another successful dent removal

DogBunny

DogBunny

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Before. Note that the dent does not have any creases, however it is irregular, and also goes through the tank's top welded seam.

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After. The pic has some misleading reflections, however the dent is almost completely gone.

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https://www.aliexpress.us/item/3256...t_main.23.5b9a1802EkHcD0&gatewayAdapt=glo2usa
I used this dent puller. I bought the most expensive kit, the one with glue gun and the extra metal tabs. It was a couple bucks cheaper when I bought it -- with tax and shipping I paid $26. As far as I'm concerned, it has already paid for itself with this one dent repair.

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This is after my first pull with the slide hammer. What started out as a big dent is now a small dent.

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Another pic after the first pull. The circle shows where I glued the tab on -- compare to the previous pic, and you can see how the "center" of the dent has migrated.
That circle is not glue residue -- It is actually clear-coat damage, I.E. the clear coat stuck to the glue tab, and came off with it. Strangely, that never happened again. I subsequently glued and pulled many, many times trying to get the small residual dent out. Every time I did a pull, the tab would come off. This became tedious and time-consuming. It takes a couple minutes for the glue gun to heat up, and then you have to wait a few minutes for the glue to cure before you pull.
That small dent was very persistent. I used up an entire glue stick before calling it quits.

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Here, again, is the "after" pic. I almost completely got the left-over small dent out. What's left is a small "flattish" area (circled), not too noticeable.
The arrow points to the damaged clear coat. I'm guessing that maybe I let the glue get too hot when I placed my very first tab, and it melted the clear???

I want to give credit to this thread started by Wingedwheel, which inspired me to buy my kit:
https://www.xs650.com/threads/frankentank.64813/
The dent puller he used is no longer sold by Harbor Freight, but you can buy it here, on Amazon, for only $8:
https://www.amazon.com/JMgist-Silve...ocphy=9028317&hvtargid=pla-634463347357&psc=1
I must have missed it at the time that I bought mine. At 1/3 the cost, BUT the glue gun and glue are extra.
If you read the reviews, it doesn't work great on small dents, which is the same as what I experienced.
AutoZone has a kit that includes the glue and gun for $17.
On the other hand, with my kit I got another slide hammer, so that's a good thing.
 
I've used a similar one for dent removal, instead of slide hammer it uses a tool you squeeze like a pistol grip. Takes time, several small steps to achieve success. Only PITA part is cleaning the glue from the arbors, especially the plastic ones with fine grooves on the face.
Used one on a Harley tank for a fellow, it pulled the clear coat off, ugh!
 
RC4MAN said:
I've used a similar one for dent removal, instead of slide hammer it uses a tool you squeeze like a pistol grip. Takes time, several small steps to achieve success. Only PITA part is cleaning the glue from the arbors, especially the plastic ones with fine grooves on the face.
Used one on a Harley tank for a fellow, it pulled the clear coat off, ugh!
Click to expand...
Interesting report. I looked at the pistol grip kits, but I don't understand what keeps the bridge in place -- body weight/pressure?
The glue came off pretty easily for me, using alcohol (isopropyl 99%) as per the instructions.
Bummer about the clear coat. Definitely a risk.
 
gggGary said:
I gotta bud that's a pro...........
View attachment 254123
Going to see what he can do. The paint is cracked, just visible at bottom of dent.
Click to expand...
The crack adds an interesting wrinkle. I'll be interested to know what technique your pro uses.
jetmechmarty said:
My Eleven Special has a dent in the tank that makes me crazy. Some time ago, I dropped the bike. I got under it to protect it. My knee made a soft dent underneath the aft end of the badge. I’d sure like to make that go away.
Click to expand...
A soft dent sounds like the perfect candidate for this type of repair. Unless the badge area has some kind of structure that's going to complicate things. And the risk of clear coat damage.
Wingedwheel said:
I’ve had great luck with the Harbor Freight dent puller. Used on tanks, fenders, ect and never damaged the paint. My understanding is the type of glue you use can be too good And that when it grabs the finish.View attachment 254130View attachment 254131View attachment 254132View attachment 254133
Click to expand...
I gave you credit and a link to a thread you started in my original post. Your thread is what got me started down this path...
 
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Before and after of another dent removal using glue tabs. The dent was badly creased, and the glue-tab method won't completely get rid of creases.

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This was after my first slide-hammer pull. That's a metal glue tab, still stuck-on after the pull. My big dent is now a small dent. Weird how the dent did not pull symmetrically. I removed this tab and re-positioned it on the new center of the smaller dent for my next pull.

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I added this to my dent-pulling arsenal. These are cheap. I used both this and the slide-hammer on the above dent. It took several pulls to get to my final result. Both tools have their advantages and disadvantages.
 
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Another dent project, this time a 1975 RD350.

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Ready for first pull. This dent is too broad to span with the hand-puller, so will be using the slide hammer.
One thing I've learned, is that the tab has to really be stuck on, and the bigger the tab, the more glue surface area, and the better it will stick. That may seem intuitive, but took a while for me to figure it out. So, this is my biggest tab. The smallest tabs are virtually useless -- might work on a modern car with paper-thin sheet metal, but not on these tanks. And small dings on these tanks require small tabs, and hence are impossible to remove with glue tabs, in my experience.

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Setting up may second pull. Dent is way improved. Something else I've learned -- this is one of my fancy metal tabs, which all have holes. I thought the holes were to provide some "tooth" for the glue to hang on to. That may be true. However, they have a way better purpose. You can position a metal tab where you want it, and then inject the glue directly from the nozzle of the glue gun into the holes, where it will then spread to the space between the bottom of the tab and the tank. This means the glue is as hot as possible, which aids adhesion, as opposed to applying the glue to the tab, and then sticking the tab to the tank, wherein the glue will have started to cool off.

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Many pulls later, and there was never much improvement from the previous pic. After the first pull, the remaining dent was just too small and too creased.
Does the tank look better? Yes. Does it look great? No. Best I can say is that a dent that was too deep for a proper Bondo repair is now Bondo-ready.
 
William I really don’t know why you of all people haven’t tried the paintless method. You seem to have the knack for trying these methods out. I do know that if the dent is under a decal the glue wants to take that up when you peel it unless you use release agent and even then it would be crap shoot getting it off with no damage. Nice job BTW for what you were dealing with.
 
gggGary said:
Cool!
Waiting to hear from my PDR pro on the small CB900F tank dent.That tank has a crappy, kinda failed lining job in it, grr.
Click to expand...
Small dent was on the top "corner" there's a paint crack.
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The pro couldn't budge it with paintless tools. The liner WAS soluble in acetone, and is removed. I kinda stalled out on rust removal and need to finish up so I can ride it this year. A couple painters have offered to redo it, mebby next winter. There's a finite # of riding seasons left...
 
Wingedwheel said:
William I really don’t know why you of all people haven’t tried the paintless method. You seem to have the knack for trying these methods out. I do know that if the dent is under a decal the glue wants to take that up when you peel it unless you use release agent and even then it would be crap shoot getting it off with no damage. Nice job BTW for what you were dealing with.
Click to expand...
What did your PDR guy charge? I've made inquiry's, and I'm guessing you paid about $100?
On the orange RD350 tank, the dent was smooth enough that I was really hoping that the dent would pop out perfectly with the glue tabs.
Professional PDR stuff is expensive. (The kind that pushes dent's out from the inside.)
The slide hammer glue tab kit I bought was $26, and the hand puller was $6, both from AliExpress. So now I can remove dents for free, and without leaving the house. Although I do need to buy more glue sticks.
Admittedly, I have yet to make a perfect dent repair. But at least I can greatly improve a tank I'm going to sell, or I can make a dent suitable for Bondo -- "According to 3M, the maximum thickness for Bondo filler is 1/4 inch."
 
I ordered more glue sticks, which somewhat opened up a can of worms.
Turns out there are all kinds of PDR sticks. All of the pro sticks are 7/16 (11mm). The glue gun that came in my slide hammer kit is only 7mm. So, in order to use pro sticks, I bought an 11mm glue gun for $10 on AliExpress.
I decided to buy the Monstrous Red glue sticks by dentout.net on Amazon for $25. The red sticks are for hot climates -- I'm in Austin.
 

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