Removing a dent painlessly...I hope

[Tumwatertaz]

I was searching the internet last night on how to remove a dent from a painted metal part of a car or motorcycle and saw a video on youtube where a guy removed a ding from a motorcycle gas tank by using a blowdryer and a can of air used to clean a keyboard. He removed the tank, drained it, then heated it up at the dent spot with the blowdryer, and then tipped the can of air upside so only the propellant came out and sprayed it on the dent to freeze it quickly. It took a few tries, and then the dent was gone with the paint still intact. I also watched another video of a guy using a blood presure cuff stuffed into the tank and pumping up to pop out the dent in a gas tank. And I've heard that you can do the same thing with an old inner tube.

I'm working on a project bike (a 1995 Honda Shadow VT1100C2 ACE) that has a dent in the tank...and I'm wondering if anyone else here has tried any of these methods with any success?

 

[Maelstrom]

Might work if the tank is not double walled.

 

[Tumwatertaz]

Fortunately it's not. It's just irritating because I just had all the tins painted, put the bike together, and the recently the tank got dented. I was hoping to save myself having to find another tank (which is not gonna be cheap or easy) or paying to have this one fixed and repainted. I don't mind the expense as much as I mind running around with a tank with a dent that has been bondo'ed and painted over.

I've seen guys restoring old cars use a torch and cold water to shrink the metal on a hood, roof, or trunk lid that has been "oil canned" meaning the metal has stretched and a large section pops in and out when you press on it from something too heavy being on it, but Ive never seen this method applied to a smaller curved area on a motorcycle tank before. I have seen a guy inflate a NFL style football inside an old motorcycle gas tank to pop out a large dent once...but it still required a little bit of body work and painting afterwards because it didn't remove the dent completely and it cracked the paint a bit. And it sure made some noise when the dent popped out that scared the heck out of everyone else busy working in the shop...lol

 

[1olbull]

Empty fuel tanks are dangerous!
Be careful using the hair dryer!

 

[Joesmoe]

I really relate to this thread. Mentioned here before we had both our daughters get their license on a motorcycle first, and in our case, a 2001 Honda CB-250 Nighthawk.

One daughter rode it from Virginia to Ohio to school one year, and in a mid-west storm, the bike, stored outside, blew over and against something that put a big dent in the tank.

Riding the bike back home, she was on the bike following us in a car, and with no fuel gauge on the bike, I always worked from memory. On a lonely stretch of I-66 at night she ran out of gas, and my wife was yelling at me, and I walked the 3/4 mile back to where the bike was on the shoulder and waited for AAA.

I purchased one of those $20 hot glue kits "AS SEEN ON TV!" and that might work on the thin metal of current cars (our Prius was all dimpled from a single hail storm and the old BMW had no sign of the storm on it), but not so on the thicker metal of the motorcycle tank.

The dent is still there, and I would still like to fix it.

 

[Tumwatertaz]

Empty fuel tanks are dangerous!
Be careful using the hair dryer!

DOH!!..I thought I covered that part. My humblest apologies to everyone.

You have to drain it and rinse out all of the gas with water first and leave the gas cap off if you are going to use the heat/cold method. I sorta figured that was SOP for using any type of heat around any fuel tank.

BTW... I have seen people using a cutting torch near a gas tank on a vehicle before. And IMMEDIATELY backed WAY away! I guess some people don't realize that fuel vapors in a gas tank with sufficient air mixed with them will make a fairly good sized explosion if ignited properly, and the exploding gas tank will shower everything with burning fuel within a heck of a long distance.

Had a not so bright neighbor that lived about a block from me in 1olbull's town (Tacoma. WA) that was going to try to use an old poorly running gas powered compressor to paint a car inside an old garage a long time ago. Lucky for him someone stopped him and kept him from possibly blowing himself up.

So please be safe out there folks.

 

[EasTexRIII]

Fortunately it's not. It's just irritating because I just had all the tins painted, put the bike together, and the recently the tank got dented. I was hoping to save myself having to find another tank (which is not gonna be cheap or easy) or paying to have this one fixed and repainted. I don't mind the expense as much as I mind running around with a tank with a dent that has been bondo'ed and painted over.

I've seen guys restoring old cars use a torch and cold water to shrink the metal on a hood, roof, or trunk lid that has been "oil canned" meaning the metal has stretched and a large section pops in and out when you press on it from something too heavy being on it, but Ive never seen this method applied to a smaller curved area on a motorcycle tank before. I have seen a guy inflate a NFL style football inside an old motorcycle gas tank to pop out a large dent once...but it still required a little bit of body work and painting afterwards because it didn't remove the dent completely and it cracked the paint a bit. And it sure made some noise when the dent popped out that scared the heck out of everyone else busy working in the shop...lol

Well you are in luck! since it is not double walled & you can access the dented area from inside the tank, take it to a Paintless Dent Repair (PDR) company that does hail repair by using a tool that pushed the dent out from the inside - Approximately $75 - $125 - No worries of heat related accidents since no heat is used

And it doesn't need to be done with the magnetic roller type - the old school flat spoon type works fine!

And as Paul said:

I purchased one of those $20 hot glue kits "AS SEEN ON TV!" and that might work on the thin metal of current cars (our Prius was all dimpled from a single hail storm and the old BMW had no sign of the storm on it), but not so on the thicker metal of the motorcycle tank.

 

[Joesmoe]

Oooooh -- where to find said tool(s) ? I looked at the time and was unable to find them -- and I call the PDR people around here and could not get any of them interested in even looking at the tank.

 

[EasTexRIII]

Oooooh -- where to find said tool(s) ? I looked at the time and was unable to find them -- and I call the PDR people around here and could not get any of them interested in even looking at the tank.

Wow, what a bunch of dead beat a$$holes. Call beyond your zip code (of course if the dent's too big/deep/stretched the metal it won't work)
The tools cost too much unless you're going to use them a lot - just pay a PDR company if you can get one off their a$$

 

[IMFASTTOO]

I was searching the internet last night on how to remove a dent from a painted metal part of a car or motorcycle and saw a video on youtube where a guy removed a ding from a motorcycle gas tank by using a blowdryer and a can of air used to clean a keyboard. He removed the tank, drained it, then heated it up at the dent spot with the blowdryer, and then tipped the can of air upside so only the propellant came out and sprayed it on the dent to freeze it quickly. It took a few tries, and then the dent was gone with the paint still intact. I also watched another video of a guy using a blood presure cuff stuffed into the tank and pumping up to pop out the dent in a gas tank. And I've heard that you can do the same thing with an old inner tube.

I'm working on a project bike (a 1995 Honda Shadow VT1100C2 ACE) that has a dent in the tank...and I'm wondering if anyone else here has tried any of these methods with any success?

HEY I have used the paintless dent removal people called the DENT WIZARD and they do a great job