Let us put a small dent into the panel using a soft tip of a hammer. This slow motion will show the effect it has on the metal. You will see that the metal is dispersed as I put a dent on the panel. We will then go through and repair the small dent.
Watching that back in slow motion, you can really see the shockwave travel across the panel pretty much from the rear light right across the panel to the rear door. Now, this is how a lot of crowns and ridges are created.
Hammer Impact Shockwave
The shockwave will travel across a panel well as it hits a point. When you're doing a small dent repair, no matter what the size it's always worth to check the surrounding areas to see if there's any hidden tension being held in in a crown or a ridge surrounding the dent itself.
It just put a really small dent caused by the impact. I’ll now repair and use a couple of different rods and just quickly take that dent back out again. Let us check how much the panel and the metal can move without affecting the paint.