Hi

Last night I noticed a very small dent on the roof, towards the front right. You have to look closely to see it but once you know it's there, it's a bit annoying!

I was playing with the idea of pulling down the roof lining in this area only in the attempt to push out the dent from inside.

1. Anyone know if the outer surface of the roof accessible from the inside or is there some kind of cavity.

2. Anyone had this sort of problem and solved it?

Thanks

 

Hi Willafizz,


Strange dents periodically happen to me also, I've lived with some, but one as noticeable as yours on the roof would be bothersome. You'll feel much happier once it is fixed. Look around locally, there are bound to be some "dent fixers" who will know exactly what to do. they have the tools, techniques to do this right, and, best of all, they have practiced and perfected their methods on someone else's car! For a modest fee you can get rid of this irritant.


All the best,


Jerry Lippmann
1998 XK8 BRG
Santa Cruz CA

 

I've looked into paintless dent removal for all the door dings on my vechicle. I launched that topic here once, many endorsed it as really effective. Based on that I'm sure it can be done, just wonder how likely one can do it right the first time they try.

I've googled this topic, there are plenty of videos out there, though I don't remember ever finding one with specific step by step - here's how you do it - instructions. There are plenty of advertisments for specific tools to do it though.

Anyway, as I recall the going price for fixing a dent like that, from a professional, is pretty small, $50 - $100 from what others shared. If that is true why not get a quote from one of the paintless dent repair guys out there? When I get some $$ saved up I'm sure to use them.

BTW, I do remember that those with experience having this done recommend you "interview" the candidate. This is an art - you aren't perfect the 1st time you do it, it requires quite a finesse. Be sure to get someone with plenty of experience.

Oh yeah, as I opened your question, I have to admint I half expected to see someone asking about the "Dry Ice" fix. That's that one where websites and folks claim that using dry ice to contract the metal around a dent pops the dent right out = all is like new. The first time I heard about it I thought it made sense, lucky I researched further. It is an urban legend. No one has ever really seen it work :-) and plenty have tested it.

Good Luck with your dent mate.

 

These things are a pain as you can end up just seeing the dent and not the car.

If it isn't too close to a roof edge where the metal is double skinned, I imagine it should be doable once the door seal rubber is moved out of the way at the top if the tool isn't too thick. Any decent dent remover will tell you if it's feasible before he reaches for his fixing gear; just make sure that you don't get 'Bubba the ding-be-gone guy' (see Johnken's thread) on the job.

Good luck

Mike

 

Hi


Thanks for the responses. Fortunately the dent is hard enough to see that even I am not fully devastated! But like you say, it is the sort of thing I will see until it is fixed. As long as you can get to it from the inside, it should be possible to fix. I hope so anyway.


I can let you know how I get on (it will be next spring when the car is on the road again).


/Mark

 

Willafizz,

My Testarossa came off a trailer with a new crease in the roof after transport. Obviously the truck driver leaned on the roof getting in or getting out of it. The trucking company paid for the repair.

I did some local research and contracted a local Paintless Dent Removal guy. He did a stellar job in the repair and never touched the interior. He used a pulling technique from the outside. His only question to me was if the paint was factory. Apparently he has found that repaints do not work as well with the adhesives needed to affix his plastic pulling bits.

As Johnken said - make sure you interview the person that might do the work. And ask him for other people's cars he has worked on so you can see his work. These guys can be artists and your car can be flawless once again.

Curtis

 

+1 on the above

 

Don't get this guy:-

 

I pulled a small dent out of my roof using a suction cup (I used one designed for use in a shower stall for hanging stuff). Obviously make sure it is clean and lube it up with a bit with detail spray or similar. I pulled a sizeable dent out of the side of my Mom's car using an old fashioned toilet plunger (which my dad thought was one of the funniest things he had ever seen). So long as the dent has no sharp edges or creases, this technique works surprisingly well.


As others have said, a good paintless dent removal technician can do amazing things. I would stay away from trying to push the dent out from the underside, especially using any kind of tool, it is very easy to do more harm than good.

 

When I flew to Dallas to buy my car it had a fairly small, but very noticeable dent in the driver's door that did not show up on the photos of the car on the website. The guy who was selling it owned an auto repair garage and was selling it for the owner, who was out of the country. We drove it over to a body shop that he knew, dropped it off and went to lunch. When we came back it had been repaired and was no longer visible at all. I agree with those above that the guys who know what they are doing can usually repair most of the small dents that don't have, as 64vette mentions, "sharp edges or creases" to a point where they are no longer noticeable.

 

When we bought our 2000 vert it had numerous dents in the left front fender. i had budgeted to have them fixed and repaint the car. A friend suggested the paintless procedure and so i asked around at the new and used car lots in town who they use. Well Steve who came and took out 14 or 15 dents from the fender ( he said a fat man with a thick wallet in his pocket had caused them) and a couple on the trunk lid did an amazing job for us. It was about 300 Dollars or so and i could not be more pleased. Ask around the high end used lots who they use and i think you will be very pleased, Saved us a big chunk of the 5 Grand i had expected to spend on paint and body.