While most people look under the hood of their car and have no idea how the whole system works, there are a surprising number of repairs that can be done at home.
It’s not as hard as you might think to fix simple issues with the exterior body of your car. Rather than paying for car dent repair, try one of these techniques to repair car dents on your own.
1. Try a Plunger
If you want to fix a dent quickly and easily, you can use something that sits in your bathroom. There are few tools that you have lying around your home that is as perfect for the job as a standard toilet plunger.
If you have a small to medium dent in your car and you’re not too worried about the paint damage that could be done to popping it out, grab the plunger. Get some water on the plunger and on the dent and press it against the body until it makes a clear seal. Then you need to carefully pull and push until you get the dent out.
If you jerk the plunger around too much, you’ll have trouble getting the dent out. You need to pull on it securely and solidly so that you can firmly get the dent out in one pull. If you pull it out in sections, you risk creating marks that denote that there was a dent there.
This method is tried and true, working on any kind of vehicle.
2. Boil Some Water
If you want to get a dent out easily, one of the best methods is by using boiling water. If you’ve just backed into something, your plastic bumper might have a dent. Thankfully, plastic is malleable and can be impacted by heat and humidity.
Pushing out the dent on a bumper is hard without removing the bumper itself. The plastic on a bumper can be extremely stiff, so you need a solution that’s possible without taking the car apart. Boiling water is free and easy and can get the job done without hassle.
After you pour water on the dent, carefully reach behind the bumper and try to pop the dent out. The heat will make the plastic softer and more flexible. Once softened, it should be easy to push it back into place.
The heat won’t last very long so work fast to push it out. Repeat the method until the dent is all the way out.
3. Do It with Air
If you have a dent in the plastic material on the exterior of your car, you can fix the problem with the help of a hair dryer and some compressed air. These two items can do a lot to fix dents in the plastic portions of your vehicle.
Heat up the dent with the hair dryer at the highest temperature you can set it at. Move it around carefully so that you do so evenly. This causes the material of the plastic to expand and be ready to be shaped.
Then, take the can of air and spray the same section of the car. Believe it or not, that quick jump in temperature can fix dents. The cold air is going to cause the plastic to contract quickly to its “natural” factory-made shape.
Rather than going to a body shop and potentially spending hundreds of dollars to have them do the same thing, save your dollars and get a can of air and try this at home. It could save you plenty of money and make you feel like a genius.
4. A Vacuum Cleaner Can Help
Similar to a plunger, you can get a dent out with the help of suction. However, your arms combined with a plunger don’t bring the kind of power that a dent puller can bring. A vacuum is a powerful suction tool but might not be able to conjure the power that you need without some help.
If you have a small bucket or a pot that you can bore a hole into, attach your vacuum extension tool and you have a powerful tool for sucking dents out. With this homemade tool, you’ll suck out dents and get your car back to its ideal look.
Add some tape around the hose from your vacuum to make a better seal around the pot. Add some more tape around the bucket where it meets the body of the car. If you can, mount it before you turn your vacuum on so that you can pop out your dent.
5. Avoid Damage With Hot Glue
When you’re taking on any of these at-home remedies for removing dents, you run the risk that your car could turn out damaged. It’s challenging to take out a dent without chipping or ruining your paint job. The best way to do it may be to use some small but thick wooden dowels, hot glue, and some screws.
Add screws or nails to the dowels to create handles, much like a corkscrew. Glue some dowels all around the dent and keep them there until they’re dry. When they’re dry, pull on each one hard until the dent pops out.
It’ll take a lot of glue and a lot of patience, but it’s well worth the trouble.
Car Dent Repair Can Be Easy
While some people get upset when they see their car is damaged, it turns out that car dent repair isn’t as hard as you’d think. You can fix dents in your car with no trouble at all if you know what you’re doing.
If it’s time to repair your headlights, check out our guide for tips.
