alright, so this is a few months ago when I crashed, big rock, guardrail, all the fun stuff. I've got everything fixed except for the paint and this giant-esque dent right under the pass. door(so relieved I hadent hit the door), its from the basketball-sized rock that I overcorrected into. I tried to pull it out with a cheapo slidehammer(the one you screw in), but after three-or-four hits the screw just came sliding out, showing me that I had stripped both the screw and the hole :3d_frown: , so now I dont know what to do aside from getting a stud welder and real slidehammer, help please!!! here are some pics of the dent, it doesnt stop anyone from opening the door, but it makes it a biatch. :1zhelp:
HELP!!!!!(bodywork)
- Thread starter Mr.SelfDestruct
- Start date
can you rent a studwelder and slidehammer locally? that is by far the best way to do it. is that part of the car structural?
I have had dents fixed in the past. I have them fixed the right way. Using a puller with a screw instead of what the pros use (welded and then pulled) is NOT the way to fix a dent the right way at all. I hate when people use the word ghetto in wrong applications or overuse it, but pulling with a screw type dent puller, that is the #1 ghetto thing on my list. I am not saying this to upset you only to tell you and anyone reading to never do it that way. In body work, you never want to put holes in the metal because it only causes more problems and I am really not surprised at all that using the screw type puller gave you the result that it did.
When I fix dents, I take it to a body man and let him work with the metal, then I fill it, sand it, prime it, sand it, paint, clear, and maybe wet sand and polish myself. There are certain things that just need to be done by the pros and as much as I love being a do-it-yourselfer, dent pulling is not something I take on.
Just take it to a pro and do it the right way. I had a bunch of dents on my car five years back and it only cost me $20 to get all of them out although I was friendly with the shop owner, but it really did not take him long at all to fix them either. Recently I had two dents pulled that took a pro all of 5 minutes to fix. It was so quick that he did not even charge me. I have fixed dents on four machines and it never cost me much at all. With all those cases, I did all the work afterwards.
I am not even sure that a dent puller -- even a real one -- is going to be the tool you need. If the metal is thicker, it may need a frame machine or even need a different process than you think.
When I fix dents, I take it to a body man and let him work with the metal, then I fill it, sand it, prime it, sand it, paint, clear, and maybe wet sand and polish myself. There are certain things that just need to be done by the pros and as much as I love being a do-it-yourselfer, dent pulling is not something I take on.
Just take it to a pro and do it the right way. I had a bunch of dents on my car five years back and it only cost me $20 to get all of them out although I was friendly with the shop owner, but it really did not take him long at all to fix them either. Recently I had two dents pulled that took a pro all of 5 minutes to fix. It was so quick that he did not even charge me. I have fixed dents on four machines and it never cost me much at all. With all those cases, I did all the work afterwards.
I am not even sure that a dent puller -- even a real one -- is going to be the tool you need. If the metal is thicker, it may need a frame machine or even need a different process than you think.
If you find it too expensive to get the dent fixed professionally and cant do it yourself, just buy some bomex side skirts, lol. It will do the trick
yea it looks like that rock did a number on that rocker panel (ouch!!).
I would also recommend a studwelder myself but since you have holes already, you can use a pull handle with a hook on the end to put in the holes and work it out slowly so you don't rip the sheet metal. If not you can always try to get a hold of a regular flux welder and weld a rod or even a screwdriver to the dent and pull it out gradually. It might sound jerry-rigged but these are things i have done with some success. GOOD LUCK WITH WHATEVER YOU DO!!
I would also recommend a studwelder myself but since you have holes already, you can use a pull handle with a hook on the end to put in the holes and work it out slowly so you don't rip the sheet metal. If not you can always try to get a hold of a regular flux welder and weld a rod or even a screwdriver to the dent and pull it out gradually. It might sound jerry-rigged but these are things i have done with some success. GOOD LUCK WITH WHATEVER YOU DO!!
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If it's a Targa it's double maybe triple panel there (I just dumped a half cut but can't remember exactly)(one of the layers was almost twice as thick as the others)
No way is a dent puller going to do the job, take it and have it repaired correctly.
No way is a dent puller going to do the job, take it and have it repaired correctly.
I think I'll have someone do professionally seeing that its a targa, and it seems practical to have more metal down there, to be honest, I wasnt suprised by the results of the screw-type puller, I just figured it was worth a try. its a pretty major dent, but it didnt affect the handling or the alignment. my exhaust was affected worst by the crash. It got pushed up and out so far that it tore part of my bumper out. Im just glad I didnt sned my head through the window. the only injury I had was a bruised rib from the center console, so I got out of it pretty much unscathed, just pissed.
If it was my car, I'd probably buy a new rocker panel from Toyota and have it replaced. That's a pretty major dent, heh, and it's not exactly a flat panel.
A new rocker panel is about $160 from Toyota, then most of the money is getting it replaced and painted, but the painting will have to be done either way, so you're looking at about $160 for the panel, and I'm guessing probably $350-400 to get the panel plus painting, but in the end it would be new.
Also, since the rocker panel is different between the hardtop and targa, I'm guessing it has extra bracing, you'd probably want that bracing in tip-top shape.
A new rocker panel is about $160 from Toyota, then most of the money is getting it replaced and painted, but the painting will have to be done either way, so you're looking at about $160 for the panel, and I'm guessing probably $350-400 to get the panel plus painting, but in the end it would be new.
Also, since the rocker panel is different between the hardtop and targa, I'm guessing it has extra bracing, you'd probably want that bracing in tip-top shape.
It's spot welded to the chassis, it's not part of the unibody. You drill out the spot welds and then it comes off and can be replaced. Just like the quarter panels.
(Why else would Toyota sell it by itself? Actually almost the entire car can be bought from Toyota, the floor pan, trunk floor pan, panels, frame rails, and so on, most of the cost is the work to replace pieces, not the pieces themselves. )
(Why else would Toyota sell it by itself?
Actually almost the entire car can be bought from Toyota, the floor pan, trunk floor pan, panels, frame rails, and so on, most of the cost is the work to replace pieces, not the pieces themselves. )would I be able to put one in my self? and just out of curiosity, if I were to buy a wide body kit, would it attach the same way, except instead of spot welds, it would be held in by bolts? this is all new to me, so I dunno...
If you have a welder you should be able to do it. Just drill all the old spot welds (but only through the weld, not the metal underneath). Then weld the new rocker in place, grind down the weld, and get it prepped/painted.
Most widebody kits are fibreglass and are molded on top of the existing metal. For side skirts, they are usually bolt-on, and go over top of existing panels, unless they replace them (but I've never seen one I can remember that replaced a spot welded on panel).
Most widebody kits are fibreglass and are molded on top of the existing metal. For side skirts, they are usually bolt-on, and go over top of existing panels, unless they replace them (but I've never seen one I can remember that replaced a spot welded on panel).
