gibson.morgan•1d agoProlific Poster

Picked up a trick for fixing door dings without bondo

I was watching this old timer at a shop in Denver last month work on a Honda Accord with a nasty crease on the rear door. He spent like 20 minutes just tapping it out with a body hammer and a dolly from the back side, barely touched any filler. It got me thinking about how I usually just glob on bondo for small dents like that. So I tried his method on a Chevy Malibu this week, took my time with the hammer and heat gun, and got it 90% smooth with just a thin skim coat. Saved me about an hour of sanding and probably $20 in filler. Has anyone else gone back to more hammer work instead of piling on the bondo?

3 comments

3 Comments

kaigibson1d ago

Yeah but how bad was the dent REALLY though? I've tried that old school hammer and dolly method on a few jobs and half the time I end up stretching the metal so bad I gotta use more mud than I would've in the first place. That old timer probably had 40 years of FEEL for when to stop tapping. I feel like us younger guys watch one video and think we can skip the bondo but end up making a mess. Did you actually check how much the panel moved with a straight edge after you were done hammering? Because I've had dents that LOOKED 90% smooth but were still wavy as hell under a guide coat.

foster.jordan1d ago

Man, I used to be the same way. I figured if you could hammer it down and feel with your thumb that it was close, you were good to go. Then I tried my hand on a buddy's classic Mustang quarter panel and thought I had it dialed, but when I hit it with primer it looked like a wave pool. That's when I finally understood what people mean about the feel. It's not just getting the dent out, it's about the metal not being stretched out of shape. I started checking with a straight edge after every three or four taps and realized I was just moving metal around, not bringing it back to where it was. The old timer I talked to at a car show said it's more about listening to the metal than looking at it, and that changed everything for me.

fiona_kim1d ago

half the time I end up stretching the metal" - yep, same thing happens with overwatering plants or overthinking relationships.