5 DIY Tips for Removing Dents from Your Car

No matter how well you take care of your car, or how cautiously you drive, sooner or later you will wind up with a ding or dent. It may happen at a traffic light when someone accelerates too fast, or in a parking lot when you back out and don’t see another car coming. What this kind of situation almost always entails is an expensive repair bill and potentially higher insurance rates.

Or does it? Over the years, people have come up with some simple yet creative ways to remove dents from their cars, trucks and SUVs using just a few items found around the house. Here are a few of the fast and easy methods we found to remove dents from your car.

The Hairdryer trick

Metal and plastic have a sort of memory. They’ve held a shape for a while and will naturally return to that shape if possible. In this trick, use a hairdryer to pop out the dent in your car. Simply heat the dent with a hair dryer held about six inches away from the surface. Get it good and hot. This should cause the metal to expand ever so slightly. Then, cool the dented area rapidly. You can use a can of compressed air as one option. You can also use dry ice (if you handle it properly). Keep cooling the dent until you hear it pop out, which should occur within the first minute or so. Remember, if you choose to cool it with dry ice, be sure to wear protective gloves.

Get Into Hot Water

This method works best on plastic parts like bumpers. To remove a dent from your bumper, boil a pot of water and pour it over the dented area. As the plastic expands from the heat, it will pull the dent out. Consider pouring cool water over the area to help set the de-dented area in its current shape.

Utilize a Plunger

Plungers are generally used to resolve plumbing issues around the house. What you may not know is these tools can also help get rid of dents in your car. Place the plunger over the dent and start pulling. You may want to pour some water over the plunger to help get an air-tight seal. This method is one of the easiest and involves the least prep work.

The Power Suction Method

If the plunger method above doesn’t get the job done, then it’s time to switch to power tools. Take a bowl, bucket or some other container. Cut a hole in the bottom and stick the tube from a vacuum cleaner into it. Make sure you seal the entire set up airtight. Duct tape can be helpful here, as it is in most situations. Get an airtight seal over the dent and turn on the vacuum. It will create suction and should pop the dent back out to normal.

Sell Your Car for Cash

The easiest way to make dents disappear is to make the entire car disappear and turn it into cash. Contact us.