Okay.. I have a 2 small dents smaller than a dime on the hood of my truck.. and I'm considering fixing it... myself.. lol
Will it be perfect? No.
Will it look better than it does right now? Maybe.
Will it be cheap? Yes.
http://autorepair.about.com/od/fixit...f/ss/bondo.htm

I'm not afraid of painting.. and from what I've seen and heard, black is supposed to be a fairly easy color to match and do a paint blend.. atleast it wont be as noticeable as the dents..

I've gone around town to get a few estimates from local body shops on a "professional" fix.. and all have ranged from $400-500 for the minor body work and re-paint.. At that price, I would definately consider purchasing a new aftermarket hood while I'm at it.. Personally, I don't really feel like dropping that much cash for a small dent on my hood, so I'd like to take my chances with fixing it myself..

I'm assuming for under $25 I can pick up the supplies from the local Advanced Auto.. a small tube of bondo and some Duplicolor auto primer/paint/clear.. I already have plenty of sandpapers of varying grits: 120-2000grits and masking tape.

So this is the plan:
1. Tape and mask off the dents, in a 1"x1" or 2"x2" squares..
2. Sand down within the square to bare metal
3. Apply a small drop of bondo to fill the dent and sand down to level
4. Prime and wetsand
5. Paint and wetsand
6. Clear and remove tape
7. Attempt to polish out any imperfections between the 2 levels of paint and call it a day..

Honestly.. I could probably live with the dent, but I'd like to at least try to fix it, instead of just putting a little touch-up paint on it.. If it doesn't workout, then I'll definately consider picking up an aftermarket hood... What do you guys think? I'm sure this won't be the only or the last dent I ever get.. and I don't feel like dishing out $500 I get one.. so I figure the best thing is just touch it up and get on with my life.. lol

Anywho, here's some pics..



Will this Bondo work?

 

That is not filler, its Bondo brand glazing putty. You can use glazing putty AFTER you've finish sanded the body filler to help fill pin holes and blend the filler to the bare metal. Then one last light and fine sanding before primer.

You are going to need to work areas larger than 2" X 2" on each of those dents if you want them to blend halfway decently. I'd work them together in one single larger area together.

 

gotcha.. I just read up a little more.. I didn't realize there was a difference, but I remember seeing a small tube of filler/hardener at the auto store too. I guess I'll pick up both.

Considering this is going to be on my hood and on such a small spot, I can't imagine I should have to worry about the bondo failing if everything is done correctly, right?

 

That little tube if it is bondo brand stuff will be red, and it will only be extra hardening agent for the bond body filler. You can get a can of the body filler and the hardener for less then $20 at walmart. If you were doing larger area I would recommend Evercoat products they sand a lot easier then the bondo stuff.

 

Make sure you work the filler onto bare metal. I'd leave the bare metal scuffed with maybe 60-80 grit so the filler has a good key to bite. Make sure the filler has been mixed properly (mix/fold it on a board to avoid bubbles, don't stir) and allow it to fully set before finishing it. A couple of thin coats of filler are better than one heavy thick coat. If the filler gets wet before primer, allow it to completely dry. It'll absorb water then if its painted, it can cause problems later. If you wet sand the primer, again allow time for all the moisture to dry. Primer will absorb water too.

 

I'll second the Evercoat products.

You'll want to do a larger area like v tach said, it'll blend alot better. Make sure you use the right grit sandpaper and get some sanding blocks so you're sure to be sanding flat and with even pressure.

 

A replacement hood is not going to be painted so you'd be back to spending an additional $300 to paint it.

It looks like paint is missing from the dent your pointing to? If so, Paintless Dent Repair would not be an option on that dent. It looks like it would be on the second dent but that does not solve the over-all problem.

The reason why it's $400 to repair is that the entire hood needs to be painted to match. Otherwise you will be able to see where a small section was painted. This is what is going to happen if you fill the hole and paint that small area yourself. I think my hood is plastic (?). If yours is not, a body shop should be pounding the dent out and then skim coating it, not just filling it.

If nothing else you could repair the dents yourself and then take it to a paint shop such as Macco to repaint the hood.

If the dents can be polished to bring back the paint then you might want to consider PDR. I think it might be about $100 for 2 dents.

 

They wont pound those out. The metal has been stretched significantly at the larger dent and now there is excess. Pounding them will only cause wrinkles around the entire area. Sometimes the excess can be heat shrunk or even shrunk with a special spiral hammer but it can be a labor intensive project if done right and unlikely on such a repair unless its a high-end custom shop. To complicate things with hoods, often the reinforcing structure under the hood has to be cut away to access the back of the damaged area.

 

Aren't these hoods aluminum?

 

As far as I know yea, they're aluminum.

Anywho.. I went ahead with the "repairs" guys.. check out the other thread. lol

https://www.f150online.com/forums/ge...-repaired.html