# Dent repair



## Cranky Chain Cycles (Jun 3, 2019)

What tools are you all using for dents in fenders? Hammer and dolly? I’m hoping the generic 7-pc kits will do the trick. 


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## SJ_BIKER (Jun 3, 2019)

If you are gonna fix loads of them an english wheel/ fender roller is best. There a few who use other methods for shallow dents.


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## GTs58 (Jun 3, 2019)

Pretty amazing job here. To bad he doesn't show you his secret.


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## Cranky Chain Cycles (Jun 4, 2019)

It's the MPDR system by Dan Gromm.  Fast forward to 8:20. It's a $1K tool.





https://www.ultradenttools.com/products/set-31-mpdr-vise-stand-system


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## Cranky Chain Cycles (Jun 4, 2019)

Let me expand my list of dented parts to include tanks, chain guards, racks etc.


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## RustySprockets (Jun 4, 2019)

If you only have a few dimples and want to do things on the cheap, make yourself a sand or shot bag out of an old leather couch cushion.  Use the bag in place of a dolly to support the piece while you work out the blemish.  The bag can conform to the basic shape of the part, in a way that a rigid dolly cannot.  In the case of fenders, a shoemaker's anvil isn't a bad choice, either.


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## 49autocycledeluxe (Jun 4, 2019)

all you need is  these two. don't waste money on crap tools from Harbor freight. the hammer is by Martin, you can't go wrong with them.

I made a fender dolly for bicycles that is the same size as the inside of the fender.. made it out of a 2" long piece of tubing, then filled half with steel to give it more weight


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## Cranky Chain Cycles (Jun 4, 2019)

This is the fender in question. 






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## 49autocycledeluxe (Jun 4, 2019)

one thing you do not want to do, hit it from the inside 50 times to get it back to where it was. you will make more dents than what you are trying to fix. 
show a better photo of the dent


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## Cranky Chain Cycles (Jun 4, 2019)

49autocycledeluxe said:


> one thing you do not want to do, hit it from the inside 50 times to get it back to where it was. you will make more dents than what you are trying to fix.
> show a better photo of the dent




This is the sellers photo. I’m picking up the jaguar tomorrow. This project needs a lot of work so I’m trying to minimize headaches. If the deal goes through I’ll get some some pics. 


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## Cranky Chain Cycles (Jun 6, 2019)

The dent in question. Should be fun. I just ordered the Eastman 7-pc body kit. 







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## 49autocycledeluxe (Jun 6, 2019)

here's what you do. 

on the right side looking at the photo that is the part that is stretched. you want your dolly under that part and hit the high spot/stretched part with the hammer. you want to push with the dolly when hammering. 

 one thing a great many people do not realize is the metal does not know which is the hammer and which is the dolly. so most people would hammer the indented part from the inside trying to push it back out.  metal has a memory and wants to go back to the original shape, so you mainly want to hit where the metal has stretched and the center will pop back out pretty good. 

if this was a fender that was going to be painted rather than chrome a person could get it perfect with the proper techniques. being chrome would make that more difficult but you can at least get it much better


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## GTs58 (Jun 6, 2019)

That fender took a hard hit. I wouldn't use a hammer and dolly on that. Looking at the damage in the picture, I'd start by putting it on a table and pressing it out as far as possible first.


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## WES PINCHOT (Jun 6, 2019)

twinflight said:


> The dent in question. Should be fun. I just ordered the Eastman 7-pc body kit.
> 
> View attachment 1010736
> 
> ...



THAT IS ONE BIG DENT.  
IT LOOKS LIKE NO MATTER WHAT YOU DO, THE METAL HAS BEEN STRETCHED.
GOOD LUCK ENJOY!


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## 49autocycledeluxe (Jun 6, 2019)

GTs58 said:


> That fender took a hard hit. I wouldn't use a hammer and dolly on that. Looking at the damage in the picture, I'd start by putting it on a table and pressing it out as far as possible first.




when you pound down the crease the dent comes up. you work the stretched area first. then see what's left. 

pushing it out first will cause more damage.


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## redline1968 (Jun 7, 2019)

Looks like aluminum to me.. I’d start inside at the center not hard but lightly then once it’s up a bit ( should pull most of it up) don’t pound it on a dolly till it’s near the right curve.just pound it out lightly but firm otherwise you will stretch the metal by flatting it out...I’d work on the edges till it’s up.. it’s gonna look lumpy. Then dolly it out from the inside till most of it looks level.  Next check for curvature...should be close. continue to work it out till all of its out. If a small dent won’t come out then you have to slightly pick it out.  One or two small picks...If it’s too high you’ll have to shrink it with a pick again on the outside.  My guess if it’s aluminum you will have to pick an file it out lightly till it’s smooth there will be some small stretched spots.


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## 49autocycledeluxe (Jun 7, 2019)




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## redline1968 (Jun 7, 2019)

That’s Good advise. .  :that makes 40 yrs for me tooo....  :0 my new project and my finished 





49autocycledeluxe said:


> not to sound rude, but don't listen to these other peoples advice. I bought my first set of hammers and dollies 40 years ago. worked at a body shop for a few years doing restoration work. I've had my own "hobby" shop here for 22 years. watched all the videos and read all the books. this is not my first dent.


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## redline1968 (Jun 7, 2019)

Actually I take it back.. I like reading others opinions it helps improve and learn new things...so jump in but use caution till you get it right...


redline1968 said:


> That’s Good advise. .  :that makes 40 yrs for me tooo....  :0 my new project and my finished View attachment 1011284
> 
> View attachment 1011304


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## GTs58 (Jun 7, 2019)

The fender is stainless steel. Doing both pressing and hammering.


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## 49autocycledeluxe (Jun 7, 2019)

I may not be an expert at anything in real life but I like to play one on the internet.


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## 49autocycledeluxe (Jun 7, 2019)

..400 Firebird. nice.


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## razinhellcustomz (Jun 7, 2019)

twinflight said:


> This is the fender in question.
> 
> View attachment 1009918
> 
> ...



Man that is a pretty sizable dent!! You might want to consider a replacement fender. If that's not an option, i use a small ball peen hammer and a craftsman vise with the anvil end that works pretty good. Good luck and ride on. Razin. P.s. Send a pic of the front end of the bike. I really like that rack too!!


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## Sven (Jun 8, 2019)

49autocycledeluxe said:


> here's what you do.
> 
> one thing a great many people do not realize is the metal does not know which is the hammer and which is the dolly. so most people would hammer the indented part from the inside trying to push it back out.



That would be my dumb a55 self. 
Good luck.Post pictures of your results.


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## Cranky Chain Cycles (Jun 8, 2019)

razinhellcustomz said:


> Man that is a pretty sizable dent!! You might want to consider a replacement fender. If that's not an option, i use a small ball peen hammer and a craftsman vise with the anvil end that works pretty good. Good luck and ride on. Razin. P.s. Send a pic of the front end of the bike. I really like that rack too!!




After you hammer it out, would using an English roller be usable to fine tune it? I question if it would fit and if the fenders braces would get in the way. 


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## redline1968 (Jun 8, 2019)

Stainless is a harder metal it will take a better “beating”. Lol still to get it nice again ,  it will need some fine sanding and serious polishing to get it to shine up and it still will show every small dent left.. if not done right.. lot harder to get straight.   I hate stainless. Takes too much time to get perfect.. you know I think you should get a new panel. Straightening stainless you have to be really good at body work it’s not for the faint of hart and a novice it takes lots of patience and body work knowledge or get a fender roller on this one....doing it by hand isn’t easy.


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## razinhellcustomz (Jun 8, 2019)

twinflight said:


> After you hammer it out, would using an English roller be usable to fine tune it? I question if it would fit and if the fenders braces would get in the way.
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk



You could try an english wheel. I saw your front fender also has a big dent. Some body must have been really pissed off at your bike, or what made such huge dents? Ride on. Razin. P.S. The braces do come off. If their rivets, Drill out and replace with screws or new rivets. Easy Beans.


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## Brutuskend (Jun 8, 2019)

I had been looking for a good dolly for some time for fender work. Something with compound curves, and I finally got a 2 inch and a 4 inch heavy pvc pipe elbow. With the 2 inch one I can use it as a dolly for the inside of the fender and, after cutting the 4 inch in half, I can use that as a dolly for the outside of the fender. I had to do a little filing and sanding.to get things nice and smooth, but since I couldn't come up with anything steel with the curves I wanted, this works well for light hammering work.


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## morton (Jun 9, 2019)

Best dent repair "tool" ever is a class a bodyman for a friend.  My buddy worked on high dollar classics for a restoration shop, was a Corvette specialist at a busy GM dealer, straightened frames, and did about anything you can imagine with metal and fiberglass.  I would show him a dented fender, he would look at it for a few moments, get out the appropriate dolly/hammer, and presto, some tapping, a couple of coats of primer,  wet sand and the dent was gone. Note: I did the primer/wet sand! 

Never forget the time I was having trouble getting the door to latch properly on my MGA.  I was back and forth with that latch plate a hundred times but nothing worked.  He took one look at , said "give me a screw driver," and in 30 seconds I had a perfectly adjusted door latch!

He is retired now and has many interesting stories like the time an elderly lady brought back her Cadillac and complained he hadn't properly repaired her car.  She was in a huff because the emblems on her wheel covers weren't aligned on the front and rear wheels!  Knowing it was useless to argue, he apologized and made a big show of pulling the front wheel cover and carefully positioning it so the logo was in the same orientation as the rear.   His buddies in the shop were laughing the axes off the whole time, especailly when she thanked him for taking care of her problem and drove off.  Kicker to this story is she never came back to complain.  He guessed a friend or relative clued her in about _*wheel cover alignment. *_


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## 49autocycledeluxe (Jun 9, 2019)

here's a dolly I made just for fenders as well as my hammer and dolly drawer.  I use one hammer for 95% of what I do and really only 2 or 3 of the dollies, the others do have their purposes though.

for perfection I would use my shrinking disc on the creased / stretched parts as well.


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## Brutuskend (Jun 11, 2019)

Nice set of dollies.
And hammers too of course.


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## Cranky Chain Cycles (Jun 12, 2019)

Does anyone have any before and after photos? I’ve never done body work so I’m curious how to set my expectations since I’m OCD about projects. After you pop a dent back into place is there still a wrinkle? 


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## 49autocycledeluxe (Jun 12, 2019)

to get rid of the "wrinkle" which is the metal that has been stretched a person can shrink the stretch with heat via a torch or a shrinking disc. both take some skills where most likely a person would screw it up, you could probably get a nice fender for the price of a shrinking disc. 

the other option would be to sand the wrinkle out, then polish the whole fender back to shiny. (assuming this fender is stainless and not chrome)
on a regular painted steel fender you can sand the wrinkle out and just prime and block to perfection.  if it is chrome you can only make it better, perfect would be difficult at best


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## razinhellcustomz (Jun 12, 2019)

twinflight said:


> Does anyone have any before and after photos? I’ve never done body work so I’m curious how to set my expectations since I’m OCD about projects. After you pop a dent back into place is there still a wrinkle?
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk



Not if you do it rite. The process takes a little time. Slow and easy as you go. Good luck. RIDE ON. Razin.


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