there is nothing that bothers me more about my camaro then the ripples that you can see if you look along side the doors. its really an eyesore, and ruins the look of an otherwise nice car. it needs to be repainted, but i want to make sure everything is ready before i take it into the paint shop. im sure someone else has ran into this rippled door dilemma, and what would be the correct way to fix it? should i order door skins and if so how hard would it be to install them? would any body shop be able to bang these dings up (price range?)? thanks

 

Notice my door ripples. You can get them out yourself if they are too bad. They make a dent pulling kit, you make some very small holes use a speical dent puller and pull the dents out, sand and fill the holes, and bang your done. Look into that before you spend money getting someone else to do it.

[This message has been edited by un4givin89 (edited July 21, 2001).]

 

The days of drilling holes and screwing in the dent puller are over. Now there are tools that spot weld themselves temporarily to the dent. Then with a fulcrum arm and pad you pull the dent out. This allows you to "tack" a zillion spots around the dent until you get it right, then grind off the spot weld residue with no holes to fill.

It is much quicker and more accurate. In addition... on the other end of the tool is a nib to "shrink" the metal. This is really the most important part.

Your ripples are probably caused by someone elses previous "improper" body work. When you get a dent the metal stretches. You have to shrink it to get it right. If you don't that newly "expanded" metal has to go somewhere and do something so it usually "ripples".

At least go by a body shop and get a comparison for taking out the ripples vs. new door skins.

 

that sounds pretty interesting, i never even knew about it, I'm gonna check that out sometime.

 

Gotta watch that spot welder tho--once I held it on too long and almost put a hole in the door! DOH

 

un4givin

nice looking ride!


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its photoshoped, just to let ya know, but thats the end goal, minus the ripples

 

I have slight ripples in the door panels and I was quoted $250 to remove all the ripples and a few minor dings. All this is only visible when looking down the car. There is a very reputable paintless dent removal company here that said that the doors can be smoothed from the inside. The ripples are caused by people leaning against the panel. The door is hollow and has a large flat area. Leaning against it flexes the panel and causes the minor ripple. As time goes by and more leaning happens, more ripples happen. Find a good dent removal company (not a national chain) and get a quote.

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87 IROC 350 TPI with less than 10k original miles
93 Z28 Pace Car #494 of 645
86 Olds 442 (All Original)
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There's ripples and there's dents, and they are 2 very different things. That black car posted above has dents. Ripples are what makes an otherwise fine door look like it's waving to you when you look down the side of the car. My IROC even has them. When you repair damaged metal, it can stretch, and the result is the rippling. It's nearly impossible to see until the car has nice shiny paint on it. My doors looked great until the clear coat went on. There are 2 solutions: have an expert spend many, many hours shrinking the metal and straightening it, or buy new doors/skins. My IROC gets new doors next time around.

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