Troublesome Dent Removal

[Hedgehog]

It's not surprising that somewhere along the way my 38 year old CJ5 got one of the most common dents found on any CJ Jeep. The common hood dent caused by the hood smacking down overly hard on the windshield, or would it a hood crease? No matter we all know the blemish I'm talking about. The question is how to remove my not horrible but annoying dent.

I have a slight edge dent and a crease with the corresponding low spot in the middle right where you can ALWAYS see it. I saw on an automotive program where they used heat to remove hail damage which is surprisingly similar to the jeep crease. They simply used a little heat about 12" outside of the dent. start slowly circling around the dent, it looked like they moved ever so slowly inward toward the dent using only the smallest amount of heat possible. Not enough heat to damage the paint. As they moved the torch suddenly POP the dent removed itself. They said that metal has a memory and if treated correctly would return to it's original shape without using a hammer.

My question is, have any of you done this? If not have you removed one of these dents, how did you do it, and was it successful.

Sure I can remove some of the dent and hide the rest with body filler, but the more natural the fix is the better. The paint on the side of the hood is good, I plan on painting the middle flat black, actually not the old fashioned impossible to clean flat black, I want to use that incredibly smooth flat paint you see on hotrods and motorcycles.

Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks

Michael

 

[Torxhead]

I would think laying the hood on a garage floor on top of a piece of plywood and using a soft hammer would be a start. You could try the internet like on "Youtube" for more help. Using heat sounds like an interesting way to do it though, too much heat can fatigue the metal though. I once did a serious hood bending when I forgot to latch the hood and went for a drive on the freeway. The hood was somewhat repaired using the method I suggested along with just stepping in it. I have noticed a flat black paint will fade with sunlight in time and doesn't look good. Good luck with learning body repair as it is quite an art, especially without using bodyfiller.

 

[Hedgehog]

I'm not exactly thinking old fashioned flat black. I agree flat black can be nothing other than nasty. Harley Davidson and others along with some hotrod guys have perfected a flat black that is absolutely beautiful. It looks flat but its incredibly smooth to the touch.

Way back when, my friend gave me a book on four wheeling written by <-BAD WORD-> Cepek (sp). He stressed that real Jeepers needed to pain their hood flat black to prevent a low sun from glaring off an overly shinny hood blinding the driver at an inappropriate time. I's like to paint the center section of my hood in honor of <-BAD WORD->.

The heat they were using wasn't very much at all, it looked like you could touch it when he was done. From what I can gather really good body men don't touch the actual dent much even with body hammers. The start tapping away from the dent and slowly work their way in toward the dent. I've done some body work using die blocks and I imagine that is the way this job will be done as well. Some filler will be used, but it would be nice to keep it at a minimum if it's at all possible. It isn't my habbit to fully open the hood of my Jeep to lean it on the windshield, but occasionally doing just that is the only way. Filler can be brittle and I can see me opening the hood, laying it on the windshield frame, the hood flexes, "POP" out comes a chunk of filler. Turns my stomach just thinking about it.

Michael

 

[mstar]

My understanding is they use regular Gloss black paint and add a flattening agent so you have quality paint job that will last and has that wonderful suede black sheen.Check with your local automotive paint supplier for details. Mike

 

[Hedgehog]

Worked over the hood crease/dents today. I'm pleased with the result. The BIG dent that worried me the most came out with a simple bump with the palm of my hand. Encouraged by that the rubber mallet came out and a few small bumps in the remaining big dents and they popped right out. What was left was a 2"-3" crease on both edges of the middle bump in the hood. Careful but more aggressive work with the rubber hammer took most of the creases out. At this point the corners of the bump needed work. After digging around some I found some 3/8" copper tubing. I used that in the corners with a small machinists hammer. The hood isn't absolutely perfect, but darned close. I believe some sanding and a very small amount of filler will totally eliminate the dents. There was some luck in removing the dents but I'm pleased with the result. This is a bit of a bummer though, I really wanted to use heat and cold to remove the dents.

Finish sanding and paint is next.

 

[johnnyreb]

My understanding is they use regular Gloss black paint and add a flattening agent so you have quality paint job that will last and has that wonderful suede black sheen.Check with your local automotive paint supplier for details. Mike

You are correct mstar. I spoke to a automotive paint supplier when I was looking for a flat green for a rifle.

 

[Hedgehog]

We have one here in town. I have done exactly the same thing. A synthetic stock blank I put on a 700 Remington Varmint weight rifle. But that paint was brittle and more like a flat paint job. That was 15 or so years ago, I wonder if they have perfected the flattening. I wonder if the base paint is normal paint with a flattened clear coat over it or if they use a special polishing or rubbing compound. I need to talk to them about it.

 

[mstar]

[QUOTE I wonder if they have perfected the flattening. I wonder if the base paint is normal paint with a flattened clear coat over it or if they use a special polishing or rubbing compound. I need to talk to them about it.[/QUOTE]

You need not wonder ,they have perfected it! Check with any GOOD automotive paint store for details or goggle it online.I have seen a lot of this type paint jobs at car shows and it really looks nice. Mike