Today, I'm gonna walk you through step by step my process and how I remove this dent damage from the rear wing of this Audi. As you can see, it's a fairly good sized dent. But what adds to the complexity of this repair? The panel itself is convex. That means it curves out around that wheel arch. The dent itself has a crease running right through the middle and if that wasn't enough, it's also taken in that body line.
So here from the lamp right down towards the wheel arch is the manufacturer's body lamp. And as you can see, my crease dent runs right through the middle. So there is a lot going on with this damage. But I'm gonna take you through with me, step by step, go through the tools, the techniques and methods I used to repair this damage.
Access Points
So the first thing I want to do with damage like this is check for the access points. I plan on glue pulling most of the damage out, but it's always good to know where your access points are from. A finishing point of view, see if I can get different tools, rods and bars behind to allow me just to get a really nice clean finish. But I intend to do most of the repair with glue pulling sort of techniques. And then perhaps if it needs finishing, take out some of the damage with some tools from the inside.
So I'm checking for access points I can get in here and get this whole back section. Through this access point here. What I'm currently thinking of doing is taken out this little piece of the crease that I can only as far as the main body of the dent and then probably do the same with the fine that increase on the other side. So I take it all that damage on that side, take out the damage on this side and that should leave me with just that dent and I'm gonna glue all that dent try to get that body line back out again.
So taking the screws out of the under shield and I can't get the, to show up on the camera, but there's a hole about the up on the inside of the ouch. So if that access point, this access point, I know I can reach the majority of the dent and I intend to glue pull of this.
Plan For Removal
So I'm gonna start this repair from the back end. I've got a hockey stick style tool with a blade tip going right through that access point to get me on the back end of this crease, I'm gonna take out the crease damage to the left and right of the main bulk of the dent. And that's gonna make sure all of the tension is where I want it right in the middle, ready to rework that body line.
You can see the lines pinching together as my tool tip connects right into the center. And as I speed up this repair process, you can see the way that metal moves and comes back into the correct shape. So now that I've tidied up that tail of the crease on the rear, I'm gonna go through the other access point under the wheel arch and do the same thing for the front end of that crease.
So at this stage, I'm looking to take out the left damage and the right damage to about 90% really to give me a true shape to the panel, make sure I've released any crowns, any tensions leading right into the middle of the main bulk of the dent. And then I've just got one big dent to work with. So again, as I speed up this process, you can really see the way that I move around, the way the metal responds and just gentle, precise pushes right along that crease line to take out the majority of the damage, either side of the main bulk of the dent.
Re Assessing The Damage
So I'm just repairing this little crease here. But from this angle, you can see I got crown, so I quite often call this hidden damage and that's where the damage has traveled across. Got to a point, it won't go any further. So it sort of puts a bump crest into the panel at the very edge of the repair can be quite easy to miss, but that certainly needs to be all tapped down. Have that little bit of tension, that little bit of crown released allowing that method to flow each way.
But before I tackle that crown, I'm just gonna take out the high spots that I created during that last pushing process with my tool tip from the inside. I'm using a root beer tap down, which is great for giving me some precision. It's also a lighter weight and so is the paddle that I'm using to tap it down with. It's got a leather pad on the inside. So it gives me a really nice soft damper.
Now, as we assess this crown, you can see where those lines pinch together and it curves and runs down vertically. So I'm gonna gently tap down that high, that crown and I'm gonna use my blending hammer for this. Now, I'm not blending, I'm just using my hammer in a similar fashion to when we're using that tap down and a hammer. But it's just a bit quicker for me using a blending hammer and the tips as opposed to holding a tap down and a hammer in two separate hands.
Ok. So I've taken out the damage that was here, taking out the damage that was here. So now I'm gonna be focusing on the main dent. So obviously, we've got this crease that runs right through the dent. It's fairly deep, but it is fairly soft. I think. So. I don't consider this a crown and that's just the top of the dent. It will start to release as I bring this tin outwards.
There may be a tiny bit of tension on the body line of the arch but not anything to worry about at this stage. Now, what I'd like to do is put tabs either side of the crease and then gradually bring it up so that I should finish pretty much on that body line. So a tap here tab here, lift it up and I'll be directing my pulls that way and that way to pull out the metal this way and this way, I'm hoping that's gonna come out as a fairly clean dent will start to pop out as I'm releasing attention, but there is a crease running through it. So even when the big dents out there will probably still be a fine line that needs to be worked.
Now you've got a very slight crown here, a more pronounced one on the back end here. So I'm gonna do a couple of light little taps here and here and that reduces some of the tension which will help me be able to pull some of the low. But by putting pressure and tapping this way, I'm encouraging that tension in the panel to move that way. And as I'm tapping this side of the crown again, kind of directing it this way by applying pressure here and here, I'm going to be sort of persuading that metal to come inwards, which is going to help in that lifting process.
Identifying The Tension
So I'm starting on the outer edge of the crown and tapping it inwards. And that's what I mean by helping feed the, the tension this way. So my crown's there. I start tapping it, tap, tap, tap, tap, tap in towards the dent.
So now that I've released the tension from the outer side of that dent, we can focus on the glue section. As always, I'm gonna make sure my panel is warm, clean and well prepped and then we'll start the hot glue process. So I've put a bead of hot glue right along the center of this crease tab. Now the tabs I'm starting with are from Black Plague P D R. There's a de Gang Green Smooth series. I've got a small crease tab on the left and a slightly longer crease tab on the right, allow that to cure just for a few seconds before setting up my slide hammer.
Now watch the direction of my pores. I'm directing the slide hammer to the left and that is allowing some force on the tab itself to help me direct that pollen force in towards the center of the dent. And in the same on this side pull in and directing the slide hammer in the direction I want that pull. So already you can see it's massively reduced the outer size of that dent and board in.
Now, a lot of people think with a slide hammer, you're just pulling it straight out, but you can definitely direct the force of that energy in that pool and help persuade that metal to go in the direction that you want to feed it. And it's all about that metal flow. And this is one of the many things we teach over at learnpdronline.com My dedicated training platform for teaching painless dent removal.
It's that first pull pulled out some of this dent and it just started to move. So bringing it slightly shorter. This line here was where my other tub was. So you can see I've reduced the dent of that first pull. I still got that crease running through it. What should I leave a glue pull or see if I can get a tool to? But as I've taken that crown pushed it this way, release some of this crown, pushing it this way, the original crease I was working with the bars and Ross here.
My first glue pull was this section here and you can see it's almost taken the tension with it to give what looks like another crown on the back end. So this time, I won't be really tapping that crown. I'm gonna continue my pull along this crease line. Same again, one that side, one this side, bring it in towards the crease.
Top Tip For Using A Slide Hammer
So setting up once again, for the next stage of GLU, it's a similar process, I'm aligned in these tabs and once again, watch the direction of my slide hammer gradually bringing it around to the right. And that is encouraging the left hand side of that tab to lift and that's lifting towards the center of the dent and then repeating on the left hand side.
Using a Lifter
So now after our first stage of gluing, let's have a quick assessment of the panel and see how we get on. You can see I've massively reduced the overall size of the damage, reducing the crease from the left and right hand side, bringing it all in towards that center point across the body line as my damage has got smaller and the crease is more defined. I'm now switching to the Kiko Robo lifter with their dead center tabs.
Now, the combination between this lifter and those tabs is killer. When it comes to these fine creases, you get such precision and control in being able to lift out just that fine line, that center line of the crease.
I'm just gradually working the metal gradually squeezing that lifter and allowing the tab and the glue to do its job of pulling up the metal. And just as I did before, I'm looking to address the left hand and right hand side, either side of the main body line.
Now it's a slow process just gently working the metal in towards the middle and throughout the repair, you really have to look at the panel as a whole, make sure that you're working within the shape of the panel and not getting lost in any of the tension or missing any points. Sometimes you can be so zoned in to the center point, the low that you are working, it's easy to forget to look around the entire panel and just make sure everything's going in the right direction where you want that metal to move.
So I've switched back to a gang green tab. These are slightly wider and I've got it going right through the 45° angle of my body line because that's the line of the crease. So I'm just trying to get the center point of that body line lifted back up again and it did start to move. So already we can see the line is starting to take shape a few more glue pulls and some fine tap down work and it's really starting to shape up well.
Restoring the Bodyline
So the main large soften is now being removed just in the process of restoring this body line. You can see we've got a little bit of distortion here and where the main crease was, we still have some signs of the crease itself. So you can continue to kind of glue pull this with the crease tabs and lifter or see what areas you can get to through this point or this access point to finish it off. And you can see I've got part of that crease running through here.
Now that I've got the majority of the shape back into the panel, I'm going back to my bars and rods. I just find I get really good precision accuracy work in the low spots. So the glue has helped me reduce the overall size relatively quickly. And now what I consider the fine tuning leading towards those finishing stages, I can get my tool straight behind the dent, read the damage across my line board.
So right now, I can still see signs of that initial crease gradually pushing along those lows from the inside with my tool tip, bringing it up until my reflected lines read through. Now, during that process, you do create some small high spots with your tool. So I regularly switch and take those out with my tap down hammer process. But also as the dent starts to unfold and the panel starts to take its shape again, have a look across the entire panel in that nice natural light, look at all the reflections around you and make sure the whole panel looks consistent. It's important on every dent, but even more so with large damage. As I said before, you can be really zoned in and focused on one particular spot and sometimes forget to assess the panel as a whole.
So now I've cleaned up this whole kind of back section from here to here through this access point, a little bit of tap down work um drawing the metal that was in the outside, in towards the middle and then with the tip of the tool working my way along the low spots from the original crease of the dent and also working my way along this body line, making sure I've got a nice straight line.
Shaping The Panel And Working The Bodyline
So with this longer bar, I can get through that hole all the way along to the other side of my crease. So I've nearly taken out the whole dent, um come into like the finishing stages. Um We can just hopefully pick it up on the line board. So running right through the middle here, there's a slight high lack of crown. So the lines are slightly wider here, slightly wider here and then more tight between this little gap here.
So again, the sort of thing that can be very easily missed, but without identifying that crown tapping it in, you might not necessarily get to the low damage across this line here.
Once again, I'm choosing to use my blending hammer. This is the Shane Jack blending hammer and I've just got a dent craft mushroom tip on the end and I'm using that to gently tap down my crown, my high spot. You can do this with a hammer and knock down, but with a bit of precision and accuracy, I just find it quicker, doing it with my hammer. And again, another quick assessment across the panel just making sure it's all looking good and we've not missed any of the damage.
Now, with my line board set up, hopefully, you can see it's what I'm looking at from my angle some of those lines, slightly pinch together, some of them are slightly wider apart. So this is kind of like ripples across the panel and I'm using my blending hammer to smooth this out. So the areas that are very slightly high are now being tapped down and that metal that's high is being dispersed back into the low.
And those lows are naturally being lifted up just by that high metal being placed down and smoothing out that panel. So I'm blending across my repair area. But I'm also gonna blend out the damage from my repair area out into the rest of the panel. And this just gives me a really nice consistent finish from the repair across the entire panel itself. So I'm blending out my damage area, but I'm also blending it in to the existing texture of the panel.
So as I run across with my line board, again, we can see it's looking pretty good, it's pretty clean. There's a couple of minor little details that I'm gonna continue blending out and a couple of micro lows that I'm just gonna touch to back up with my tool tip just to make sure I've got a really nice clean repair.
So if you're interested in painless dent removal, and you're wondering how you can get started in the industry, learn more about the tools, the techniques and methods we use to fix dent damage, check out, learnpdronline.com. You've got all of the information there right now to get you started today training in P D R. Now, I'm here to help you every step of the way. So reach out to me, ask me any questions. And as always, I hope you've enjoyed this video. If you have, don't forget to give us a thumbs up to like the video. So I really hope you've enjoyed this video and I'll see you in the next one.