We are doing a tutorial on a large dent but we cannot expect  a 100% repair because there is some damage to the paintwork. This tutorial will give you a good insight as to how we should approach large damage.

As you can see the damage is quite a heavy hit right on the tailgate which unfortunately has also damaged the paint. We will certainly see if we can take out the majority of the dent.

First,  start with opening up the tailgate  and take off the inside trims. See what access to reach through that small little handle and I'm hoping it's going to be quite open on the inside to be able to get a lot of access to that damage.

Second,  check what tools we are going to need. We will take a look as we open up and see that there is so plenty of room to get the tools in. 

Third,  as we come around to this other angle you can see the impact point. Punch through the metal now. No way we’re going to get that bit perfect  especially not with that paint damage.

Fourth, we work around the rest of the dent and do an improvement. Once that panel is nice and warm we get behind the softer section of it and with my hand see if the panel starts to move to reduce the overall size of the dent.The middle looks fairly movable so with a bit of heat and some gentle pressure by hand we'll be able to take some of the dent.

Fifth, we get the hammer and knock down. Blend and hammer and start moving some of the little high spots tapping  down some of the crowns. Alternately we push from behind and switch back to tap and down. 

Sixth, glue pull out some of the tension in this section. Make sure that we're putting attention back into the panel and pushing the metal from here back down towards the bottom. 

Seventh, use a little metal knack down with a red cap to soften it a little bit. This tool acts as a blending hammer. You can use different ends to really softly work some of the highs down with soften blows. Tap down more high spots and come back to the soft tip and gently tap.

Eight, use the line board to see the lines where the panels are quite tense. You can see the majority of that dent is out but it's messy. There are ripples and distortion across the whole panel. So there is still plenty of work to do.  Cross check your work constantly and then work out the lows and highs from that angle. Switch to another angle and again push out the little low spots.

Final Steps

So the real battle at this stage,  removing the rest of the damage is one of the hardest  stages of the repair. About halfway I've got out of the majority of the large damage and now left with loads of little high and lows. Finish work now in tap and down all the little high spots reducing the ridges and crowns as well as the pushing up of all the little loads that are in there. 

Around two hours of tapping and knocking down, blending in and just a lot of work, it just really takes a long time to do this repair. I think that it's always good to challenge yourself. You don't know what you can't do or what you can do unless you have a go. When you get imperfections in there I think if I'd spend more time on it.

 I've just struggled to get a hundred percent of that dent out so that's fairly pleased with the overall improvement. Look at those reflections and see the small marks left in there. Hopefully it gave you a bit of an idea as to how to approach large damage and know different  methods and tools to reduce that dent damage.

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