Photo by Simon Blackley Are you a car owner with a Do-It-Yourselfer soul ? If you are, then you’ll find this car body repair guide to be both helpful and useful.
When you drive your car out of the garage, you expose her to a cruel world, where scratches, dings, and dents haunt the entire journey.
Okay, I know my words are a little bit exaggerating. But it’s an undeniable fact that sometimes your car will have small dents or gouges.
These dents are too costly to repair considering their small sizes and the amount of money that you must spend.
However you simply can’t ignore them because they affect the overall appearance of your ride.
If this is the case, you may want to consider performing the car body repair yourself. By doing it on your own you can cut a big amount of cost.
Body Filler
If you use body filler correctly it may result in a well done repair. Almost every car body shop uses a little body filler.
On early days, the manufacturers produced body filler from lead, but such chemical substance was found to be harmful to brain cells and reproductive functions. So they stopped using lead.
Basically a body filler (or Bondo) is a two-part putty. It is often used to repair dents in cars.
When mixed the filler becomes rock hard and can be sanded to a desired shape.
Body filler is actually a plastic resin, it adheres well to metal and can last for a long time.
Performing a car body repair is sometimes an unavoidable need. But you can reduce the amount of money spent if you are able to do it on your own, as long as you have the right tools, sufficient knowledge and a little experience.
Bondo 1022 Ultimate Premium Lightweight Body Filler 1.96lb
The Complete Guide to Auto Body Repair (Motorbooks Workshop)
Fibreglass Evercoat 112 Rage Gold Premium Lightweight Body Filler – Gallon
Using a Shoe Polish For Scratches
This is the simplest method of car body repair. You should purchase shoe polish that matches your car’s color.
All you need is rub the polish over the scratches. After the polish has been applied, sand it over by using a sandpaper.
The sanding will even out the scratch. When sanding, you should remove the shoe polish completely.
Now, buff the scratched area using a cloth. In order to remove any dirt that’s left, wash the scratched area.
If after performing the repair the scratches are still visible, It’s better to hand your car to the professionals.
Car Body Repair Equipments
If you’re serious about going into car body repair, you may want to purchase various dent repair tools. These tools may cost you about $1,000 to $2,000. Here are several tools that you may want to have:
- Dent pulling tool
- Small drill bit 1/8″ thick
- Grit disk for grinding down the paint.
- A hammer
- Body filler
- Primer and paint for larger dents
Unless you already own some of these tools, It may be less costly to take your vehicle to the professional car body repair shop. But if you’re serious about getting into this kind of service, why not ?
Neiko Titanium Step Drill Bit – 1/4
2″ x 120 Grit Rolok Sanding Disks
Northern Industrial Dent Puller
June 5th, 2011 at 8:12 pm
In my experience these jobs are always better off left to the professionals.
February 1st, 2012 at 7:25 am
i agree. usually always better off for the professionals. los angeles auto body shop has parts that are real legit!