WELCOME! - "Have A Great Browsing Day!"
HOW TO REPAIR A DENT ON A LINCOLN
Author: Joe Oliveira
A step by step conventional auto body dent damage repaired on a lower hatch of a 2016 Lincoln MKC, performed by Joe Oliveira, better known as Joe the Bodyman. In this How-To Tutorial Joe shows you the repair process in detail, including the necessary tools used to perform this repair and steps taken from the beginning to the end. This work was done in one of Joe's Co-op body shop as a subcontractor therefore some of their rules had to be followed!
In the first four photos bellow, they show the extent of the dent damage on the hatch, you can see the damage from different angles, this is not what most auto body technicians consider big dent damage, but it had to be fixed!
Step 1:
Joe accessed the extent of the damage by looking at it from different angles, surely you will see that the damage is not only concentrated in the centre but it also extends towards the edges of the hatch. This is good practice, it will help you decide the best way to perform the repair.
Step 2:
Now that Joe decided the best way to fix the dented damage, he proceeded to remove the paint on the hatch to the bare metal as shown below, Joe could have used a grinder with a 36 or 50 grit disc, but for this particular job he chose to use the 3M purple disc on the drill, as it's not so aggressive on the metal.
Step 3:
With the damaged area cleaned and paint free, Joe welded the studs on to the panel along the body line with the stud gun, and pulled the metal outwards into shape with a pulling vise grip and the help of a flat body dolly for leverage, and at the same time tapping the high spots with a body hammer.
Step 4:
After the sheet metal was worked back to its shape, Joe removed the studs with the pliers, followed by cleaning the residue left behind by the studs with a small air grinder using a 50 grit disc.
Step 5:
The time came for feather edging the paint with the D.A. Sander, with 80 grit sand paper. You can see the result on the pictures on the right.
Step 6:
Here in this step Joe mixed and applied the first coat of body filler to the working area as smooth as he possibly could. Body filler in cold weather takes long to dry, the help of a heat gun speeds up the drying process.
Step 7:
After the filler was dry Joe proceeded with the sanding process, sanding the body filler with different tools as seen on the pics below until he was satisfied with the finish
Step 8:
Once the bodywork was completed the hatch was ready for the refinish stage, such as the application of the primer sealing the metal and the body filler along with any scratches left by the sand paper, followed by the next step of getting it ready for the paint application and finally the paint job itself.
I hope this tutorial is able to help you with your DIY project. If you need a helping hand don't hesitate to text or email me. Thank you for the time you have taken in reading this tutorial.
Call Joe 647 806-0107