Small door dent removal: advice on the best approach needed.

[philboo]

Hi. The NSX I bought has a small dent on the door on each side approximately in the location I've highlighted in the photo.

I've had small dents removed on another car and been very happy with the results but it was easy to access the area and was much cheaper.

I would like to get these two small dents removed but I'm concerned that someone that isn't familiar with the NSX may tackle accessing this area incorrectly and damage the trim.

As I'm a totally newbie to the NSX world I hope someone may be able to advise if they have had something done in the same area and how they accessed the area. I'd almost rather remove any trim carefully myself having been given guidance on it so they just remove the dent rather than risk it being done clumsily by someone (not accusing all dent removal people of being like that).

I'm aware some repairs seem to be done externally now without going behind the panel so looking for advice on the best technique too.

Hope the photo has attached correctly.

Thanks

Phil

[lotusolly]

Where abouts are you based Phil?
Might help someone Identify a local repairer for you

Olly

[philboo]

Between Southport and Preston but I work in Manchester so lots of options. There's an excellent body shop near me but this isn't something I think they'd be dealing with. I want to know how it should be approached to avoid going with someone that says I can drill a hole in the side of the door to do it and then just put a rubber gromit in after. This is what a friend had done on his nearly new merc a few weeks ago. That may be the best option but I don't like the sound of it myself.

[gturner008]

I have had quite a few non-paint dents removed by expert dent removes - on a variety of cars. All with superb end results. But not on NSX - which is aluminium. Don't think it should matter - but Al might behave differently to steel. If you can find someone who comes with personal recommendations - you should be fine. Price seems to be around£75/dent.

[philboo]

I have had quite a few non-paint dents removed by expert dent removes - on a variety of cars. All with superb end results. But not on NSX - which is aluminium. Don't think it should matter - but Al might behave differently to steel. If you can find someone who comes with personal recommendations - you should be fine. Price seems to be around£75/dent.

The doors on the new C class my friend had repaired are aluminium now he said. That's the repair I mentioned when they drilled a small hole in the side of the door to access the space inside the door. His was quite a bad crease from another car door which was caught by the wind.

[hkz286]

find someone with experiance working on aluminiun body cars (audis spring to mind). There a specialist dent removal people that are usually mobile that do nothing but the kind of work you require. Ive seen miracles worked on steel cars and the ones i have experiance with will tell you when its a) not worth doing due to risk or b) not possible.

I'm not far from you so ill give the person i know a shout and see what he says.

[NSXGB]

I would definitely remove the door cards yourself tocreate the access required for the 'dent guy', he may be kind on the price too if you are lucky.

[goldnsx]

The NSX door is said to be double sheet aluminium. I might be wrong on that. You better pull them out from the outside. If it's small enough there's no difference to steel.

[L696ULO]

If you are going to remove the door card here's a link

http://nsxe-repair.com/DS-removal.html

Take it steady, the hardest part to remove I found was the section behind the door pull. I almost gave up but tried the other door card and it removed easier which gave me more faith in giving it a good yank!

[The King]

It should not be necessary to drill a hole to get access. Taking the door panel off would be much preferred to drilling a hole. Aluminum is different to work with than steel according to our dent removal specialist. The dent may be able to be glue pulled, hopefully it is original paint. Sometimes a dent tech can also gain access in a door by using special wedges in front of the door glass and then get the dent tools inside the door. Hope it works out for you.

[nigel]

Might check with Kaz on door construction and how the Al door might react to "paint less dent removal".

Cheers
nigel

[WhyOne?]

I had a couple of parking dings repaired when I bought Y1.

I was very concerned that, being aluminium, this may be a problem, but I spoke to a chap I knew (Simon Frost, father owned Frost's Jaguar) prior to purchase. Simon was was one of the first people to bring the paintless dent repair system into the UK and had worked on both my Prelude and S2000 previously with tremendous results.

He assured me that whilst working aluminium is significantly different to steel, he would be able to remove the dents.

I took Y1 to him and watched for a while.....when he got out a tool which for all the world looked like an ice axe and stated hitting the door with it I had to go outside!!!! However, Simon did a tremendous job, and explained he had been practicing on aluminium because of Jaguars increasing use of it in body panels. He didn't need to remove the door cards to repair my dents which were in similar locations to yours.

Simon no longer runs his dent removal business (and was based on the S. coast so no help to you anyway). Fortunately I haven't needed the services of a dent removal guy on Y1 in the last 10 years (touchwood) but now use a chap called Ryan Shakespeare on our more mundane cars (though I would have no hesitation letting him loose on Y1 if the worst happened). He is a very talented guy, and we have discussed the differences between steel and aluminium repairs a number of times. He says you must get the fix right first time - aluminium stretches and fractures - it wont take repeated working. Based on this, I would recommend finding someone who has plenty of experience of fixing dents in aluminium.

[philboo]

Thank you for that response, good to know you've had this done without issue.

I've been to the local bodyshop which I trust as they have classic Ferraris worth millions plus the more 'normal' R8s, Skylines, etc. go through. Owner said they've a very good guy that comes to do it and he knew it was aluminium straight away. It'll be a couple of weeks until I take it in. Hopefully this guy will be very experienced.

[soddy]

i know how you feel. someone put a 5p size dent in my rx8 passenger door, near the front just behind where the side strakes on the front wing go. so its too awkward to get a bar behind to push it out. i have seen those glue gun dent pullers on ebay for small dents. supposed to be good, might get one and try it.

if its not too deep it might be a solution. but let the experts sort it out. i always park loads of spaces away from cars in car parks and still some berk manages to slam their door into the side.

[NSXGB]

Adding to an old post...

Last week I was clumsy enough to put a small dent in the front wing of my car while moving stuff around my garage. I used a local guy recommended to me, he did an amazing job, best £70 I've ever spent. If anyone in the Gatwick area would like his number, drop me a PM.

[Pride]

Adding to an old post...

Last week I was clumsy enough to put a small dent in the front wing of my car while moving stuff around my garage. I used a local guy recommended to me, he did an amazing job, best £70 I've ever spent. If anyone in the Gatwick area would like his number, drop me a PM.

I'm interested Simon, why not just post his details on this post and we can all call him as and when we need to.