Well as some might know i wrecked my car awhile back and i got around to taking the front bumper and left quarter panel off. And found some more damage that was done to it.

There is a dent in the metal frame part and I was wondering what ya’ll would suggest about doing to it

Pics of damage

I thought about leaving it there since it doesn’t seem to mess anything else but I figured that just wouldn't be right.

Should I take it to a shop and try to get them to stretch it back out or should i try taking a hammer to it and see if i can pound it back out the where it should be?



Thanks for ya'll help,
Brian.

 

take it to a shop with a frame machine, that is considered frame damage being these are unibody cars.

 

that looks like a cut & weld job.

 

Thanks guys. Any idea on how much it might cost?

Also do you think it would be ok to just go ahead and put the new fender and bumper on and drive it like that for awhile. Then later on down the road (weeks to months) when i have enough money to just go ahead and fix it?

 

Ttt

 

frame work is usually billed at 60-90 per hour, prob a few hours to get it perfect, its not too bad.

If it was me, I wouldnt, not that you couldn't but its just not worth it, to spend all that time putting everything together, aligning it, then tearing it back apart again, getting it fixed, and then more reassembly and alignment.

 

So you dont think i should bother fixxing it its not hurting anything? And after all its not really bad. If anything i could also fix it right before i sell it if the buyer even cares.

 

If that inner fender isn't crroked then all the body shop is going to do is pound the dent out and put the fender on. If it is crooked then it will need to be on a frame machine. I can't really tell from the picture but if it was my car I would pound the dent out and put a fender on. If you can take a picture showing the pinch weld on top of the inner fender along the length and down the middle.

 

Yea i don't think it will both anything at all.


Here are some pictures.

pic 1


pic 2

 

i dont mean to sound like an *** or anything like that but its really easy. look down the rail of the inner fender (top part) and you'll see if its crooked in any way shape or form. if its okay then look down the side of the inner fender, you are going to see it bump in of course but your just looking to make sure once again that nothing is crooked or bowed. if your having difficulties take off the passenger side and compare both sides together by eye.

if all is good, get somehting to fix it EXCEPT a hammer. hammers arent cool, not even an 8 pound rubber mallet. theres a bunch of ways to fix a little dent (if thats what it really is): slide hammer, pulls the dent out; some hand dollys and a dinging hammer...thats a little complicated and i wouldnt even suggest tring, might to more damage then what its worth; or even dent wizard or some other dent "popper". I have never tried a dent popper before, I usually use dollys and a hammer.

 

Yea i've already looked to see if the if the inner fender and such was dented and it wasn't I just needed to know rather i could try hammering it out or if i would have ot take it to a shop to let them do it.


Are you saying use a slide hammer? Or even a dent popper? I don't think a dent popper can handle that? its pretty damn thick.

 

yes i would use a slide hammer. if it was my car i would diff. use a slide hammer. the only bad thing is that you also need some studs that almost look like rivets. usually when your pulling dents with this method you buy some weldable copper/stainless/whatever material pins to the surface you want to "pull" out. you then attch the slide hammer and start sliding the hammer backwards very hard. its really tough for beginers though. looking at the size of the dent i would say you need to have no more than 4 pins, i'm sure i could do it in 2...even though me being here doesnt mean much .

 

Yea. I'm trying to get my hands on one of those. I'm trying to find one that i can borrow but if not were can i get a stub welder and a slide hammer at?

Also any tips on using it? I also have to pull the dent out in my back fender.

 

i dont want to burst a fun bubble or anything like that but the kits are pretty exspensive. I'd say around 450-500 bananas. you could also get a little cheap kit that is used with hot glue instead of a weldable kind of kit. the hot glue kit is roughly...ummm, maybe 250. at your location i'm really not sure where you could get that kind of stuff. theres a shop called keystone that gives me everything i need to do whatever i want :-D ! Oh yeah, one thing about the hot glue gun kit is that thats not going to be strong enough for your little damage to the structural part of the car.

a good tip i could give you is to practice with a spare fender or something! go to the junk yard and tell them you want something to practice on! they just might let you in the yard and pick out something with a nice ding on it. i got my practice from doing it my whole life....ah memories! it all started when i had a hit and run, then it was to the shop, fix all the dents and paint it a different color before the next morning! man those WERE the good ol' days!!

 

haha yea i'm looking to get into learning more about body work. I just see this as another oppertunity to learn some more.


but 400-500 bucks . It doesn't even look like it cost that much.

I was thinking about trying to get a job at a body shop or something like that and suggestions? Like do i NEED to know anything or what not? I mean hell it doesn't even have to be a job at 1st as long as they teach me something i'll do it for free till they think im good enough to be worth paying.

My friend used to work for this one place and all he did was wet sand cars. I figured i could start doing something like that but the guy is always out of town now making a killing on doing hell damage.