chevelle3504speed Posted February 5, 2014 Report Posted February 5, 2014 Does anyone have any suggestions about how to fix hail damage economically? I have a very straight (or was very straight), original blue '91 GTP 5 speed that got hammered in a hail storm, and it just kills me. I can't justify spending nearly $3,000 to repair the damage. Any other ideas? Thanks, Andy Quote
Leadfoot Posted February 5, 2014 Report Posted February 5, 2014 Any pics of the damage? Is the $3k from a body shop? Have you talked to a reputable paintless dent repair place? Quote
Heartbeat1991 Posted February 5, 2014 Report Posted February 5, 2014 It can be done with a torch. You use low heat and circle around the dent in a somewhat spiraling motion towards the center. It should pop back out. Careful not to burn the paint. A hairdryer could work, I suppose. But I've never heard of it done that way. Quote
Crazy K Posted February 5, 2014 Report Posted February 5, 2014 heat gun for the same purpose? You can burn paint with it if you are not careful. Also heard to heat it up and then put ice on the spot. Quote
chevelle3504speed Posted February 6, 2014 Author Report Posted February 6, 2014 Thanks for the suggestions. I will post some pictures of the damage when I can. The $3,000 was a quote for the paintless repair. Traditional repair (filler and repaint) was $3,700. I will try a blow drier an then a torch if the blow drier doesn't work. I'm a little concerned about burning the paint with the torch though. Also, do you heat it on from the top side (i.e. painted side) or the bottom side? Quote
Heartbeat1991 Posted February 6, 2014 Report Posted February 6, 2014 Top side. you only need to warm it up good. Don't turn it up very high, and keep a good distance. Google search the procedure first. I am sure there are youtube videos out there on how to do it. Quote
Disbass69 Posted February 7, 2014 Report Posted February 7, 2014 Blow dryer followed by dry ice is what I did and it worked alright Weird I have a near mint blue 92 5 speed with minor hail damage. One year off and we'd be twins! Quote
chevelle3504speed Posted February 7, 2014 Author Report Posted February 7, 2014 Indeed we would! I've looked around on Google and youtube. I've seen guys using crazy things including bicycle tire pumps, popcorn, and the heat/compressed air combination to pop dents back out. I've got probably 100 dents at least so this would be quite time consuming. I'll give the heat/compressed air combination a go at some point and see what happens. Quote
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