Hey guys, ChrisFix here and today I’m going to show you how to remove dents from your car! Now, I have no clue what the previous owner did to get all these dents, but that’s okay because it gives me the opportunity to show you guys how to remove dents and make this perfectly smooth so you would never even know there are any dents here in the first place.
Now, there are two main methods to remove dents from your car. The first is a paintless dent removal kit (PDR) like this, and if you have shallow non-sharp dents, this kit can help remove those or make them less visible without having to spray paint your car. So, what you do is add some hot glue to the puller tab from the kit and place that in the dent. Then, you take the slide hammer attachment and pull the dent outwards. This is not as easy as it looks and it takes a lot of practice. And then, if you pull this dent out too far like I just did, you’re able to lightly tap the dent back in with a plastic-coated hammer and try to make that dent even with the rest of the body panel again. It’s not easy to do and it doesn’t work on every dent, but with practice, you could get decent results.
Unfortunately, paintless dent removal won’t work for these dents because we have some deep dents that are pretty sharp, so that metal is really bent and it’ll be hard to massage that so it’s flat again. Also, you can see all these dents have damage to the paintwork in them, so even if we did get the dents out, we’d still have all this damage here, so we’d have to paint the car anyway. Since we can’t use paintless dent removal to remove these dents, the other common method to remove dents is to use a pro-grade body filler.
With this, there are three simple steps to remove these dents. First, you prep the dents by sanding them down to bare metal. Then, you fill the dents with the pro-grade body filler, and finally, you sand it down so it’s smooth and even with the rest of the panel. This leaves you with a smooth but unfinished surface, so you’d have to either take it to a paint guy or you could paint it yourself at home.
And that’s exactly what we’re gonna do. I’m gonna show you how to paint it and make it look absolutely amazing. So, let’s get started. And now here’s everything you’re gonna need to repair the dents in your car. As usual, I like to use common hand tools and easy-to-find products that give you great results so you could get this job done at home yourself, no problem at all.
First, we’re gonna need our pro-grade body filler and pro-grade glazing putty. These are professional-grade products so they’re going to give you amazing results if you use them properly, and I’m going to teach you how to use them properly. Then we need some sandpaper all the way from 80 grit up to 5000 grit. We also have our spreaders, sanding block, tack cloth, tape, and isopropyl alcohol.
Now, I did say we are going to spray paint at home, and I wasn’t kidding. We’re using spray cans, but we’re going to get amazing results. I can’t wait to show you. So, we need our primer, our base coat, which is our color coat, and our automotive 2k clear coat. After this dries, we’re gonna wet sand and then compound and polish to get that amazing glossy finish that looks like the rest of the car.
Safety is very important, so make sure you’re wearing at least an N95 dust mask when you’re sanding, and make sure you get your safety glasses on. And then when you’re spray painting, it’s very important to use a full-face respirator with organic filters so you’re not breathing any of that spray paint in.
I do want to thank Evercoat very much for supporting this video and sending me out their body filler and their glazing putty. That way I could teach you guys how to properly fix dents in your vehicle. Enough talk, let’s go grab our dust mask and let’s get started with step number one: preparing the dents so we could add our filler.
So, with our trim removed, now we’re going to go and sand down all these dents to bare metal. It’s important we get down to bare metal because our body filler adheres best to bare metal. So, we’re going to sand this down, but before we do that, it’s very important that we clean the surface because there’s oils and dirt and stuff on this paint surface, and we don’t want to rub that into our metal.
So, grab a degreaser like soapy water and spray down the entire panel so we could clean it off. Soapy water is just a teaspoon of dish soap and the rest water, and it works great at removing dirt and it also removes waxes and oils that way we won’t push them into the dents we’re working on.
With our panel nice and clean, now we want to use 80 grit sandpaper and sand down all these dents and get them to bare metal. Now, when using your sandpaper, you don’t want to just use your fingers like this because that’ll create hot spots where your fingers are, that’s where most of the sanding will be. So what I like to do is I like to grab a kitchen sponge and wrap my sandpaper around the kitchen sponge so now this has some give to it, it distributes that force over the sandpaper a little bit better, and you won’t get any hot spots when you sand.
So, finish sanding the dent down to bare metal, and this shiny metal right here is bare metal, but you can still see we have paint inside the dent that we need to get out. So now you can use your finger and create a hot spot and sand deep into that dent to get all the paint out. It’s very important you get this dent down to bare metal because body filler bonds best to bare metal.
After you’re done sanding, this is exactly what it should look like. You can see inside our dent there is no paint at all, it is down to bare metal, and then about an inch or so outside of our dent, we have bare metal as well. Now, we also sanded into the surrounding paintwork, not a lot but a little bit, so that we could feather that sanding out, and you can see the different layers of paint. You can see the primer they put down from the factory, the base coat which is the color coat, and our clear coat. You want to have a nice smooth transition. If you close your eyes, you can’t even feel that there’s anything there, you don’t want anything that you could grab your fingernail on, and that’s nice and smooth, and that’s exactly what you want.
So, that’s one dent done. Now let’s go get the other dents sanded down. With the other dents, you want to follow the same exact process, making sure you sand each one down to bare metal and remove all the paint in the deep part of the dent. The 80 grit sandpaper works pretty quickly, but if you have an electric sander, definitely consider using it because it’ll make this process so much quicker.
But as usual, I want to show you guys you could get this done by hand, no problem. All right, so all our dents are sanded down to bare metal, and there’s no more paint in them. Also, this spot right up here is sanded so that it’s smooth because we had a little wave in the paint, so we might as well make it perfect while we’re sanding everything down.
Now we can finish up the first step by getting some isopropyl alcohol on a rag and wipe down the whole panel to remove all the dust that we just created. All right, so after the 180 grit sandpaper, you can see we feathered out that sanding pretty good. Now we have sandpaper scratches all the way out here, which makes a nice smooth transition. Now this dent here feels great, I cannot feel it, this dent there is a low spot, this dent just like we thought, there’s a low spot, same here, low spot on this dent, and this took no body filler, this is actually completely smooth. So, I guess the little waves were from the factory paint job, but we smoothed that out so we won’t have an issue there.
So, with this completely sanded with 180 grit, we know where there’s spots that we need to fill. Now, let me show you how to mix the glazing putty to get rid of these low spots and the pinholes. Now, our glazing putty gets mixed the same exact way we just mixed our body filler. Just make sure you get a new mixing sheet. This mixing sheet has all these little pieces of body filler on it, and if that gets in our glazing putty, it’s going to ruin the putty and ruin our finish.
So, out with the old and in with the new. Now, what happens if you don’t have a new mixing sheet? Well, you either need a two, four, or six-inch diameter circle and either a two, four, or six-inch line for our hardener. Now, funny enough, our spreader is four inches long, so you can make a circle with your spreader, or the back part of this cap for our filler is about four inches, so what you can do is get a piece of cardboard and trace a four-inch circle for your filler like that, and then draw a four-inch line for your hardener. But you never want to mix your filler or your putty on here because your hardener will soak into a cardboard surface and then you won’t have the correct ratio. So, a little trick is to grab a plastic Ziploc bag, cover your cardboard with plastic, and the plastic won’t absorb any of the hardener, and it’s a nice flat mixing surface.
Now we could go and mix our glazing putty, and what I like to do is I like to knead the glazing putty just like before where we needed the hardener to make sure it’s all mixed up and there’s no separation. Then pour out the putty to fill the four-inch circle, and then once you have that circle filled, next, let’s lay down our four-inch bead of hardener. Good, and finally, we could fold our hardener into the putty just like before. Spend no more than 30 seconds getting this completely mixed. Perfect, so we don’t have any more blue streaks, and our putty is all mixed up. We spread it out, that way it stays cool. We have about five minutes of work time before this hardens, so let’s go fill the low spots and the pinholes.
With the glazing putty covering all the dents on the front door panel, off-camera, I also did the rear door panel. Now, all we have to do is let this sit for 15 minutes so it could cure and harden, and then after that, we’ll go sand it down. After the 15 minutes, we can sand this down, starting with 320 grit. And as you sand, make long strokes going past the dent and not focusing your sanding on one specific area. We don’t want to create any flat spots.
Oh man, this feels so good. It’s nice and smooth, and you can’t even tell that there was any dent here at all. This is perfect. Now we want to do the same thing for the other dents using 320 grit sandpaper. Take long strokes going all the way across the putty, and we just want to get this nice and smooth.
Now, this came out perfect, except for one little spot right here. You can see there is a little nick or a little air bubble that we got in there. So, I quickly mixed up a batch of putty, and all we want to do is fill in this little indent and just build up one more layer. Good, and then we can just sand this down with 320 grit, that way we don’t have any indents in our bodywork when we go to paint.
And check it out, we are done with the most difficult part, getting our dents nice and even with the rest of the panel. And this looks absolutely amazing. All the dents are nice and flush, and our panel is looking great. Now, what we need to do is we need to sand it down with 320 and then 400 to get it ready for paint.
After the 320 grit sandpaper, you can see we feathered out that sanding pretty good. Now we have sandpaper scratches all the way out here, which makes a nice smooth transition. Now this dent here feels great, I cannot feel it. This dent there is a low spot, this dent just like we thought, there’s a low spot, same here, low spot on this dent, and this took no body filler, this is actually completely smooth. So, I guess the little waves were from the factory paint job, but we smoothed that out so we won’t have an issue there.
Now, with the 400 grit sandpaper, you saw me sanding out here as well. We feathered out the sanding so we went from this tight area and moved outwards to remove all those 320 grit scratches we introduced. So, we have a smooth transition across this whole panel. Don’t worry, we’re painting the whole thing, so you just want to make sure that you get rid of those 80 grit scratches with that 400 grit sandpaper.
So, this is absolutely perfect. That’s exactly what you want. Now, let’s repeat the process right here. Sand down the filler with 80 grit in an x pattern to level it out with the surrounding panel, then switch to 180 grit and again feather out that sanding into the surrounding paintwork to remove all those 80 grit scratches and smooth out that paint. And finally, wipe the panel down with alcohol to remove any leftover dust.
Okay, so after the 180 grit sandpaper, you can see we feathered out that sanding pretty good. Now we have sandpaper scratches all the way out here, which makes a nice smooth transition. Now this dent here feels great, I cannot feel it. This dent there is a low spot, this dent just like we thought, there’s a low spot, same here, low spot on this dent, and this took no body filler, this is actually completely smooth. So, I guess the little waves were from the factory paint job, but we smoothed that out so we won’t have an issue there.
So, with this completely sanded with 180 grit, we know where there’s spots that we need to fill. Now, let me show you how to mix the glazing putty to get rid of these low spots and the pinholes. Now, our glazing putty gets mixed the same exact way we just mixed our body filler. Just make sure you get a new mixing sheet. This mixing sheet has all these little pieces of body filler on it, and if that gets in our glazing putty, it’s going to ruin the putty and ruin our finish.
So, out with the old and in with the new. Now, what happens if you don’t have a new mixing sheet? Well, you either need a two, four, or six-inch diameter circle and either a two, four, or six-inch line for our hardener. Now, funny enough, our spreader is four inches long, so you can make a circle with your spreader, or the back part of this cap for our filler is about four inches, so what you can do is get a piece of cardboard and trace a four-inch circle for your filler like that, and then draw a four-inch line for your hardener. But you never want to mix your filler or your putty on here because your hardener will soak into a cardboard surface and then you won’t have the correct ratio. So, a little trick is to grab a plastic Ziploc bag, cover your cardboard with plastic, and the plastic won’t absorb any of the hardener, and it’s a nice flat mixing surface.
Now we could go and mix our glazing putty, and what I like to do is I like to knead the glazing putty just like before where we needed the hardener to make sure it’s all mixed up and there’s no separation. Then pour out the putty to fill the four-inch circle, and then once you have that circle filled, next, let’s lay down our four-inch bead of hardener. Good, and finally, we could fold our hardener into the putty just like before. Spend no more than 30 seconds getting this completely mixed. Perfect, so we don’t have any more blue streaks, and our putty is all mixed up. We spread it out, that way it stays cool. We have about five minutes of work time before this hardens, so let’s go fill the low spots and the pinholes.
With the glazing putty covering all the dents on the front door panel, off-camera, I also did the rear door panel. Now, all we have to do is let this sit for 15 minutes so it could cure and harden, and then after that, we’ll go sand it down. After the 15 minutes, we can sand this down, starting with 320 grit. And as you sand, make long strokes going past the dent and not focusing your sanding on one specific area. We don’t want to create any flat spots.
Oh man, this feels so good. It’s nice and smooth, and you can’t even tell that there was any dent here at all. This is perfect. Now we want to do the same thing for the other dents using 320 grit sandpaper. Take long strokes going all the way across the putty, and we just want to get this nice and smooth.
Now, this came out perfect, except for one little spot right here. You can see there is a little nick or a little air bubble that we got in there. So, I quickly mixed up a batch of putty, and all we want to do is fill in this little indent and just build up one more layer. Good, and then we can just sand this down with 320 grit, that way we don’t have any indents in our bodywork when we go to paint.
And check it out, we are done with the most difficult part, getting our dents nice and even with the rest of the panel. And this looks absolutely amazing. All the dents are nice and flush, and our panel is looking great. Now, what we need to do is we need to sand it down with 320 and then 400 to get it ready for paint.
After the 320 grit sandpaper, you can see we feathered out that sanding pretty good. Now we have sandpaper scratches all the way out here, which makes a nice smooth transition. Now this dent here feels great, I cannot feel it. This dent there is a low spot, this dent just like we thought, there’s a low spot, same here, low spot on this dent, and this took no body filler, this is actually completely smooth. So, I guess the little waves were from the
