Commuting to work one morning I was unable to avoid running over a fair-sized piece of tire tread with my left front tire. I heard it bobble in the fender well, then saw it on the road in my rear view mirror. When I got to work I discovered it dented the left front fender at the rear of the wheel opening, down near the rocker panel. The fender is only about 2" wide at that point and the tread had bent it back, leaving a 2"x3" buckle in the metal. Since it was a lease car, I knew the bastids would charge me for it at lease-end.
I took it to a dentless repair guy who took it in on the spot. He had to remove the fasteners that attach the plastic fenderwell liner to the bottom of the fender to access the damage. Working from both the inside and outside, he pushed and pulled that dent until it disappeared, literally in front of my eyes. He used mirrors and lights (no ,not smoke and mirrors....) which he kept moving around, to visualize the dent from different angles, as he worked. From the outside, he repeatedly used round plastic discs which he hot-glued to the paint, and then pulled the dent out with. He used a variety of metal tools from the backside to push it out.
The guy is a flippin' artist. He worked the better part of an hour and when he was done there was
zero evidence the panel had ever been damaged; the paint was like new. Cost? $75.
I asked him if he repairs motorcycle tanks, and he told me he could, and that he could do it on the bike without draining the tank - depending, of course on the size/location of the dent.
These guys are all over, you might want to find one in your town. For what it's worth, here is the guy I went to:
Paintless dent repair & removal Top specialists in Michigan
