Roof Dent R34 Skyline

[sleptema]

Hey guys. I just wanted to post this up so that no one else has to go through the pain I have gone through, not to meantion the financial loss, so try to keep this bumped.

Backstory: I recieved a dent in my r34's roof from the neighbours playing cricket outside their house. It apparently was a freak clip and it bounced off a wall and into my roof. Left a NASTY dent, and a big scratch in the middle of it. The dents location is in the exact centre of the roof, about 30mm from the winsheild up. The dent itself is about the size of a 20 cent coin. The neighbours did confront me about this, and as much as I wanted to rip their heads off about it, it was an accident and the kid who did it was like 8, so it was better to appreciate his honesty rather then flame him infront of his dad. I got a quote from a good panel and paint guy (friend of mine - Terry Kho, absolute perfectionist and very good prices, if you are in Perth and in need I highly recommend him. His work is on facebook, take a look, it's brilliant..) for $400, including the removal of a few other small dents that were easy to ding out and some slight buffing. The neighbours gave me $200 towards it and I forked out the rest.

tl:dr - Start here

The dents location.. Centre of the roof, 30mm back from the winsheild, 20c coin sized. Hard to see in an image taken from my phone, but fairly noticable when clean.

Basically there is welding work supporting the rear vision mirror right beneath it.

To remove the dent:

1) Cut back the frame work, pop out the dent, then refabricate. This is actually a substancially large job, and the chance for shit to go wrong is quite high, and you know the pricks will burn something or cut something when they are in the car welding.

or

2) Drill a hole through the roof, use a hook to pull the dent out, seal, and repaint whole roof. The better of the 2 options, but it may be quite costly.

I plan on painting my car matte black within the next couple years when I make it into a show car, so EVENTUALLY, it won't matter. But for now I am still quite pissed off that it is there, and I wasted money on something that could not be fixed.

~Steve

[GTR-N1]

In my Home Contents Insurance PDS, it says that any item on my premises is covered whether it be an item that comes down from above etc...

...so long as I'm not responsible for that falling object.

Want to look into that?

[r31slpr]

No to both of those options for repair, have you looked into paintless dent removal?

Or if its to hard to pull out that way because of the frame underneath, the panel beater should have a dent puller which welds a little pin on then you chuck the slide hammer on and pull it out easy as.

No drilling or cutting of any sort

[Daleo]

If you have to repaint anyway; PDR is a bit pointless.

As r31slpr said; any decent panel shop will spot weld little copper pins and pull the dent with a slide hammer without having to drill holes.

If your friend is the perfectionist you say he is; leave it to him and his proffesional expertise. $400 doesn't sound too bad to pull a dent and respray a roof from my experience.

[sleptema]

In my Home Contents Insurance PDS, it says that any item on my premises is covered whether it be an item that comes down from above etc...

...so long as I'm not responsible for that falling object.

Want to look into that?

That is actually a good point, I will ask my dad about that..

$400 doesn't sound too bad to pull a dent and respray a roof from my experience.

The quote was for the dent to be removed and buffed out, the reason it was so expensive was because the roof lining had to come off.

The PDR, which I am assuming is that suction cup that pops it out, apparently wouldn't work as the dent is too 'sharp'.

[r31slpr]

Looks like you'll have to have it pulled and painted then, it shouldn't cost too much.

But is it really worth it? Its a fair amount of effort for such a small dent. It could easily happen again aswell from even a nut falling from a tree

[sleptema]

Looks like you'll have to have it pulled and painted then, it shouldn't cost too much.

But is it really worth it? Its a fair amount of effort for such a small dent. It could easily happen again aswell from even a nut falling from a tree

A nut from a tree would create a smaller then 5c dent, and I am not TOO worried about that. This dent is 20c piece +. It is fairly big. But, it wouldn't be that noticable to other people, it's just because it is mine.. You know..

[Daleo]

The quote was for the dent to be removed and buffed out, the reason it was so expensive was because the roof lining had to come off.

The PDR, which I am assuming is that suction cup that pops it out, apparently wouldn't work as the dent is too 'sharp'.

Suction cup dent removal is backyard stuff. Not saying it doesn't work on some dents, mind you.

Most PDR is done with specialised tools from behind the dent; you wouldn't believe the places these guys can get to. I have had dents removed from a bonnet and roof where the bracing covered the area.

If the paint is cracked; PDR will sometimes lift the paint, especially if there is a crease. And of course; the paint would still have to be repaired.

Edited March 6, 2012 by Daleo