so lets just say somebody (MY GIRLFRIEND) can't drive. Going to attempt some body work, which I have never done and don't know how it will go. here is the damage. let me know if anyone has any tips or good tools to use. i wanted to try and use one of those little make a hole and pull the dent out kits. i found the paint match online here http://www.automotivetouchup.com/cho...odel=Discovery

 

Good luck with that. Sorry I can't offer any advice. I avoid doing body work. I would recommend you not let your girlfriend drive your truck anymore. Maybe you can get her one of those bumper cars from the carnival.

 

Or Sign her up for the Demolition Derby at the County Fair. Not in your truck, tho, you want a Beater POS StationWagon for that.

 

Thx for the top notch advice. I have already stoned her till near death and for the past week she has been chained to the sink in the basement.. but the truck is still scarred.

 

Leave it there and make a sticker with her picture on it and a little red arrow pointing to the gash..

 

Slow down there......you don't go right to a slide hammer.

You need to strip the interior around the area and see how much can be hammer & dollied back out. This is not something you get right on your first try, and not something you first try on something you are trying to fix - you really should be finding some old body panels to learn on.

Since it appears that you have creases in there, you won't be getting it all the way out. If you're really careful and practice well, you can get it pretty close to flat, sand it with some 80 grit, and put a few very light coats of boy filler (NO - NOT BONDO - that stuff is garbage. Try something decent like Rage Gold). Sand it smooth and then you are ready for a high build primer and more sanding.

When you're done with that, I can guarantee you that you will not be able to prpperly paint it. Forget the paint code you got: that's not what color your truck is anymore. That's what color it was when it was new.

How much time and money you want to spend depends entirely on how good you want it to turn out, but without having done more than a little bit of this stuff about 10 years ago, I was able to turn this:



into this:




Note - I replaced the door and re-sprayed the entire car (obviously). And the fender isn't actually entirely bolted back on the car in this picture, which is why the lines are off.

So it's possible. But I did a lot of practice work to make it happen.

No way I would have tried blending the paint myself, even it it was a single stage paint.

 

I agree that you need to come at it from the inside, remove all the interior trim, its easy, and hammer it back out.
Or, here is a novel idea...call your insurance company and see what they say, if you dont like what they say then go to a body shop and get a estimate, its free.
The decide what you want to do.
Remember, the body panels are aluminum...

 

I thought the Disco panels were 'BOXED' meaning they have an inside skin and an outside skin, this making it very difficult to get a dolly into position to bang them back into shape..

I heard this from my Brother in Law who is a Auto Body guy.. could be bad info though.

 

Nope, adds to much weight. They have the outside skin spot welded to a "frame", all modern cars are this way.
Just like your doors, if you remove the inside panel you can see the outside skin.

 

The Rover frame is fully boxed for strength.