Wasted a full Saturday trying to fix a dent with a cheap suction cup kit from Harbor Freight

I had a small door ding on a 2018 Civic and thought I could save the cash by using a $25 suction cup puller set. It just would not hold a seal on the curved panel, and I ended up making the low spot worse, which added about 2 hours of extra work to fix it right. I should have just set up the stud welder from the start. Anyone have a go-to tool for quick door dings that actually works?

3 comments

3 Comments

leo_thomas21mo ago

Honestly those cheap kits can be hit or miss. I've had decent luck with the glue pull tabs on shallow dents. Just gotta be real careful with the heat.

emma723d ago

Wait is that actually true about the heat needing to go to the whole panel? I always figured if you just blasted the glue itself it would be fine but that actually makes way more sense. I used to think those pull tab kits were total garbage honestly. But after watching a few more vids I can see how the technique matters more than the tool itself. Maybe I'll give it another shot on my car's dent now that I know the hair dryer trick.

miabennett1mo ago

Yeah, leo_thomas2 has a point about the glue tabs. I saw a video where a guy used a hot glue gun and those plastic tabs on a similar Civic dent. The key was warming the whole panel with a hair dryer first, not just the glue, so the metal was more flexible. Still looked like a huge pain.