zdmz Posted July 26, 2004 Share Posted July 26, 2004 I just finished shaving the drip rails on my car and primered the roof. While sanding it out I notice several shallow dents in the roof. They are not real bad but they will probably be noticable when it is painted. I understand there is a way to remove dents by heating and cooling but I am not sure of the exact technique - anyone familiar with this???? The car still has the headliner in it and I really did not want to remove it - will this technique ruin the headliner?? I could try pounding them out with a hammer and dolly but that does not seem like it will be very good for the headliner either. I do not want to fill them all with bondo because IMO the metal on the roof can move around too much and I am afraid that bondo may pop off. Any other suggestions on how to fix this. Thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Drftn280zxt Posted July 26, 2004 Share Posted July 26, 2004 PM Terry. He's probably familiar with the technique. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Z-fried Posted July 26, 2004 Share Posted July 26, 2004 Heating and cooling is a very difficult technique. It is very easy to warp an entire panel, thus creating more problems than you had before. Also, the amount of heat required will most likely toast your headliner. I would pull the headliner and use a hammer and dolly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
preith Posted July 28, 2004 Share Posted July 28, 2004 I had the same problem, and had good results with real watery/thin bondo I bought the local autobody supply store. Forgive me, the name escapes me, but there are a few different manufactures out there. Anyway, the stuff sands awesome, kinda inbetween a glazing putty and bondo. You can lay nice thin coats on. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zdmz Posted July 29, 2004 Author Share Posted July 29, 2004 1 vote to pound them out and 1 vote to use bondo. I also had one friend suggest leading it. This leads to a couple of questions. How hard is it to put in a headliner? and: How likely is it that bondo would pop off the somewhat flexible roof? At this point I think I am leaning towards pounding the dents out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
preith Posted July 29, 2004 Share Posted July 29, 2004 It's been my experience that a hammer and dolly will never really get the entire dent out, maybe something like 99% of it. All the publications I read reflected this as well, and they would normally finish it off with a file. If they're real shallow dents like I had, I just cant see it working. I've seen many professionals use the same bondo, on roofs too. But you know how it is, they just want it out asap! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Capt_Zorro Posted August 1, 2004 Share Posted August 1, 2004 Check in the phone book for "paintless dent repair" I had a huge dent in my Wife's SHO that the body shop wanted $2,500 to fix. I found a guy locally that did it for $150.00. He'll have to drop the headliner, but I was amazed at what they could do. Adios Amigos, Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest butlersZ Posted August 1, 2004 Share Posted August 1, 2004 How about trying the "pops-a-dent" method? It's like a suction cup/vacuum thingy available at most auto parts stores. I have never used it myself, but friends say it works great on small shallow dents. https://www.asseenontvnetwork.com/vcc/ezdropshipper/popsadent/moreinfo/111300/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zdmz Posted August 1, 2004 Author Share Posted August 1, 2004 I had most of the day yesterday to work on the car. I was filling a couple of door dings and the spots where I welded up the holes for the decorative side strips. As I was working on things I chucked my sanding wheel into my 4 1/2 inch grinder an ground on the roof dents a bit and got them too hot to touch - then I doused them with a rag soaked in cold water. It actually pulled some of the dent out!!!! I got them good enough that I then filled the rest with a light weight filler. The filler is no more than a sixtheenth of an inch thick in the deepest spot. I am hoping that they will not pop out later. I did have someone tell me that dry ice is used to pull dents!?!?!?!? Not sure how that works. The closes dry ice to where I live is 50 miles away or I may have tried that. Anyway, got a lot of work done and now the car is about 1/2 primered, another day like that and I will be ready for paint. Thanks for the help with ideas. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dmyntti Posted August 2, 2004 Share Posted August 2, 2004 The dry ice method works just the same as the heating method. The idea is to rapidly cool the metal to cause the metal to contract and pull out the dent. By using dry ice you need much less heat to get the desired effect. My brothers F150 had some hail damage on its roof and the insurance adjuster suggested parking it in the sun and when it gets hot putting dry ice on the area. They ended up bringing it to a body shop that heated it and used dry ice and all of his dents came out without requiring any paint work. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tucker Posted September 21, 2010 Share Posted September 21, 2010 I have used the dry ice method for removing dents before. It actually does work pretty good. I had a dent from a foul ball at a little league game. I wrote an article on how to do this on DryIceNetwork.com. Basically here are the steps of what I did: Heat the area with a hairdryer Apply dry ice to center of the dent Remove dry ice and allow it to warm up Repeat 3 or 4 times if necessary Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
z-ya Posted September 21, 2010 Share Posted September 21, 2010 Bondo and block sand with a long sanding board with 80 grit. My roof was badly dented, now it looks great. Took a lot of sanding and filling, but I'm happy with the result. The other thing to keep in mind is if you headliner is in good shape, normal dent removal using heat or hammer/dolly tools is not an option. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobbyc Posted September 21, 2010 Share Posted September 21, 2010 you could also more than likely use something like the palm of your hand and just push up on the dent...through the headliner. there is nothing between the headliner and the roof skin. removing it's kind of a pain because it's foam backed and glued to the roof. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
19762802+2 Posted September 21, 2010 Share Posted September 21, 2010 (edited) you could also more than likely use something like the palm of your hand and just push up on the dent...through the headliner. there is nothing between the headliner and the roof skin. removing it's kind of a pain because it's foam backed and glued to the roof. Depending on the size of the dent, I don't think that would work, On my last z there were lots of dents large and small and I tried a hammer and even that didn't work. I have heard that you can use dry ice you can youtube it, I heard it works the best on small dents. If you have large dents in your hood you should probably bondo it or put in a sunroof or a ragtop that would be cool. Plus this thread is quite old, in case you guy's didn't notice that. Edited September 21, 2010 by 19752802+2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blue72 Posted September 22, 2010 Share Posted September 22, 2010 I've tried the dry ice thing. Did absolutely nothing on some stretched metal in a fender, or any other place I tried and I was at it on and off for the better part of an hour. Too bad this discussion took place 6 years ago. Looks like the OP hasn't even logged on since June of this year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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