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How To Remove Car Dents Quickly at Home

ByTsukasa Azuma-March 02, 2024

Everyone who has a car can relate to the pain of watching a dent sitting right there on your oh-so-dear car. And, what is scarier than the defaced beauty is the expenditure you need to incur to remove car dents. But, here’s some good news! You don’t always need an agency or a professional to do it. You can do it at home with hacks that are quick and sometimes even dirt cheap. Let’s find out to learn how to remove car dents by ourselves.

Dents can be pretty hard to fix, given the stiffness of the plastic, especially on the bumper (Photo: pinterest.com)

How To Remove Car Dents Real Quick and Real Cheap

To remove car dents, you have a few options depending on the severity and location of the dent. Here are some methods you can try:

1. With a hair dryer and an air duster

This one is the most popular and tends to work for most. One can find these two things in pretty much every household. So, you don’t need to spend anything at all. If you don’t have it, we’re sure that your next-door neighbor does.

Simply blow some hot air with the hair dryer right over the dent to heat it. This will result in the expansion of the metal. Then take the air duster, hold it upside down, and start spraying on the dented area. The cold air followed by the hot will cause contraction and the dent will pop out.

Note: This method is suitable for small dents.

2. Boiling water

If you are a DIY person, you’d love to learn how to fix car dents with this hack. Dents can be pretty hard to fix, given the stiffness of the plastic, especially on the bumper. But, this hack is so good that you’ll fall in love with it.

Simply boil some water, and throw it on the dent, while it’s still boiling. As soon you do that, reach behind the bumper and try to pop the dent. Because it is hot, it is more likely to pop when you apply pressure. Nevertheless, you must be brisk because the heat doesn’t last long. Alternatively, keep a load of boiling water with you to keep repeating.

 3. Dry ice

This is another handy car dent fix. Dry ice is easy to find at any grocery store. It is also pretty cheap. Though, you will have to buy a pair of dry-ice gloves.

All you need to do is keep rubbing the dry ice on the dent every few seconds until the dent pops out. As simple as that!

 4. Fixing with glazing putty

If the dents are very small and the paint is chipped in places, glazing putty will work for you. Use a putty knife to fill these dents in with the putty. Make sure you follow the directions on the pack. Follow up with priming and painting. It’s a great way to car paint scratch repair.

If the damaged area is bigger than what you may call tiny, choose body filler according to the body type (plastic, aluminum, steel).

If you are a DIY person, you’d love to learn how to remove car dents with this hack (Photo: pinterest.com)

5. Plunger does the trick

It is a wise idea to use plungers not only to unclog the drains but also to remove car dents. Just make sure it’s a cup plunger and not a flange. It works well for small-sized to medium-sized dents.

While the metal is still hot, take a household plunger (preferably one with a flat surface) and place it over the dent, ensuring a tight seal. Push firmly and pull back quickly to create suction. Repeat this process several times, applying force with each push and pull motion.

After a few attempts, remove the plunger and inspect the dent. If it hasn’t completely popped out, you can repeat the process until you achieve the desired result. Note that this method works best for shallow dents and may not be as effective for larger or deeper dents.

Final Thoughts 

These methods may not work for all types of dents or all car surfaces. The effectiveness of dent removal depends on various factors such as the size, depth, and location of the dent, as well as the type of vehicle and its construction materials. If you’re uncertain or concerned about causing further damage, it’s best to consult a professional auto body repair technician. Ready to go DIY for your next car dent fix?

Tsukasa Azuma is an awesome car blogger of Car From Japan. He owns a car repair shop at downtown Osaka, and he put all that experience to good use in his sharing posts. Tsukasa’s blog is one of the best resources for information about keeping your favorite imported car running smoothly. Moreover, because of being passionate to learn about the recent happenings in auto industry, he doesn’t only provide great car maintenance tips, he also always updates latest trends in among car brands and share them in his own interesting viewpoint.

Comments

Shanika Rathnayake16:18 December 12, 2018
Reply

Even if we are careful, getting a dent in the car is certain. Then we think about removing the dents. We can fix the dents by taking our car to a body shop or a local mechanic. But their prices are unbelievable. So it is better to save our hard earned money and remove the dents at home. We can remove dents at home by using hair drier & air duster,dry ice, boiling water, glazing putty etc. These methods of dent removal have been shared by the author in this blog.

Stacy Adams19:52 December 11, 2018
Reply

Thanks for sharing basic tricks which could be very useful to repair the small dents. One should be very careful while driving a vehicle to prevent possible collisions. Apart from this, everyone should know the basic car maintenance tricks to keep the vehicle in working order. The condition of different components of the vehicle should be inspected regularly and if necessary should be replaced with suitable substitutes. Any kinds of major mechanical or cosmetic issues should be left to the professional technicians to prevent any major problems.

coshia McNair15:39 October 29, 2018
Reply

that plunger trick is awesome, i had a nice side dent on my driver side door, a friend of mine had dented it in with his body playing around, i was furious, rear about using a plunger i had always heard about it, never had a need to use it until now, was very Leary at first once i saw the first pop i was hooked. Just call me the DIY Queen. lol!

Ken Hwan01:16 June 06, 2018
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My daughter is learning to drive and I recently found a small dent in the front of my car from her lessons! I couldn’t believe that a plunger could fix small dents, I did not want to have to pay a lot of money for my dent repair. I am very glad that the dent in my car was not worse!

Bethel Smith10:44 March 28, 2018
Reply

There are some really creative thinkers out there. I never would have thought about using a hair dryer to take dents out of my vehicle. Since our car is really new and I want the dent to be perfectly removed, I’ll be sure to go to a professional.

Michelle Ruth18:26 November 13, 2017
Reply

Where there is a car, there is the possibility of a dent. For removal of car dents,an agency or a professional is not always needed. We can do it at home also. We can remove dents by hair dryer and an air duster. Simply blow some hot air over the dent with the help of a hair dryer. Then hold the air duster upside down & start spraying on dented area. Finally the dent will pop out. Another simple process of dent removal is by applying boiling water on dent. Dry ice if rubbed on dent for few seconds, the dent will pop out. Using a putty knife,fill the dents with putty. Then follow up with priming & painting. Another procedure for dent removal is by cup plunger. Splash some water both on plunger cup & dent. Then by pulling, the dent will pop out quickly.

Hannah Schroeder07:20 October 10, 2017
Reply

I didn’t know that rubbing dry ice on a dent will make it pop out. My roommate accidentally backed into my Honda this morning, and now there’s a dint under the gas cap. I might try the dry ice trick, but maybe it would look better if I took my Honda to an auto body repair service instead.