About Body and Bumper Repair

In 1906 Henry Ford noticed that a wrecked French car at a Florida car race was made from a lighter than normal steel, called vanadium alloy. The tensile strength was 170,000 psi, compared to the 60,000 psi tensile strength of American cars. Henry Ford built his Model T from the vanadium alloy. In 1941 Henry Ford also built the first plastic car, made from tubular steel with 14 plastic panels attached.

Dents

Three ways to pull out dents include:

• Locate the dent. Drill a hole in it with a drill. Insert a dent pulling tool into the hole. Pull on it to flatten the dent.


• Place a wood block on the dent on the outside of the car. With a hammer, pound the dent area from the inside.


• Open the handles of a dent puller (with a suction cup) to place on top of the dent. Push the handles together to pull the dent out. 

Scratches

When you get a scratch on your car, it may only cut through the first layers of clear coat. Fill a bucket with warm water. Wrap P2000 abrasive paper around a rubber block. Dip it in the water to wet sand the scratch. If the scratch is deeper, wet sand it. Dry the area. Dab a small amount of touch-up paint into the scratch with a paintbrush. Wet sand the extra paint, so only the scratch has paint. After it dries, apply touch-up clear coat. After that dries, sand the area again.  

Bumper Dents

Hair dryers and hot air guns melt plastic. Point one over the dent and wave over it for about three minutes until it starts to melt. Because it is hot, keep the hot air gun at least five inches away from the dent. After the dent area melts enough, put on your protective gloves, reach under the bumper and push the dent out. You can also use a rubber block to push the dent out. It will look almost good as new.