

  • Sand the filler to friction match the contours of the car body using 80- and 180-grit sandpaper.
  • Then plumage the edges of the filler right upwards to the painted edge.
  • Next, utilize finishing glaze to the entire patch and so sand with 180-grit and then 320-grit sandpaper.
  • Spray the patch with primer, and then paint it.
    • Use DIY car paint sealant to go on the patch looking fresh.

Sanding the patch

Originally Published: October xv, 2022