I Need Your Help!!

CoachBoone · 06-29-2004, 08:39 AM

Took my itan from Portland, OR to Woodinville, WA, towed my 32 foot Jayco travel trailer, it did great! BUT when I unhitched, I pulled the pin out of the receiver hitch as we took everything down at the storage place, and I set the pin with cotter pin still in it on my bumper. My boy then lowers the gate to throw some stuff in the bed and the cotter pin is sticking up and puts a ball point pen dimple dent right above the 5.6 SE. Does anyone with any body experience think this can be repaired or should I just get some goofy decal to cover? It's onlymaybe 1/16" deep, I am just crushed! I'm a picky bastard and I didn't want my first dent to be due to my boneheadedness. Any ideas out there?

Devils Madness · 06-29-2004, 09:20 AM

I'd say live with it or find a decal..it would be expensive to fix(I just went that route with the wifes car)..don't be to hard on your boy..

CoachBoone · 06-29-2004, 09:40 AM

Ha! I'll tell him to read that.....he loves this site as much as I do! It wasn't his fault, I was the dorf that put the damn thing on the bumber, cotter pin pointing straight up.....who woulda thunk it, eh?
Thanks for the feedback.

greg w · 06-29-2004, 09:46 AM

I did about the same thing when getting my tonneau lid put on. The guy layed the clamp on my bumper and I opened the tailgate. Inch long scratch other side. Was really PO'd at myself for a while. It passes sort of.
The installer was really sorry but I told him I did it not him.

Jericho9mm · 06-29-2004, 11:06 AM

Yo Coach, sorry to hear that, I'm really anal about dents too. I asked around how to get a dent fix on my little 200 SX and the cheapest I found was for 200 dollars. They charge per panel for a dent like that. I ended with a bullet hole decal.

mcq · 06-29-2004, 01:34 PM

Dad, we need to get a really cool decal for that dent!!...nothing dorky!! Maybe like what Jericho9mm said, like a bullet hole decal!

Steamguy · 06-29-2004, 01:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CoachBoone

<SNIP>Any ideas out there?

Coach,

I've had good luck with an old-fashioned remedy for parking lot bumps in my wife's Pathfinder:

Park the truck so the dent will be in full, hot sun and let it get good and hot all day. Come out with a half dozen ice cubes and start cooling the center of the dimple, working in a circular motion out to close to the edge of it. But not all the way to the edge. This is key. You're shrinking the metal in the center of the dent so that it can jump back to its previous form.

If you're lucky, it'll go "bing!" and will pop out. You can treat it a couple of times and sometimes get it to fix itself. This has worked for me about a dozen times so far.

This will also work to lessen the dent before you go to the Paintless Dent Repair guys (lots of body shops offer it) and have it fixed. Paintless Dent Repair is surprisingly cheap.

Jericho9mm · 06-30-2004, 07:03 AM

HA HA HA!!! Funny guy, mcq...LOL!

CoachBoone · 06-30-2004, 07:43 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jericho9mm

HA HA HA!!! Funny guy, mcq...LOL!

And he really IS my son! He posted from home while I was at work.......hell, he comes here for info more than I do!

Jericho9mm · 06-30-2004, 08:04 AM

Coach, I tried what steamguy has been doing with all the dents on his car. One of the dent actually popped. So, thanks Steamguy....

CoachBoone · 06-30-2004, 08:15 AM

Didn't work. But I got thinking if we took off the tailgate and lay it flat, then drop tiny drops of paint from my touch-up kit till it levels with the gate panel. Sound like that might work?
Anyone know how to remove the tailgate?

Austin · 06-30-2004, 09:33 AM

That's not a good use of touch up paint. Instead of having a little dent with shiny paint, you'll have a ripple with a dull look.

If popping the dent yourself didn't work, you probably need to stop by a dent removal place.

Austin · 06-30-2004, 09:35 AM

Oh, and since you asked...

Unclip the two tailgate cables. Open the tailgate to a 45 degree angle. The hinge on one side (passenger, iirc) will pop out at a 45 degree angle, then slide the other side off.

pciley · 06-30-2004, 07:11 PM

The ice cube thing only works on very shallow, soft dents with no sharp crease or point in them. I am a PDR (Paintless Dent Repair) technician, there is another member who does this for a living also. If you live near So Cal, I can help you out, otherwise bring your truck to a PDR place. If it is that low, they will probably access the dent from the side of the tailgate, rather than from behind. Depending on how sharp the dent is, it may or may not come out perfectly. You should not pay more than about $79 for this small dent if a mobile tech comes to you. If you drive it to a shop, don't pay more than $60.
Good luck!

PS, if you want a guy from the company i work for to come out, go to DentPro.com and shoot them an email by clicking on "Get a quote" OR "Make an Apointment." They will dispatch your info/phone# to a local tech and he will contact you directly (2-3 days turn around for contact)

37L1 · 06-30-2004, 10:48 PM

Dent Pro: Highly recommended. Next day out to your job site, removed dent, buffed out scratches, looks like new, really, couldn't tell where dent was. Charge is factored on size of dent, mine was about 4-5". $189, with no worries about paint matches or taking it to a conventional repair shop, to wait weeks for a job that maybe is or is not acceptable. Saved about $500-600.

Extremely pleased.

37L1