RICKKKKKKKKKKKKKKK! help...

[z28camarocarri]

I need your opinion and expert advice....(anyone else too of course)

I was suppose to be getting my car painted for an amazing price but my buddy doesnt have time to get my car in before BG so I needed to find someone to paint my door, front clip, fix the rocker panel, fix the corner of the door, and touch up some other little areas. well he looked at my car, gave me a price, and as of right now i have heard nothing from him.

upon further examination of my car and now being able to see all the imperfections and mismatching paint etc, Im wanting to have my dad paint it (he has expierence dont worry) and that way the whole car matches and the door jams and hinges get fixed as well.

however this is the issue....before i bought the car, they jacked it up using the rocker panel and it dented it up and caused some misalignment and the corner of the door to catch breaking it off. its temp. fixed but without fixing the rocker panel there is no use of fixing the door. everyone ive talked to has said replacing either part is not neccasary......so my dad said we could probably use a dent puller (not the little suction cup ones either) and pull that panel back down and just fill in the drill holes from the puller. We cant removie that rocker panel because we dont have a welder to weld it back on.

I was wonder if you, Rick, or anyone else has any idea of a better way to do this or any other suggestions? I figure for the price my dad and i can pay to paint the whole car is only slightly above what i was quoted for just 3 parts. My dad has an airbursh, paint gun, all that stuff....so we're good there and we're also painting the project ourselves as well.

I just want my car to be done and looking good for a huge show i have in Aug and of course for Bowling Green. and im sick of being told someone will do my car and then they never return my calls etc on when they can get my car in. I cant sit around waiting until the day before and then its not done.

[Rayz95]

can u post a picture of the problem area? seems like the puller would work, then realign the door, but I am not an expert in this field either. I hate those that are your friends until you need them to do something for you.

[z28camarocarri]

its almost impossible to get a pic of the damage without having a lift to put the car on. because from under the car its way to close and it just looks like a white rocker panel. lol ive tried before.

the door isnt misaligned really....its the rocker panel and its bend up so much its causing the corner of the door to hit which chipped it off. once the rocker panel is bent back down the issue should be solved or close to solved and we can repair the door.

[Ryatt-Motion]

OK, I had to think about this a minute to figure out the best plan of action here. Sell the car and a Mustang.


No just kidding! You do not want to use a typical dent puller that uses a big ass screw to pull dents, rather you will need a nail welder available at any body supply shop or www.eastwood.com, they range from $150 to $400.

The first thing you will need to is get the car good and level on a lift and then using a level, see how bad the rocker is bent and to persuade it back into shape, you will be using a variety of hammers ranging from planishing hammers to even a small sledge.

Open the door as far open as possible and isolate the change in the rocker panel, meaning, with your level, see where the straight level metal starts to incline into the dent. Take a sharpie or marker or even a piece of tape and measure 3 inches or so back from the incline. Next get a nice pice of 2X4, it doesn't have to be big, maybe 6-8" (inches) long. Starting with the smaller body hammer, set the 2X4 down on the rocker , towards the outer edge and give it about three firm hits with the hammer and check your progress with the level. If the body hammer is innefective, transition to a ball peen hammer, if that doesn't do it, use a small hand held sledge and give it only one hit at a time.

You want to make sure you are hitting the 2X4 and not the metal because the 2X4 will help distribute the load of the hammer blow and will keep distortion to a minimum, metal to metal will cause dents that require a ton of work.

Now, step two getting the dents out from the bottom of the rocker: Asuming all is well and the door is aligned now from the 2X4 and hammer, you will need to remove the dents from where the jack came into contact with the rocker. You want to locate the dent and grind away the paint to make for a clean surface, then using your nail welder, weld on several nails, you want one in the center and several leading out of the dip. Next, take the puller and ever so carefully start your pull from the outer edge working your way to the center. If you have welded three nails, one on the edge, one in the center and one on the other edge, use the small hand puller provided with the kit and affix it to either one of the outer nails and pull down on it enough to where the dent is about 1/16" of an inch obove the flat metal, now remember, you are still holding it firmy with the puller to achieve the raise in metal. While holding the the raise, take your body hammer and gently tap the metal around where the nail is held. this will help that dent go back to it's natural memory. Then repeat the same process to the other side wirking your way to the center until eventually the dent is gine and the rocker is straight again. Just use finesse when doing this and remember, give it gentle taps, don't murder it, all you want to do is distribute the metal and persuade it to go back to its shape.

Finally, when you are satisfied that the metal work is right, cut the nails off with a pair of dykes and carefully dress the metal with an air grinder equiped with 40 grit. Apply a skim coat of body filler and level everything out. Next Scuff down the surrounding area with some 80 grit and prime the bare metal with some etching primer, then when that is cured, scuff it up with some 120 and prime it with some polyester base primer like PCL Polyseter Primer. Give it three heavy coats and I believe the rest is pretty academic for you from there. Good luck, a repair like this for a novice should be about 2 hours worth of work and i believe you and your pops should be able to pull it off in no time flat.

[z28camarocarri]

thanks a ton Rick. This one is gonna be new for me. Im sure the dad has done such work as he use to have a ton of tools and did all the body work on all the cars we've ever had or that have come into the shop. but since my dad always tells me, " why dont you ask those fbody guys you hang out with first " i figured I might as well get some advice and opinions from the crew here. Im hoping to start the work on the car next week...Hopefully nothing is going as planned anymore.

[Ryatt-Motion]

Originally Posted by z28camarocarri

thanks a ton Rick. This one is gonna be new for me. Im sure the dad has done such work as he use to have a ton of tools and did all the body work on all the cars we've ever had or that have come into the shop. but since my dad always tells me, " why dont you ask those fbody guys you hang out with first " i figured I might as well get some advice and opinions from the crew here. Im hoping to start the work on the car next week...Hopefully nothing is going as planned anymore.

Don't feel bad Carri, I love working on my cars, but I don't have the facility to do it, as stuff that big is too much for my garage. Also, I don't have enough tools to do the major panel replacement my car is in need of, so I have no choice but to be at the mercy of the body shop and since they have half their staff on vacation right now, my car still sits in the back under a tarp awaiting it's turn on the operating table. I want my car back together so bad it hurts!