Good or bad idea to hammer out a car dent?

Question

The lip of my car engine hood has a slight upwards dent. I'm wondering if I gently hammer it to smooth it out... good or bad idea? I don't want to make it worse. The dent was caused when a friend tried to pry my headlight area off to change a headlight. To get a good grip, a screwdriver was inserted between the lip of my hood and the top of the headlight area. Unfortunately, the lip of my hood was slightly dented upwards. It's solid metal, not fiberglass. Any suggestions?

Answer 1

Personaly, I'd leave it alone.

Once metal get stretched, it's difficult to unstretch it.
You'll just make it worse.

Answer 2

If the paint isn't cracked, take pliers and put a towel in the teeth, S L O W L Y work it back down, trying not to crack the paint. You can also get a solid rod of plastic (hard) and have it to a rounded point, then using a small hammer, S L O W L Y again tap around the edge working in till its down, could take 200+ taps. This is how painless dent repair guys do it for the most part. Just a hammer might chip the paint and not give you the control you need. Something like a nail set punch but bigger and rounded and brass or plastic so its soft.

Worse case, call up a paintless dent removal company and let them see it, they can say yes or no instantly. Dent Wizard is a common name in the industry.

If the paint is cracked, chipped, whack it back in place with a 2x4 under the lip as a level item. Then put touch up on it.

Answer 3

When you dent a car panel, the metal stretches. Ever so slightly, but enough to cause a visible blemish. You can never really get it back to how it was originally.

This could go wrong, but if you were to knock the dent inward with the hammer, and then fill it using the same stuff used for filling rust... Assuming, of course, that you have some paint, to cover the white filler.

Answer 4

If you can get a hammer in there it would be fine. Depending on the dent you may have to pull or pry on the low area and tap lightly on the high area. You want to hit it just hard enough to get the metal cooperating. Unless the metal is stretched it actually wants[ for lack of a better word] to go back to its original shape.

Answer 5

the paint will crumble. of course I am assuming since you let a friend pry on it that it must not be a nice car. if you take a hammer to it you will do more cosmetic damage.

Answer 6

i would put a nice soft towel on the area folded twice or mor ... and use a peice of wood over that ... hit the wood ... and go easy ...make sure u keep everything on target and dont go too far with it .. if its bad it may still leave a crease or crack the paint ..