Dent Repair

Start my kz400 project and am looking for DENT REPAIR IDEAS, so if you have any please leave a reply. Thanks (THE DENT IS NO BIGGER THEN A 50 CENT PIECE AND NOT VERY DEEP, IF THAT MATTERS)

There ought to be vids of dent repair on youtube.

I am not a body man but with a dent like yours i always take a pointed hammer. If you don't have a body hammer use a welders chipping hammer.

The area around the dent will actually be raised where the metel is creased. Just work your way around the dent lightly tapping.

A friend that is a body man showed me how this is done and if it's good enough for him it's good enough for me.

I then fill with body filler. (bondo) Let it set up for a while until i can sand it. I use 80 grit instead of a body file. Don't use much pressure ,just get the body filler close to the contour of the piece you are working on.

I then use a 240 grit.

I the n prime the piece. You can see your mistakes at this point.

Then use a 400 grit.

If you have scratches in the filler from over aggressive sanding you can use a body putty applied in the thinnest layer you can apply to fill in these areas.

Sand again. Re primer,Wet sand. Then wipe down with mineral spirts and let dry.


And if it is realy messed up i let someone do it that knows what he is doing. Roy

I heard you can rub dry ice onto a hail damaged vehicle and it will shrink the dents back in place. I have never tried it so I can not verify this

If the paint is not damaged you might want to take the tank to a "paintless dent repair" specialist. These guys rub the dents out and can really make them dissapear. My wife had her car's fender done after a kid accidentally hit it with a football. Dent is GONE! Ed

thanks to the first 3 replys!

650ed - unfortinatly the paint is damaged, so although a great idea, wont be the best move in my case.

kawickrice - i think the dent is a lil to big for that, but thanks for reminding me of this method, which does work incase your wondering, i have done this.

roy - i think your method will be the most effective in my case, thank you for your thoughts, i will have to see what i can do with them

Just remember the pros are rolling over laughing at my simple instructions. Roy :laugh:

Pending the creases of the dent, one of those rubber suction cup dent puller s might work....

As you mentioned, paint is damaged, well hell then...
Sand it to bear metal a good 1" around the outer diameter of the dent, clean and fill with Bondo... Sand, prep, mask and paint...

Or prep the whole tank for a paint job....

I have a stud welder I can pull smaller dents and then metal file and D A sand smooth . No Bondo A DA is an orbital sander. I know you don't have this so what Roy told you would work.. Or you could use the paintless dent removal to take the dent out with no bondo then paint it.. The painless dent removal can't be used if the dent is streched or creased ..Also as an alt. to bondo theres a product called metal to metal its an alumimn glass resin mixture that uses a fiberglass hardner I love it and it work better than bondo. And Bla Bla Bla:)wear a dust mask

I had a small dent in my gastank which I could not reach with a rod through the gas filler hole and push out. I did see all those vids on youtube but while they may works for a car panel I have my doubts about bikes. I couldn't get my hands on dry ice so cant speak to the veracity of that one. I did try the aerosol can of compressed air trick to make the area around the dent cold and then warm it of (same idea as the dry ice approach) but it was a total waste of time.

What worked for me in the end was a ding king - try google - and see pic. I's a small suction cup which you attach using hot glue and fits throught an adjustable bracket and you slowly screw it back until the dent pops. It does not work as easily as tv would suggest. In fact it took me approx 10 attempts with each one pulling the dent out a bit further. In the end I got it maybe 95% out. Not totally perfect but not really noticeable either. In pulling the dent I managed to pull a tiny chip of paint but a dibby dab of touch up paint hid the damage nicely. The tool cost me $25 at local auto store but I'm sure you could find it cheaper in the US.
Also, note that these things only work if there is no crease around the edge of the dent

For a larger dent I used a 2 inch suction cup and muscle.

Yea, those glue-in dent repair kits work well. Harbor Freight sells a simple kit for about $20. If the dent is deep the paint will often get damaged but a least the dent will be made more shallow so you can just use a thin skim layer of bondo to fill before painting.