I was curious if anyone has ever tried one of those dent removal tools you can buy at the auto parts store. I hadn't really thought about it, but while I was there buying some bondo I saw them sitting on the shelf. They're the kind with 3 suction cups in a row, and the middle one is on a bolt, so you stick it in the midle of the dent, and just crank it out, and ideally the dent will pop out. I picture it not working at all, and as soon as you start to pull on the suction cup, it will just pull off the tank. The one dent I have is a nice smooth round dent that looks like a baseball hit the tank, so i feel like it could be pulled out smoothly if the tool actually worked.


The other thing that I just remembered, is that I just por-15d the tank, and even if the tool did work, and it pulled the dent out, I don't know that por-15 is flexable, and it might all just crack and chip off if I pulled it out.

So what do you think, try the tool, or just bondo and repaint like I originally planned?

I know the bondo isn't the best idea, and will look awful if it breaks free from the tank, but no biggie. I'd just like the tank to look a little nicer until i can track down one of the newer GS tanks to replace it(anyone have one they'll part with??)

I mostly got the idea after I saw someone do it to a tank that was beat to hell, I think it was on the site, the VFR restoration thread maybe? not sure but the tank looked awesome when he was done, and I've read other places that it holds up ok.

no way that suction cup has enough holding power to pull out a ding in a gas tank.  I'd say that would only work on a big body panel of a car (thin sheet metal).

I say bondo it -- several thin coats, working your way up to the desired shape.

Yeah, I didn't really take into consideration how thin the bodywork of a car is. I definitely think it would've been a bad idea once I remembered that I just coated the inside of the tank.

I just keep picturing that old episode of Step by Step where JT dented his dads truck door. He filled it in with about 5 gallons of bondo and repainted it, then later when his dad shut the car door the entire chunk fell off. I'm sure it'll be fine though. I'll have to remember to take some pictures as there's not really a lot in the wiki about fixing dents.

Yes. Took a ding out of one of my old GS tanks. They are only $15 to $20. Worth a shot, in my opinion.

Paintless dent repair really works, at least for those who've been trained in how to do it, or those who have the simple dents the kits were designed for. They work best on dents that don't have any sharp creases in them; if the metal is creased, with the paint cracked, you probably won't get great results. However, if the paint is intact, not cracked, chipped, or flaking off along the lines of the dent, it is well worth trying. I've seen those Ding King tools used in an auto body repair shop, so you might as well give it a try.

In fact, you might want to watch the original Ding King video with Billy Mays on YouTube as a reminder about how the tool actually works:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0JGXbIfeuRY

You'll notice that the puller arms were installed IN LINE with the crease in the paint, NOT across the dent. You might also learn something from this other video; not the same product, but it works the same way:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SdVpvL_FpoQ

Paintless dent repair works best with modern paints; the acrylics are much more flexible and forgiving than the paints used when I was younger, which were brittle, easily damaged, and hard to work with. The most critical factor is simply this: If the paint is physically damaged, it usually means the dent is too severe to simply pop out with one of the simple methods, and you'll end up repairing the metal another way, along with repainting, but what do you have to lose?

From what I've actually seen in person, it will be best to drain most of the fuel before you begin, then let the tank get warmed by the sun, which will make the metal more flexible than if it is cold. You could even heat the area you're going to work on with a hair dryer, or a shop heat gun on a LOW setting; if you overheat the paint, bad things will happen to it when you try to pull the dent, so keep a cold, wet rag handy to cool things down if you do overheat the tank, and reheat it until you get it right.

Once the area is WARM to the touch, you're ready to work. Good luck with this; before and after photos would be appreciated...

Last but not least, I wouldn't worry about the POR-15 getting damaged; since you applied it recently, it shouldn't be so brittle that pulling the dent will cause any problems.

The ding kind isn't bad, it's not just a suction cup like people think. It's uses hot glue to stick the plunger to the paint. You can get a lot of pulling power with it. Follow the instructions and before you apply the glue you gotta clean the area really well so it sticks.

Do you think Billy Mays would lie to you? Of course it works . . . . . simply because he says so.

I'm a little convinced that GSnoober IS Billy Mays. Haha. Yeah the paint on the right side dent was perfectly fine still, even though my tank is only spray painted. I've already stripped the paint off of those parts though. The por-15 was the only part I was worried about, but I guess if the paint didn't get damaged on the outside the por15 shouldn't get damaged on the outside. I think you guys have convinced me to give it a try. I think the deciding factor will be whether I can bring myself to spend $20 on it when I'm looking at the box at pepboys.

On a side note, Billy Mays grew up 5 miles from where I live now.

Quote from: tt_four on August 10, 2009, 08:40:56 PM
On a side note, Billy Mays grew up 5 miles from where I live now.

Wow ... you live inside a TV ... wow.
Cool.
Buddha.

Quote from: tt_four on August 10, 2009, 12:12:04 PM
The one dent I have is a nice smooth round dent that looks like a baseball hit the tank, so i feel like it could be pulled out smoothly if the tool actually worked.

Good luck, but I doubt it will work. Problem being that the metal had to stretch to dent like that, and if it's "baseball sized" that's going to make for a very strong dent - and if you can pull it out, the metal won't just nicely shrink where it stretched. Compare a domed hubcap (that will take a history lesson of some serious searching, these days) to a flat sheet of metal the same thickness - you have a minature domed hubcap, pointing in.

The key to getting bondo (or paint, for that matter) to stick properly is surface preparation - clean it, sand it, clean it some more - and don't try to fill a big dent all in one layer. While TV effects were no doubt at the root of your example (avoid confusing TV with real life - and that goes triple for "reality" TV) you *might* have that happen if you applied bondo to a nicely waxed dented finish, or a really greasy one. Neither should apply if you are not a character on a TV show.

I know for a fact Billy Mays can't be posting here, RIP Billy Mays you will be missed, especially because that jerk Vince Offer will fill in his shoes.

I want to know how pissed the company was who hired him for Slap Chop was after they probably paid him ridiculous amounts of money and then the news hit about him beating up hookers right before their infomercials came out. I doubt their contract had a beating hookers clause

post your results, whatever you do!
I don't think the puller will work, and I only say that because I've seen it used before and wasn't too impressed. 

Sand, clean, and several layers of bondo.  Even with the puller, you're going to need bondo on it after to smooth it out.

Quote from: DoD#i on August 10, 2009, 09:02:21 PM
Problem being that the metal had to stretch to dent like that, and if it's "baseball sized" that's going to make for a very strong dent - and if you can pull it out, the metal won't just nicely shrink where it stretched. Compare a domed hubcap (that will take a history lesson of some serious searching, these days) to a flat sheet of metal the same thickness - you have a minature domed hubcap, pointing in.

Just for reference, when I say it looks like a baseball hit it, I mean that it's just about the diameter that I think a larger blunt object would've caused, it's not actually the shape of half of a baseball. that part of the tank is generally convex, and the dent has the same amount of curve to it, it's just gently bent in, it's not like it was a flat peice that was bent into a curve, so it should just pop back out without any real stretching issues. I'll take pictures eventaully so you guys can see the dent. I figured I'd take pictures of the whole process anyway incase someone wants to put them in the wiki, because I know tank dents aren't all that oncommon on a GS, especially when you're buying a 15 year old bike that 3 people have already used as a "beginner bike". The only reason I didn't start last night was because i don't know where my camera went to yet. I did strip the paint off both sides where the dents are, but I unfortunately forgot to take pictures before i did. Oh well. I think I'm just going to repaint the whole thing anyway. I may upgrade to a glossy black. Half the reason I didn't care to do a gloss before is because the flat black kind of took attention away from the dents. I've already got the tail off, so the only thing left is the front fender, and I didn't even pull that off the bike last time I painted it.

I got pretty excited when i saw a newer black GS tank on ebay with a buy it now of $35, but when I saw the other side, I saw it had a dent that I don't even feel up to fixing yet.

you know, some pics of your damage would probably help greatly here

Yeah, that's a good idea. I would've taken some before but I couldn't find the camera. Anyway, here are some pictures. First is the right side, the one I think would be repairable. It looks awful in the picture, like someone beat the dent in repeatedly with a ball peen hammer, but that's just the metal looking uneven from the wire wheel. The dent is actually very smooth and not too bad, but at least the pictures will give you an idea of the size. The dent is only about half the size of the stripped paint too, it's not as huge as it looks.


This is the side that needs bondoed. There's 2 dents there, and they're right on the crease.



The dent tool looks pretty simple. I think I might just make one. 3 bolts, 8 inches of steel bar, a couple nuts, and some epoxy. How hard can it be?

That dent removal tool will not do a damn thing in this situation.  Stud welder+filler(Bondo) for the win.  Since you don't have access to one most likely, go for the Bondo only.  Everyone is soooo scared of bondo.  That's because of all the complete morons that have no idea how to use filler products.  It's very simple to use, but is time consuming.  If you're just gonna rattle can it anyways then who cares....  Slap some filler on there, shape it, rattle can it.  Wha la, you have a rattle-canned bike......

Or hammer the other side to look like that and say those are speed dimples, just like on a golf ball. Ding king is not gonna do anything for that.

Haha, I've never cared enough about golf to even give all those dimples a second of thought.

I think the ding king was mostly just for curiosity to see if it could be done. If you guys say it won't work, then that pretty much solves it for me. I'm not too afraid of the bondo, considering the left side was going to get it anyway. I've used it for other random projects as well, not to mention this tank is only temporary until I find a new tank. One just popped up on ebay an hour ago that I've got my eye on, so you guys don't even think about it!