Repair or replace a dent?

[SUX2BU99]

So on the 1st day of moving into our first real new house that we bought I was backing the truck up our rather steep and short driveway and backed into the garage door frame.    I now have a nice dent right below the passenger tailight on my truck. I have a roll pan instead of a bumper so the fender took the hit.  Would it be better to try and pound it out and then fill it smooth, use a dent puller as much as I can and then fill, or cut it out and put a new piece of metal in? It's in a bit of a weird spot with body creases and such around that I'm not too keen on cutting it. It's right on a bend though so it's probably going to be fairly hard to pull the dent or pound it out but at least it's keeping the fender all in tact.

[JJSZABO]

If it was me, I would try and pull it out or use a hammer and dolley and "pound" it out.

Cut and replacement should be your last effort.  Any time you add heat to a panel - you introduce a potential for corrosion to set in the heated area.  I will always try and reshape the metal and use filler before I use the mig.  Don't forget that you may have to shrink the metal once you get it pulled out.

Good luck and let us know how it goes.

[SUX2BU99]

Well the replacement method is where I differ a little. I don't know how to weld and would be doing a non-weld approach using adhesives like body panel adhesive or metallized epoxy. That's how I did my cab corner repair and I'm rather happy with it. Since the areas I need to repair are small and not really structural, I feel adhesives are acceptable. I know some body guys may not agree, but it's what works for me.

[JJSZABO]

Nothing wrong with body adhesive.  For those areas you are talking about I would agree.  I would still try and pull it first.

[Redneckchevy]

Well..get 5lbs of bondo and some duct tape!
Yea the adhesive isnt bad...Im a welder tho..I like it hot and warped lol
Any pics of the dent? I sorta no ware ur talking about but ...If its right at the bend you might want to do some replacing..Or take this opportunity as some learing time and make friends with a hammer and dolly

[Blazin]

I would pull / hammer and dolly it first. Then if it still needs replacement it is more the correct shape, & you might not have to replace such a big section. I am a body man, have used the adhesives before with good results. I would pull it with a Uni Spot dent puller, or pound it out from the back and then massage it with a hammer and dolly.

[JJSZABO]

Blazin would you be concerned about metal stretch? 

[Blazin]

You should be able to hammer and dolly any stretch out of it. I wouldnt use heat if thats what you mean?

[SUX2BU99]

Good tips. Since the metal isn't rusted or anything around there (maybe a little surface rust on a corner or something) then I'll try to work it as best I can and then smooth it with filler instead of cutting/replacing.  I'd like to leave as much original on it as I can. I'll post some pics soon.

[SUX2BU99]

So here are some pics. They are self-explanatory. The first is the dent I did when I backed into the house. The second is from a hit and run over 2 years ago. Actually, I think it was 3 years now. I pounded alot of it out, primered and painted over it with color-matched spray paint. The bad part is the hit creased the bottom of the fender a little bit, but it's not too bad.

So do those look poundable, or should they be cut out and replaced with new?

[JJSZABO]

Looks like Hammer and dolly time   Then a little filler.  Grind the paint off to bare metal to apply filler.

[75 C20]

not to jack your thread but what is the color of the truck in your pictures?

[SUX2BU99]

When I partially pounded out the dent in the driver fender, I didn't take it right down to metal. There was a very thick and seemingly very strong layer of primer on there. I figured I'd leave it on since it seemed to be doing pretty well. But I hear ya.

Good question on the color  I really don't know. I don't have the paint code for it. To me, it's pretty close to a typical Corvette yellow, maybe a shade or two lighter. It's a single stage, non-metallic paint. I was able to get color-matched spray bomb for it from the local auto body supply house. They used that camera on the gas filler door.

[JJSZABO]

You need to take it down to bare metal for the filler to "bite" into (36 to 80 grit scratches).  Filler is not made to bond to any primer or paint.

[SUX2BU99]

Absolutely, that I would do. When I did the previous repair, I didn't use any filler, but I know it will be required when I repair both of those. So you figure they are poundable eh? I'd rather do that then cut them out. That's a fair bit more work to accomplish.