last night i put a dent in my truck while backing up to hook up a boat trailer. the dent in located on the tailgate about 5 inches from the ford oval and is about the size of a quater. although the dent is not large and not deep (about .75 inches), i want to fix it. i would appreciate it if anyone can provide me with steps on how to use bondo to smooth it back out and repaint it and polish it. or any other additional methods would be appreciated.

once again the dent is about the size of a quater and approx. .5 to .75 inches deep. some paint has been removed.

thanks in advance

 

Find a good Paintless Dent Removal Co and start with them before you start using BONDO

 

I agree with Cobra...

There have been numerous threads on f150online.com that talk about PDR... from what I've read, those guys work voodoo on dents that don't have paint damage. My dad had it done to a baseball ding on his roof... he swears by it.

RP

 

The paintless dent removal is the way to go. I had two dents on my tailgate just below the plastic trim part & it took about twenty minutes & PRESTO the dents were gone....
I was amazed as I watched.... I'd try them first.

 

i thought about that, but on my tailgate it has little paint removed and it looks like the metal may be stretched also. it doesn't appear to be a ding, more like a stretched dent. let me go take a couple of shots of it and tell me what you think. i will however (on tuesday) go to a local PDR and see what they can do.

thanks for the replies, please take a look at the photos and tell me what you think. the photos aren't that clear because my digital is junk, but i did my best. the dent showed up a little on the pictures, but not enough to show good details, it did however show that my truck is extremely dirty and it's time for a wash.

thanks again

https://www.f150online.com/galleries...w.cfm?num=8740

 

Argh... I see what you're saying about the potential stretch...

My dad's truck had a tiny bit of stretch to it and thus, they couldn't totally remove the ding. Fortunately for him though, it was on his roof and thus it wasn't that big of a deal...

Best of luck and let us knwo what the PDR guys say...

 

i got back from ultimate collision (body work and paintless dent removal), they said it will take body work and paint. just like i thought, the dent was more of a tear because it hit a sharp object, it tore it instead of bumping the metal in. PDR can only be used on dents like hail or small ROUND dents. he quoted me roughly 250 to fix it (bondo, sand, paint), which is a little steep for a dent of that size (imo). i went to another PDR, which only does paintless dent removing and they said it cannot be fixed without pulling it back out, body fillings (like bondo), sanding, and paint. so i may take it around to get some other quotes like from macco or other local shops or maybe even do it myself.

thanks for the inputs

 

no offense, but you bought yourself a nice truck, not some econo****box car...dont cheap out if your gonna have it repaired...filling it with bondo is not the way to go...get the dent pulled then smoothed out, dont just fill the dent in with bondo. get it professionally taken care of or else your gonna kick yourself in the *** when one day you close your tailgate an a chunk of bondo falls off...