# can this dent be DIY-fixed?



## ZTMAN (Feb 19, 2015)

If that were my vehicle, I would have someone hold the top of the hatch and get a piece of 1x or 2x and do a tappa tappa tappa with a hammer to see if the fold starts to unfold.

Won't ever look like a body shop repair but it should straighten it out a little.


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## ChuckF. (Aug 25, 2013)

If you have enough C-clamps, you can try a two-foot or so board underneath and one on top, and squeeze them together.


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## MTN REMODEL LLC (Sep 11, 2010)

If you want a professional looking repair... better get a professional shop.

If you want to just get it operating.... above ideas are good.

Body work is kinda a learned art....

Every once in a while you can get lucky as a DIYer with either a simple bondo filler job, or maybe popping a non creased and "set" dent with a suction puller... but that looks like creased and set bent that needs the pro's for appearance if that is important criteria.

Good luck....

Common, tell us what ya did.... we've all done the same dumb things... and it makes us feel better to know there are people just as dumb as us.:wink2:

Good going


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## paul_k (Jul 28, 2017)

MTN REMODEL LLC said:


> Common, tell us what ya did.... we've all done the same dumb things... and it makes us feel better to know there are people just as dumb as us.:wink2:
> 
> Good going


All right ... sorry to disappoint you but it was just a stupid a$$ mistake ... I parked the car in the garage, unloaded groceries from the back, and I closed the garage door, no problem ... BTW, this is an old style, solid wood, *swing-up* garage door, *NOT* a roll-up door ... next morning I was running late for work but the garage door only opened about 2 feet and got jammed ... I didn't know what was going on but the same thing happened to me before and that time one of the 2 door springs had blown up and I had to force the door open and then fixed the bent brackets and replace the spring... so I figured, OK, i am late for work, I can fix that later so with much effort I forced the door open ... I then see the SUV rear gate fully open ... the center, solid- wood, vertical support member on the garage door had crushed and folded the edge of the gate when I forced the door open ... *I had forgotten to close the damn SUV rear gate the night before*. Now I feel like a real a$$hole every time I look at it and I get so pi$$ed off thinking about how much it's going to cost me to fix this ... one in a million, doc, one in a million !! ...


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## de-nagorg (Feb 23, 2014)

I thought that maybe someone had forgotten the lift gate was up, and backed into a garage wall accidently, seen it before.

No; not me, but I'm not allowed to speak of it. ( hint, hint).

Anyway it should be looked at by a professional body man, because if the seal is not perfectly shut after your D I Y repair, you risk letting exhaust gasses enter your passenger compartment while driving.

And we don't want that.


ED


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## MTN REMODEL LLC (Sep 11, 2010)

I wish I could claim this one.... as I'm sure I have done almost as stupid.... 

but my friends wife had a top mount bike rack that holds the bycycle upright...

and yep.... she drove right into the garage.... TWICE.:surprise::biggrin2:


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## Bud9051 (Nov 11, 2015)

I used to sell those bike racks and then sell the replacements. I didn't do the body work but they all required a little.

Paul, that is only a dumb mistake, the second time.

Bud


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## paul_k (Jul 28, 2017)

I've been calling this a "dent" but I don't know if any "paint-less dent repair" shops will touch it and it may be a job for a body shop instead .... :icon_cry: $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ !! What do you think?
.


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## de-nagorg (Feb 23, 2014)

The paint less repair shops are a " use a suction cup" place, that won't help you.

A real body man at a real body shop will be your best chance of getting it right the first time.


ED


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## DexterII (Jul 14, 2010)

I'm not saying it's bad enough that it needs replacement, but if you seek professional work I would also check with a local scrap yard or two. A majority of them are linked online, so they could search a pretty wide geographical area. A very high percentage of collisions involve the front end of vehicles, and I fortunately have not had to search for many body parts in recent years, but seem to recall that rear panels at one time anyway were more reasonably priced than front panels.


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## Gregsoldtruck79 (Dec 21, 2017)

Been here done this.....

Four months ago I had the back hatch lid up on my Jeep GC with about 6 - 10' long 2" x 10" s hanging out of the back end of it. It had just started to rain as I backed in to the driveway. Hit the remote, garage door rolled opened and I thought to myself....

" Self, just back in to the garage a little bit and you will not have to unload the lumber in the rain"... 

Jeep goes back...back... I slowed down, slower... going through the doorway...... Crunchhhh.. I stop the Jeep... 

My open hatch lid handle hit the bottom of the brick mold on the garage door header. Luckily the rounded latch handle slid down under the brick mold and drove the hatch lid downward. No damage to my Jeep, just to the brick mold. Whew. A senior moment indeed.


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## ukrkoz (Dec 31, 2010)

ZTMAN said:


> If that were my vehicle, I would have someone hold the top of the hatch and get a piece of 1x or 2x and do a tappa tappa tappa with a hammer to see if the fold starts to unfold.
> 
> Won't ever look like a body shop repair but it should straighten it out a little.



Ditto. Wood and heavy urethane mallet. Kind that has led beads inside. Not rubber, urethane, you want no metal but strong plastic. Don't waste time on vise grips, they not gonna hold up to the job. Any car sheetwork edges are very strong.


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## Osh (Apr 17, 2010)

You gotta remember that there is a outer skin that's wrapped around a inner frame. The frame is pushed up besides being pushed in. That's not going to come down easy. You're going to need more than a mallet to move that. If you do get that edge straight the inner frame won't come down properly and there will be a gap on the inside where the skin wraps around the frame. No way to do that job without some plastic filler and completely refinishing the whole outer panel and spot paint the inner frame. Any shop worth a darn will remove and replace any emblems, light's and any thing else that's bolted on to refinish.


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## polychrome (Oct 4, 2013)

You can make something wood for above and below and stiffen it and use C clamps to force the metal about 85% of the way to straight. after that you'll have to figure where to add some rubber sheets of gasket material (from the hardware store) to let your clamping move the stiffener about 3-5% too far so the stiffener is where it belongs after elastic rebound and then you can use the rubber sheet and some wood squares above and below to spread the clamp pressure and squeeze the sheet metal flat.

I'd have to say there's only a one in a million chance the paint is still well adhered at a fold that sharp right now, so no, it will require paint work or it will rust rapidly. If that means you might as well let the body shop do the whole thing, then you should.


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