how to fix a dent?

[Frost]

anyone know how to fix a dent on the tank?
it's a fist size dent due to the handlebars hitting the tank...

[Dom]

Bondo or fiberglass.  No other way will be worth the time and or money.

Make sure the surface you are adhering it too is really rough and if you get down to bare metal use an etching primer or elst the bondo will pop right off....but it might anyway.

[Frost]

it's not worth it to pop it back out?

is bondo hard to mold?

[Jared]

How Deep/sharp is the dent?? Is it a gentle smooth dent or a sharp creased dent?

Will you be painting later on???

Bondo is easy... you don't want it thick tho...and once its cures...seal it/paint it well... tends to soak up water and swell..

[Frost]

it's pretty deep...inch deep and palm size...

[The Buddha]

Bondo ... hell no. This is what I think is the easiest. OK body shops use bondo by the truck load but under certain conditions this is easier especially on a GS.
If the paint is un broken in the dent and the dent has no crease or sharp fold in it ... I'd try a vacuum dent puller failing which I'll try that weird ass "ding king" they sell at autoparts stores around here. It worked on the dent I had in the 95's tank. If they both dont work and your dent is still smooth and not broken paint ... I'd cut a hole in the bottom and put my hand in and push it out from inside. Main advantage is ... no need to paint whihc saves a bunch, you do need to have it welded back up but that's no more than $25 compared to over 100 for painting. If your paint is broken and your dent has a sharp crease in it ... heck I'd still attempt to pull it or knock it out from inside but bear in mind you'd have to bondo atleast a little most likely and paint.
Cool.
Srinath.

[Frost]

paint is broken and there is a sharp crease...
repair guy wants 300 bucks CDN for it...is that reasonable?

[The Buddha]

What ... you send it to me, I'd charge you $30-40 USD for cutting and welding it back and pop the dent from the inside. What is left is up to you to finish ... but you can paint it yourself. If paint is proken I'd not even care ... I'd cut the thing on the bottom and go to town with a mallet.
Cool.
Srinath.

[Frost]

if you cut it...and weld it back...is it still good as new?...

300 was for shipping (2ways), fixing, and painting + decals...

[The Buddha]

I have welded quite a few tanks a gs one that later was sold to Greg Gabis, a Vulcan one and eliminator one etc ... never had a problem. I might do that on a GS tank I got now. Anyway it should be sealed up perfectly and be like new, I'd coat it inside cos weld tends to rust, else its pretty much like new. Bondo and paint over are a cheapass way to do it IMHO. You could do what I was suggesting and paint it with lacquer paint and decal over it all for under 80-100 USD ... but you'd have to do the work yourself. Heck I believe I'd be able to powdercoat it for less around here, but I dont have to color match ... rather its near impossible to miss the color I need to match ... so I can powdercoat it.
Cool.
Srinath.

[Frost]

alright...give me a price then...

to have it in perfect shape...

[The Buddha]

Well I dont want to ... cos there is no guarantee it will be perfect. Knocking out the dent that is creased will leave a bunch of very tiny shallow dents in it. At that point you'd have to bondo it or do what I'd do ... aka ignore it and powdercoat over. I aint doing no bondo and no paint either. You are almost certainly going to have to have bondo in it. Knocking out the dent will just minimise that. Also large quantity of bondo will tend to come loose with vibration and behave like a separate entity. You're going to have to have the dent reduced. Also color matching is impossible cos I need the rest of the body to match to. I need a silver tank, I have already looked at the powdercoating tiles and know that its there ... You'd be hard pressed to match color cos powdercoaters have a maximum of 100 or so colors at their disposal ... Hinestly you're going to have to get that dent out as much as possible else the bondo will separate with vibration and temperature changes ... once the dent is removed as much as possible I cant do anyhting.
Cool.
Srinath.

[dane_lindsay]

what is powder coating?

[conflicttheorist]

I just finished removing rust and a dent in my tank.  I used JB weld instead of bondo because that is what I had and I am cheap.  after it dries just use san paper to flatten it out and then finer sand paper to make it smooth (or elsh teh sand paper scratches show through the paint).  Now here is the impoertant part:  Primer the whole tank, then paint the whole tank, then used can after can of clear coat.  you can't just paint and primer that part of it, it will not match and look perfect.  There are lots of threads on painting, just follow those and you'll be surprised how good it looks.  I am assuming that the reason that place quoted you such a high price was for the painting, not just the dent. If you use color-rite then you can do this with two cans of their matching paint and probably get out by spending about 100-120 total including the dent repair.  Mine looks nearly perfect now, but the paint job was done cheaply-you'd never know there was a dent though.
anyway, my point is that the bondo is easy but its the paint that is hard.

[The Buddha]

JB weld is a little better for adhesion to metal, it expands and contracts at about the same rate as steel. Also its a 2 part epoxy whihc really has good adhesion. The quantity you'd need for a large dent you'd not be able to make jb weld I think. Put a large deep area and most anyhting will start to act like its a separate item and try to come off with vibration and thermal expansion and age.
Cool.
Srinath.

[conflicttheorist]

JB weld is a little better for adhesion to metal, it expands and contracts at about the same rate as steel. Also its a 2 part epoxy whihc really has good adhesion. The quantity you'd need for a large dent you'd not be able to make jb weld I think. Put a large deep area and most anyhting will start to act like its a separate item and try to come off with vibration and thermal expansion and age.
Cool.
Srinath.

kind of like filling a tooth.
my biggest complaint about the jb is that is not much of a paste.  after the chem reaction starts taking place it temporarily becomes more liquid, kind of like elmers glue, and runs in the direction of gravity.  it takes a long time to dry and won't hold shape like clay, as bondo probably does.  Hence, it took me 2 days just to fill the dent.  But, I do think it is stronger than bondo for it.

[The Buddha]

If using JB weld I'd have made a welder put a sorta criss cross pattern over the area or some other pattern so that in no spot do I have more than ~1 cm square area that I had to fill. The basic idea is small and shallow, large and deep = disaster. It might hold for a few months but its bound to try to come off sooner or later.
Cool.
Srinath.

[conflicttheorist]

If using JB weld I'd have made a welder put a sorta criss cross pattern over the area or some other pattern so that in no spot do I have more than ~1 cm square area that I had to fill. The basic idea is small and shallow, large and deep = disaster. It might hold for a few months but its bound to try to come off sooner or later.
Cool.
Srinath.

several things would happen if I had welding capability... I'd make handlebars, case savers, an exaust mod.. well, basically what you make.  But then I'd either keep them secret or sell them for much more than you do.

[Dom]

Powdercoating is a painting process where they would strip all of the paint on your tank, hook up an electrical charge to it and coat it with a powdered paint dust that sticks to the tank through static electricity, then they put it in an oven and the paint gets baked on.  It is the most durable paint process out there.  And since it is so hard, it also buffs up very nicely, especially if you were to wet sand it to 1500 or 2000 grit and buff it with a fine swirl remover, like Meguiar's #9.

What color is your bike?  Black would be ideal because there are tons of different shades of black and it would be easiest to color match with a paint.  Otherwise I would suggest taking your grab bar off and taking it to a local powdercoater(look in the Yellow Pages) and try to find a color that is close to your original paint or just powdercoat your tank to whatever color you want and have some paint mixed up to match it.  That's the route that I will eventually go when I get a little time.  They would probably charge $50-$75, maybe more, maybe less...they would probably be able to tell you over the phone how much it would cost.

[Jared]

Wow... lots of replies since last night....

Yes Srinath is right- you don't want to fill alot -You want to  beat the dent back out / Pull the dent out  as much as you can before you start using any kind of filler.
Are you trying to match factory paint?


What year/color is your bike....?
Another Idea is ride it with the dent and shop  for an undamaged tank that's the same as your bikes color etc...Then sell your tank as a race tank or practice fixing a dent on it......Just another idea...