PVC dent

[Teithwr]

Someone put a nice dent / crease into the side of my Forte when on a ferry in Sicily last year. I haven’t had an estimate for fixing it but I guess it will be expensive, particularly as it will presumably involve disassembling much of the kitchen area inside to get at it. It’s not prominent and I was wondering about leaving it and taking some hit on resale. How does the balance work between cost / loss?

 

[icantremember]

Pictures would help, but I would have thought it could be pulled out from the outside without disturbing the interior.

 

[Gellyneck]

Bodywork place may be able to pull it out from outside and fill flush?

 

[Enword]

May be possible to pull it out from outside! Ethier stud weld or suckers

 

[chatteris]

you can buy the kits with hot glue gun quite cheap

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[Just smiffy]

As above, you’ll be quite surprised that it wont cost as much as you think, get a few quotes from some repair garages...

 

[Ralph-n-Bev]

There’s quite a few vids on YouTube where people hold a few hairdryers over the spot whilst a couple of people bang the area with their hands and the dent just pops out .
Honest !
Have a look , it might be worth having a go of it’s not creased , just a dent.

 

[wasp]

If it is not too deep and it hasn’t lifted the paint a good body man would be able to pull it out

 

[Feltwell]

Is the paint broken? If not get a paintless dent removal man on it - they really do work wonders, I've a guy I've used 3 times now to get dents out of cars I've bought, he does a cracking job and it's cheap. He's just taken about 7 small dents out of a VW Touran that I bought for SWMBO, he's mobile and comes to me, £70 and just over an hour's work.

It's a skilled job to do properly. For what it costs I really wouldn't bother trying to do it yourself and risking more damage. The pro's have a big selection of tools on the ends of bent rods that they manipulate onto the inside of a panel, and then they gently dress the metal back into shape with a hammer on the outside, flowing it so gently the paint does not break. Fascinating to watch!

He took a dent out of the roof of a Ford Smax we had on an area where the inside was completely inaccessible - he glued special patches to the outside with a hot glue gun, attached a slide hammer to them and pulled them until they came off, then dressed the dent back in again. The repair was invisible once done.

This is the chap I've used, he only does the area around Shrewsbury but it's a franchise operation so you can look elsewhere for the Dent Wizard name. Their main customers are car dealerships, they take the minor dings out of trade ins before they go on the forecourt.

https://www.shropshiredentremoval.co.uk/

 

[Charlie123]

I did a course in paintless dent removal for the fun of it. I really enjoyed it and can do simple stuff.

You will be really surprised at what a good technician can do. The tools used reach from quite some distance plus they will drill wee holes to get the right tool to reach. Windows are good for access and leverage .

It’s better to get it done as most want a neat tidy van and so do dealers. Leaving them there can be taken for a don’t care attitude. I’m not dying you have that for a second though !!


Please do not mess with it yourself.

Pictures would help.

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[Ralph-n-Bev]

My sons just told me you can remove dents with a kettle of hot water and a plunger too , and shown me some videos on YouTube for that too.
It’s worth a go of either of my suggestions before paying someone.
It does look easy enough to do either one too.
If it doesn’t work pay someone to do it.

 

[Crazylegs]

Is the paint broken? If not get a paintless dent removal man on it - they really do work wonders, I've a guy I've used 3 times now to get dents out of cars I've bought, he does a cracking job and it's cheap. He's just taken about 7 small dents out of a VW Touran that I bought for SWMBO, he's mobile and comes to me, £70 and just over an hour's work.

It's a skilled job to do properly. For what it costs I really wouldn't bother trying to do it yourself and risking more damage. The pro's have a big selection of tools on the ends of bent rods that they manipulate onto the inside of a panel, and then they gently dress the metal back into shape with a hammer on the outside, flowing it so gently the paint does not break. Fascinating to watch!

He took a dent out of the roof of a Ford Smax we had on an area where the inside was completely inaccessible - he glued special patches to the outside with a hot glue gun, attached a slide hammer to them and pulled them until they came off, then dressed the dent back in again. The repair was invisible once done.

This is the chap I've used, he only does the area around Shrewsbury but it's a franchise operation so you can look elsewhere for the Dent Wizard name. Their main customers are car dealerships, they take the minor dings out of trade ins before they go on the forecourt.

https://www.shropshiredentremoval.co.uk/

Dent men need access at the rear of the dent and line of sight to the dent on the outside. Therefore unless the dent is on a door, panel vans can’t usually be worked on.

 

[Tibbo]

Without a picture it's impossible to give an idea of a suitable repair method. Dings, dents, dishes, creases and folds, accessible from inside or not, every repair is different.
PVC's and vans can be repaired with access from the outside only, using adhesive or spot stud pullers. However with the insulation that is probably behind the panel of a PVC I would be very wary of using the spot stud method. I've seen what happens when the correct procedures are not followed, 12 vehicles and a bodyshop completely destroyed by fire in less than 30 minutes!
No, it wasn't me ...... honest

 

[Tibbo]

Please do not mess with it yourself.

Pictures would help.

I second that

 

[MattR]

I wouldn't bother fixing a crease unless it was on an expensive vehicle / looked very obvious. I try and avoid prangs but if I get one (normally from cars parking too close etc), I don't get them repaired - it would only be a waste of money as there would be another prang the next time the other drive in our household takes the vehicle for a spin

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[Viennese]

Worth trying Chips Away

 

[Feltwell]

Dent men need access at the rear of the dent and line of sight to the dent on the outside. Therefore unless the dent is on a door, panel vans can’t usually be worked on.

Most of their work does use that line of sight but a panel van could be worked on - using the adhesive pad method I mentioned above, no access to rear of dent needed, the guy I've used did a roof dent for me this way. Depends on the technician concerned though, I suspect not all would be able / willing to do this.

 

[mitzimad]

we had a pretty large dent on ours and they pulled it using stick ons they couldnt use weld on pins without removing the insulation

 

[Charlie123]

The tools and method used relate entirely to the dent it’s size and it’s shape.

Shallow dents can often be sucked out or even pushed out by hand. Sharp creases or small dents with depth require tools. Then of course there are the endless variations in between .

This answers or advice to the OP are impossible and unanswerable without pictures.

 

[Teithwr]

I’ll post pictures once the snow melts from the van.

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[GWAYGWAY]

I pull out my dents with stick on pads and with plastic use the heat gun to warm the plastic up a bit and it pops out. Dead easy when you know how.