DIY dents and scratches on the cheap?

seamus

Right, I've checked this out online and it seems doable. I'm going to look at trading in my '00 206 in the next 12 months. Only problem is that is has a small dent on the left wing (about the same diameter as an apple) and a series of scratches along the entire length of the right-hand side after I parked beside some bushes. So obviously it would help for the trade-in if I could get rid.

If I could even get rid of the scratches, that would help as it's them which make the car look most scruffy.

I've seen articles which recommend using fine-grain sandpaper and then a buffer. Has anyone done this and gotten good results? I tried Turtle wax and some wax stick thing to fill in the scratches, but it was crap, completely useless.

In terms of the dent, any repair "kits" I've seen involved drilling a small hole in, then pulling the dent out and refilling the hole. Can you get a good result from this? I'm going to try remove the wing again and knock it out, but I had no joy the last time I tried to get the wing off.

Ideally, I'd like to sort these for less than €200, as anything more probably wouldn't be worth it.

Neilw

For the dent you need to get a paintless dent removal done, prob cost around 100 euros if it can be done. Dent magig, dent master one of those places.

As for the scratch, the best way to improve it would be to wetsand the entire length of the scratch and follow up with a machine polish to bring back a shine.
This would only be possible if the scratch had not gone through the clear coat.
Steer clear of t-cut it's not very good, you could try meguiars scratch x which is far better then t-cut, this may improve it but prob wont remove the scratch completly.

Steve

Bear in mind that if it's not done perfectly, it might decrease your trade in value even more.
It's been said here before (by the dealers) that fixing a botched repair is more expensive than it would have been to fix the original dent.
I've also confirmed that talking to a few dealers recently on my hunt for the new oh's car. They can get a pro job done cheaper than you can.

seamus

Cheers guys.

I might run it by a dealer mate, based on what you've said Steve. He might tell me to forget about getting it sorted cos they'd get one of their young fellas to do it for next to nothing.

TomMc

seamus wrote: »

Right, I've checked this out online and it seems doable. I'm going to look at trading in my '00 206 in the next 12 months. Only problem is that is has a small dent on the left wing (about the same diameter as an apple)

In terms of the dent, any repair "kits" I've seen involved drilling a small hole in, then pulling the dent out and refilling the hole. Can you get a good result from this? I'm going to try remove the wing again and knock it out, but I had no joy the last time I tried to get the wing off.

Ideally, I'd like to sort these for less than €200, as anything more probably wouldn't be worth it.

Get one of the PDR guys to pop out the dent providing of course it is not near a corner or edge where the paint would crack more easily. Don't start doing it yourself or you will make a you know what of it. They use special tools to prise the panel (dent) outwards from behind. If you tap it yourself with anything too solid it could crack the paint or possibly warp the panel proud of what is required. A good partial respray would cost more than what you might lose leaving things as is.

As for the scratches, not wise to start wet sanding or machine buffing if you have never done it before. If your fingernail does not catch much all it needs is a scratch remover to flatten the hard edges and tone down the appearance of the marks. The lighter the colour the better the results will look. Meguiar's ScratchX is too mild for most jobs although very safe. If you go to Halfords or a motor factors and get Mer or Farecla's Scratch Remover and apply it very sparingly (pea size amount) in back & forth motions (not circles) and using light pressure only. Autoglym's Paint Renovator is pretty good too but the microfibre cloth you use is every bit as important in either case. The softer the better and the ones like suede are best of all.

Black_Knight

Friend of mine used a plunger on one or 2 dents! Really cant say it did a bad job. Youd want to know there was a dent there to spot anything.
Mightnt be a bad idea if its only a small dent.

Granted, he wasnt too concerned about making the dent worse. The dent was like if a football gave the panel a good whack.

Just a suggestion if you wanted to try it, if it goes to pot, then fix it as you have planed to do already.

Anyone else try this?

And an overall tip, know when to give up