Well, it happened. I noticed a small ding in the trunk lid of the XJ, and although I don't know how it happened, it appears to be at "shopping cart height", so I'm assuming that's what happened to the poor car....


Anyway, I'm pretty confident that I can "iron out" the ding myself, but in order to do so, I need to access the area where the ding is, and it's covered by a molded plastic piece, that also retains the trunk closing switch and the inside trunk release cable.


The "upper" part of the covering is retained by the "Phillips headed" plastic push-ins, and I'm familiar with them. The hard plastic piece, the one I need to remove, appears to be retained by two devices that also act as bumpers, to position the lid when it closes.


These bumpers have internal set screws, but they don't have anything to do with attaching the bumpers to the trunk lid (I already tried). Does anybody know how these bumpers are removed? I don't want to break anything, in trying to remove them.


Thanks in advance!

 

leadfoot4, how small dings like I am picturing you have do not require access to the back of the trunk lid. There are lots of videos on Youtube on this method, but in short you heat up the outside of the area you want the dent removed from using a heat gun. You then remove the heat gun and immediately apply some dry ice to the dent spot. The rapid cooling causes the metal to pull taught and pop out the dent. You will see some videos where they use compressed air cans and simply turn the can upside down. This is doing the same thing as you are taking the liquid that is inside the can and releasing the pressure and also applying it to a hot surface. This causes the liquid to flash to a vapor which causes a rapid cooling effect.

This may solve a few of your issues with minimal effort on your part.

 

That's an interesting concept. I'll have to give it a try. My only concern is that this ding is very close to the "character line" along the lid, and maybe it won't come out completely. However, I will give it a shot.

 

Thanks a lot thermo for this very useful tip. Btw, have you had any experience with those "suction" type method which I have seen advertised in Auto stores, whereby they supposedly pull the dent and pop them back in place?

 

LIquidIce, I haven't done the anti-dent tricks. I guess I am a believer in the little dents give the car character. I like to drive the car and I don't fret over the little dings that get put into a vehicle. I would think the dry ice/heat way is going to be much more effective than the suction aspect as the suction is very limited in what it can do due to simple physics.

 

Cheers, thanks mate!

 

I'm about ready to try this "trick", as I just bought a can of the dust remover, but has anybody actually tried this? I'm concerned about any ill effects to the paint, as in, the rapid cooling will cause it to flake off...

 

leadfoot, lots of videos on Youtube about this trick. Can't say that I have heard of anyone complaining about any problems.

On a side note, keep an eye out for a black 2012 XJ zooming through Webster on 104. I am up in the area working out at the nuclear plant and am zooming through at around 5:15 PM and 6:15 am.

 

OK, I'll give it a try. I saw some of the videos, and was impressed by the results. I was just concerned because the XJ is aluminum.


Be careful how you "zoom" through Webster!! If you'll be travelling on the Route 104 expressway, the State Troopers patrol the area with radar on a pretty regular basis.


There are two "turn-arounds" in the median strip, located between the Irondequoit Bay bridge, and the Five Mile Line Road overpass, where they tend to hang out. Yeah, I know the speed limit is a lame 55 MPH, but generally, if you keep it under 65, you should be OK, but be cautious!!

 

leadfoot4, oh, i know where they like to sit. I see them sitting there all the time. I normally let someone else be the fast car and then I trail about a 1/4 mile back. That way they will light up the brake lights and I then know I can coast down to a "safe" speed. Granted, the road work is making it difficult to keep up speed. Thankfully I am going through that area when things are light.

If you want to get together say on Saturday, let me know. It would need to be earlier in the day as I will have to work later that night. But, I am game to meet up with other members.

 

I appreciate the invite to meet. Unfortunately, my wife and I have a couple of aging family members that we take care of, usually on Saturdays....

 

OK, I'm back to "square one".....






I tried the "can of duster, upside down" twice. Didn't really work. I think I need to get inside the trunk lid, and "massage" the dent out by hand. Therefore, anybody know what the trick is, to remove the two "bumpers" that appear to be what's holding the lower panel in place??

 

It probably would not cost you all the effort spent if you would just let a paint less dent company handle it. Some dealers even have companies to come in and do it for them.
If you really know what you are doing than go for it but I am very cautious as to the work that I do on todays cars.
Now to answer your question, the bumpers are being held on by a flat metal retainers. Be very careful, I would probably tape off anything that I did not want to scratch.
Take a small flat head screwdriver and grab one end of that retainer and while spreading that retainer apart push it away from the bumper, it may fly off so be careful where it lands.
To reinstall just push the retainer back on the bumper, it will take a little force so just put the flat head on the back of the retainer and push. You can also take a pair of small needle nose pliers and grab the back of the retainer and push it on, this is much easier.

The retainer is at the base of the bumper and it is painted black so it is a little hard to see.

Good Luck....

 

"MHT", thanks for the info. I was kind of suspicious that was what had to be done, but I wasn't 100% certain. I didn't want to head off on some "misadventure", and wind up damaging something else, in my quest to fix the small ding.

 

Hi, did you ever find out how to loosen those nuts? Please advise. Thank you very much. Regards Tim

 

No, I didn't. At the time I wrote the original post, I had just taken the car off the road, for the winter, and I was going to work on the dent while it was parked. Initially, after not being successful with the rubber bumper removal, I got "sidetracked". And while the car sat, I decided that after we put it back on the road, once the winter's road salt was washed away by the spring rain, I'd call a professional dent removal technician. However, ironically, and very sadly, right after the car was back on the road, my wife was stopped for a traffic light, and some jackass "rear ended" her, and the car wound up being "totaled", due to the extent of the damage....

So, I'm sorry to say that I can't offer you any help.

 

Were you happy with how the paint-less dent guy repaired it?
Was it still visible?

What little work I have had done was very good. I was certainly skeptical at first and I will say I am picky but he did a good job. The only artifact was some scratching on the backside of the body panels from his tools. Had a tough one on a tiny gas flap and I was not sure he could get it. But surprisingly he did!

Now this was all done on steel body cars and I don't know how much more difficult it is repairing Aluminum body cars?
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"Club", if that question is directed to me, I have to say that I never got the paint-less dent removal to try the repair. A beat to crap, Oldsmobile Silhouette, driven by an unconscious 80 year old, "killed" the car. It happened 7 years ago, and we still miss that car......primarily the 4.2 engine that it had.

 

Thanks for reporting back but also sorry to hear about the end of your car!!
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