Pulling out dents

[richard wright]

I've noticed a very light dent on the side of my hymer. It's slight. Looks as though someone fell into it.
Question is, can you get them pulled out? The metal isn't creased so I'm thinking a sucker could potentially pull it out?

 

[richard wright]

It's the side of a 2002 hymer

 

[Baggers53]

Go on the web and find either Dent Wizard or Dent Devil. both come out to you and do an exellent
job at reasonable rates.

 

[tonyidle]

As it's aluminium, not steel, and is bonded to a stiff foam, I doubt that it can be pulled out at all.

 

[richard wright]

Yes Tony but why can't it be manipulated out if it's only a slight dent with no creases?

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[Lenny HB]

Aluminum stretches it you try and pull it out you will end up with a bump, that is even if you can with it bonded to the foam.
If it is really noticeable a good body shop could fill and respray the area if done properly should blend in perfectly.
Had a repair done on our first Hymer after a little prang you would have never known it had been filled and sprayed and that was on a champagne gold metallic finish.

 

[funflair]

Yes Tony but why can't it be manipulated out if it's only a slight dent with no creases?

You can't get to the back of it when it's a foam sandwich panel, if you took a panel off the inside and dug the foam out to get to it you stand a chance of making a bigger mess.

Martin

 

[airwave]

I've noticed a very light dent on the side of my hymer.

Ah , now then , i'm sorry my friend , but i have to concur with all that's being said , above .

That said , i know exactly where your coming from , having recently brought a 2000 hymer , i've just discovered two very small impact dent's in the rear panel myself . They don't leap out at you , so i think , maybe it's best just to live with them . The best way to remove such a dent is from behind , but the hymer's construction , preclude's that kind of repair , the alley is bonded directly to a foam core . Access to the rear could only be perfected by removal of the foam . Another method , using a slide hammer would probably only succeed in ripping the screw out of the thin alley , possibly making a bigger mess , you would also be left with a hole , needed for the slide hammer to grip the side , to deal with the . I'm not sure i would attempt a repair , using a sucker on this type of construction . It could also make matter's worst , the thin alley will already be deformed and the foam will be adding strength . The only real option , is the use of filler , however such a repair automatically involve's the use of paint to blend it in , and with a vehicle that's 17 year's old , paint fade may also become an issue . This in turn could mean the repair not only get's silly , but expensive as a complete rear end respray maybe needed , and all this , for the sake of a couple of small dent's .

I would personally take another look at your dent , see if you can leave it alone , and just live with it . It could save you any awful lot of money , in the long run .

 

[Crazylegs]

Ah , now then , i'm sorry my friend , but i have to concur with all that's being said , above .

That said , i know exactly where your coming from , having recently brought a 2000 hymer , i've just discovered two very small impact dent's in the rear panel myself . They don't leap out at you , so i think , maybe it's best just to live with them . The best way to remove such a dent is from behind , but the hymer's construction , preclude's that kind of repair , the alley is bonded directly to a foam core . Access to the rear could only be perfected by removal of the foam . Another method , using a slide hammer would probably only succeed in ripping the screw out of the thin alley , possibly making a bigger mess , you would also be left with a hole , needed for the slide hammer to grip the side , to deal with the . I'm not sure i would attempt a repair , using a sucker on this type of construction . It could also make matter's worst , the thin alley will already be deformed and the foam will be adding strength . The only real option , is the use of filler , however such a repair automatically involve's the use of paint to blend it in , and with a vehicle that's 17 year's old , paint fade may also become an issue . This in turn could mean the repair not only get's silly , but expensive as a complete rear end respray maybe needed , and all this , for the sake of a couple of small dent's .

I would personally take another look at your dent , see if you can leave it alone , and just live with it . It could save you any awful lot of money , in the long run .

All of the above is fairly accurate, there is however a slide hammer option where the fixing is by bonding to the exterior surface with glue, later released with a agent, this method of dent removal is not very precise and a skilled man who can do this would be extremely hard to find.

 

[WSandME]

I have heard of people using a suitably humourous sticker over a dent

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[airwave]

method of dent removal is not very precise

I gotta be honest , i have removed dent's with mine , but i didn't find that very precise either , so i can understand what your saying . The best method is to get behind the dent , with a shrinker . I didn't know about the glue on head , but i can't imagine that being any better in this case , sometime's it's better to just leave well alone . It's just the disadvantage of the hymer construction system .

 

[laird of Dunstan]

I used to have my own business doing this find of thing,Paintless dent removal etc and also the old fashoned way ,pudding and paint (filler to you chaps) ,there has been a lot of good advice in previous posts. Aluminium does not lend itself to paintless dent removal ,that technique only works on steel , slide hammers require some sort of fixing ,if you use a screw you have to drill the metal first ,chemical bonding will damage the paint.
if you have it repaired using filler and paint ,it may well leave the panel looking different from the rest of the vehicle ,paint can be very closely matched and using skill can be blended in to become invisible ,but a panel with new paint on it may stand out a little

 

[Shrimp]

Personally I would leave the dent alone unless it's broken through. It will look wise & show up more if you try to get rid of it which will be quite hard on a Hymer as (said earlier) it's a skin of Alumimium bonded to a thick layer of insulation-about 25-30 mm thick!

 

[Crazylegs]

I used to have my own business doing this find of thing,Paintless dent removal etc and also the old fashoned way ,pudding and paint (filler to you chaps) ,there has been a lot of good advice in previous posts. Aluminium does not lend itself to paintless dent removal ,that technique only works on steel , slide hammers require some sort of fixing ,if you use a screw you have to drill the metal first ,chemical bonding will damage the paint.
if you have it repaired using filler and paint ,it may well leave the panel looking different from the rest of the vehicle ,paint can be very closely matched and using skill can be blended in to become invisible ,but a panel with new paint on it may stand out a little

Ex dent man eh ? No wonder you call yourself a Laird, I see the invoices you guys issue.Just to bring you up to date there are now a number of
Aluminium bodied cars like Audi, Jaguar and Mercedes, pdr repairs are possible, the process is a little different to the conventional one you are familiar with, best summarised as slower and with heat.

 

[funflair]

Ex dent man eh ? No wonder you call yourself a Laird, I see the invoices you guys issue.Just to bring you up to date there are now a number of
Aluminium bodied cars like Audi, Jaguar and Mercedes, pdr repairs are possible, the process is a little different to the conventional one you are familiar with, best summarised as slower and with heat.

But none of the cars mentioned have a sheet aluminium bodywork bonded to 40 mm of PU foam and then backed with another sheet of aluminium or interior trim/ply.

Martin

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[airwave]

,pudding and paint

Rofl , i like that .

 

[Manic]

Motorhomefun sticker.

 

[The Dudess]

I have heard of people using a suitably humourous sticker over a dent

In the 1980s we had a Renault which lost an argument with a Fyffes lorry. At the time there was quite a famous advert for French Golden delicious where the punch line was Le Crunch, so we fashioned a sticker with LE CRUNCH! in big letters and stuck it over the dent.

 

[airwave]

so we fashioned a sticker

I had one made for my mother's mini back window , goes right across the car ,

read's ,
Mini , beware of german imitations ,


mother's never had the nerve to fit it .