I have a dent in my right quarter panel (right under the tail light). Its not huge.. but enough to bug me. took it to an auto body shop and they quoted me $1200.. said they had to replace the whole panel because it's aluminum.

Does anyone have any experience having these dents repaired? is aluminum that much harder to work that I need to replace the whole piece? Its not a huge dent so I can live with it if need be but I'd rather have it fixed. I've gone through and fixed just about everything else the previous owner messed up..

Thanks!
Nick

 

time to find another body shop, I dont think they cut quarter panels of AC Cobras because they have dents. You just need to find one that deals in European Cars, a lot of the the euro trash stuff is aluminum. It does require a different skill set than the average scuff and squirt body shop.

 

I had several dents in my rover when I bought it years ago. I had a guy work them all out for a few hundred bucks. So yes, you can work out dents in aluminum. I would call around to body shops in your area.

 

take out the tail light assembly, its like 2 or 4 screws. then get a skinny crow bar, stick it down with the angle on the center of the dent, wrap a rag around the top exposed part, brace it against the rolled towel and use it as a lever against the inside back part to push it out. simple, free, and works. wont be show room, but itll probably atleast look alot better in the meantime. you could also find some sort of spreader and fab up an extension that reaches out the taillight hole so you can operate it. lastly if you are willing, drill holes from the opposite side inside the truck and push it out with a long extension or screw driver, then seal the hole with one of those steal puddy bonders and repaint.

 

now that I think of it if you look on Eastwoods site they sell small inflatable bags that are use to remove dents between panels.
thick rubber like the SLS air bags but in diferent sizes.
you could remove the tail light and drop in one of those bags and pump it up, it should make short work of the dent in aluminum. deflate it and pull in back out.

 

At least you don't have two DIIs that got hammered by hail the size of golf ***** or bigger. They look like somebody took a hammer to them. The 03 lost one window. Can't wait to the see the body shop estimates on both of them.

 

We had hail like that in Texas about 2 years ago, except it ranged from golf ball to grapefruit sized. I was actually on my way to a independent LR shop to drop off the Discovery (before I wised to the ways of this forum and started fixing it myself). I had heard on the radio that a hail storm was coming, and I asked the guy in the shop if they moved all the cars inside if a storm comes. His response "yes, if there's room." So I asked "well, is there room right now". He checked, and came back and said "actually, we're all full." I told him "I'm leaving - see you tomorrow", drove home and was VERY glad I did. The next day I returned to find their parking lot full of LRs and Jaguars loaded with dents, busted windshields, the works. The guy asked if I was psychic.

I'm guessing your estimate will be $5-6K each. My friend's Honda was parked outside his house during that storm, and that's what he ended up paying to get his put right.

Sorry to hear about the hail - it's one of the worst things that can happen to a car

RedAustinIX

 

Re: my super-clean-all-records-very-well-cared-for-silver 2004 D2: the Mrs. backed into a tree and crushed left rearmost corner panel. Really, it was her, not me. She's usually super careful and knows and loves the truck as much as I do (she's an architect -- she knows good design when she sees it). Just got distracted or ?. I don't know (both of us, 2 glasses of wine/week @ most, really ) The few body shops in western CT who do work on alum ("ah-loo-mihn-e-um" as Jeremy Clarkson says) look at it and say 'do you have coverage?' then when I say "no" they say 'you're a moron' (under their breath, not audibly) then they say more or less "learn to live with it". They explain how AL is in fact a strong metal re ductility/malleability. While in theory one can 'gently ball-peen it slowly' from the inside with the tail light removed (that's me, the newly-minted moron, mentally improvising ANY solution to this problem), they say it's a non-starter and only a new panel will do which is crazy week-in-the-tropics-vacation money.

Anyway, just sharing my pain w/ the only folks on the planet who 'get it' re the majesty, beauty, and WTFudge!? that is a late model discovery. Don't know what I'm going to do w/ the truck (as in have made no decision whatsoever), but I THANK YOU ALL for your dedication to this forum and helpful, practical, intelligent advice/recommendations.



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