Everytime I look at my car compared to most of you guys' cars, i truely want to break down and cry. It's a pitiful excuse for an F-body, but if I don't have power, maybe I can enhance the looks, right? Well, I met this guy who says he pops dents.. by "massaging" the panels from behind.. is this guy a hoax for money or does this really work?

 

I heard of people doing that, it will still leave an imperfection that has to be fixed. It will help a little bit I imagine. I don't know much about doing that since I have not seen it done or people talk about it much.

 

Finding straight panels at a junkyard isn't too hard. You can sand off whatever surface rust they have, prime/paint them, and exchange them for your dented panels.

Because, like devianb said, the massaged panel will almost never be perfect. The metal gets stretched when it gets dented, and will never go back perfectly.

BTW, for every perfect car you see pictures of on this site, there are probably 20 or 30 poor condition cars. Like mine, for example. Small dents, big dents, unpainted body panels, unattached body panels, little bit of rust, I've got it all.

Body work is expensive!

 

I have dents in my car my car too. 2 on the drivers door and one on the passenger fender. I also have a bit of rust on the lower body panels, inside th hatch, and a rust hole in the driver's side rear fender. I'm still in college right now. I can afford to have all the body work done and have it painted, but that would not be a smart thing to right now. I never know what unexpected expenses I might have.


Don't think every F-body on this board is show quality. I typically only show the pics of my car that have few imperfections. Mine is still in project state, but it looks slightly better than a beater.

 

If you looked at a pic of my GTA you'd think that the paint was pretty good, and it was clean. Fact is it wasn't by a long shot. There was a nasty dent(still there too) that isn't quite visible with the camera due to over exposure. Non of the dirt on the paint job even showed up at all.

Bad photography can make up for a lot of defects. BTW, you can see all of my cars defects in my sig link.

 

Billy mays says" By the ding king, get ripped off 20 dollers!".

Most of the paintless dent removal ive seen invloves drillign a hole in the underbody, stikcing a rod like thing and expanding it. Its a dumb way of doing it, and you can tell thiers dings left.

 

Ah the paintless dent removal. I've seen it done a few times, and as long as the paint isnt cracked ar chiped a qualified person can get the dent to near or perfect condition. My SC isnt show quality either but it looks good as long as you dont find all the small imperfections in my first time at doing body work. I mised quite a few small dents that I can swear they werent there. The only thing I hate not being able to bolt on or off is the rear quarter panels. The drivers side got smacked before I got the car and the body shop that fixed it did a poor job at it. I got it out pretty good for a first timer. Just keep the dream of fixing up your camaro and one day you will complete it.

 

Yeah, it seems depressing because the people who post the most pics are the people that have the best thirdgens. People who's thirdgens aren't that amazing tend to not post as many pics.

And yes, the camera hides a lot of defects.







I think my car looks great in these pictures, when in reality, the use of creative camera angles and the illusion a camera gives causes you to not see the passenger side door cylinder has been popped out, the damaged/peeling blackouts, the paint chips, the broken headlight assembly, the slight rust starting to creep up, the severely damaged rim on the front.........

 

i could use someone who can massage dents out!!!
someone just hit my car today and i want the dent gone but without using bondo. i most likely need paint on the door also. sad day today and very

 

Aw yes, you gotta love the angles. My fav is whats under the paint some times. This was after I pulled out the most of the damage left from before. Heres the after, you can still see a dip just under the sail panel.

 

We have a few guys where I work that do PDR, and they can take dents out pretty well. I've watched a few times, but mostly I'm busy doing my own thing. They take out hail damage, nasty dents, little dents, all kinds, and most of the time you can't tell there was anything there. If you get a good PDR guy, it's a lot faster (they do it in under an hour if there aren't too many dents) and easier than tracking down a replacement panel, and cheaper too since you won't have to buy a new part and have it painted to match. Just from seeing what these guys do daily, I'd recommend PDR.

 

Don't feel bad, infact be proud. Atleast you own a camaro and have somthing alot of people envy, even in ruff shape. I am proud of my RS. Ya she isn't in the greatest of shape but i own her and she runs well. even photos well if you do it right.

 

I personally have seen the dent removal done 1000;s of times. It works great! As long as he/she can get at the particular dents..Some spots can not be repaired this way but they should tell you which ones they can or cannot get.. If they are good..you'll be amazed at the difference when finished. I worked a used dealership for over a decade and we have done it to MANY cars and trucks..I recommend it from a good quality company...If they guarentee there work, then don't be afraid and go for it Just my .02

Keiran

 

Can't vouch for the quality of anyone else, but there is a company called dentmaster in the UK that massages dents out from behind the pannel. first time i saw his toolkit (loads of bent looking rods and a hammer) i thought "yeah, right." the results?

TOTALY UNBELIEVABLY UTTERLY AEWSOME. there was absolutely no trace of the dent, and it was a black car, and i was looking for 30 mins, the guy was an artisan

 

The guy I know who does it has about $10,000 worth tied up in those differnent rods and what not..It works! Trust me, just find yourself a well known company to deal with...Here the company is called "Dent Wizard".

 

yea ive heard of it, but does it work?

 

It works! Yes very well to...they should tell you if they can't get the dent out.

 

yea ive heard of it, but does it work?

 

its hard to pull a dent if the metal stretched..then there is no use

 

well without reading through every little thing i would have to tell you to quit your crying. you have a nice car.

yes most dents can be taken care of with the proper knowledge; dealerships especially have good people who can make a bad car look new.

you need to get together with other car people in your area and ask around. i've had some amazing things fixed on my own car. just don't fall into the hype of some of the made for tv stuff!

 

my body shop is amazing, he does Paintless Dent Removal also, he said it can be done best if there is a dent, but not crease

also if there is no crease, and good thing I have heard to try is dry ice.

 

CamaroChick: What size dents are you talking about? I know PDR places can take out door dings and hail damage and such, but I've never heard anyone taking their car there when the quarter panel is caved in.

My friend has an 87 Monte SS with 10K miles that was flawless except for 3-4 door dings. He had a PDR place fix it and you absolutely can't tell they were ever there. He now wins his class at about every show he attends.

 

My wife's ford ranger was nailed by a shopping cart at kmart last year and we took it to a guy that did paintless dent removal.

I watched him work on it the entire 30 minutes and he did a fantastic job. Never even know there was a dent there. Even if I told you there was.

Now I just need to remove the "slightly larger" dent in the front fendor where she rear ended a toyota tundra. hee hee.

 

I too feel this way. My Camaro is rusting out but I have no money to fix it. I look past the outer part of my car and look at the history of my car and I don't care what it looks like there are people out there that envy my car just because it is a Camaro. So don't worry too much about the looks and just cruise around and enjoy the piece of history you have.

 

Well.. let me make you feel a little better about your car ...

 

hey, everyone starts somewhere...............

 

Kandied91z you took your paint down to metal too. Did you use stripper, hand sand, or use a da sander. I used a da sander and if you stood at certian angles my SC looked like it was polished.

 

What is the average cost for PDR? I have 2 dents in my door from hitting a deer(it hit the front corner then bounced down the side...) that are golfball sized.

 

Yeah, I mean, it could look worse!

 

combination of all the above; i wasn't to happy about the choice of stripper though as it had to sit for quite a while for the metal to get rid of the chemical and cure. the stripper was actually a main reason on why the car had to be painted more than once.

took almost 8 months to get it right........

but hey, to have something that you love that's faster than a viper and looks better than a newer camaro all for under 20 g's i can't complain....sue me if i'm a little biased with the thirdgen's.

 

Heres some of my handi work.

Before.

 

After

Your car looks alot better now.

 

Its ugly, but still runs good.

 

Went from this:

To this:



My digital camera has a special setting... It acually HIDES any bad body panels you dont want seen in the picture.

 

I have the exact same dent on the driver side fender of my RS just like your blue RS...weired and cool at the same time...

 

The oil change guy at the dealership slammed my metal hood once with his palm and dented it. I went to the dealer and they paid Fixx-A-Dent to fix the dent. The guy handled all the used cars. I had him fix some other dents and he did a great job. He stayed away from the dents that would have messed up the paint. The ones he fixed...you could not tell there was ever a dent. Though the bigger the dent the harder it is. Mine were small door ding types. I would recommend talking to your local dealer. Go out there one day and watch the guy work. Usually the ones who work for the dealers are reputable and do a good job. They charge by the hour. The one who worked on my car drilled out a spot to access the back of the sheet metal and rubbed the dent out with a tool that looked like a crow bar with a curved rounded tip. He popped in a cap after to protect the hole. They drill in an hidden area.