Dents in aluminium

[jenniewren]

Am wondering if dents in aluminum are easy to "knock out" or is it simpler to replace the offending area?

I'm sure someone has attempted it.....just with how much success!

[DC3Td]

Hi Jenniewren. Yes & no. Yes,they can if small & sparse in coverage.Meaning that if one or two here & there.However Ali is a soft material so can tend to warp. I used a small block of timber with a piece of hard felt as the dolly & a cobblers hammer tapping very lightly.Reduced enough not to worry further.These were on the flat sheeting on the rear of the Td old lights & was able to flatten a crease on the diamond pattern side near the kerb door bottom.There are some others but i`m not fussed about them as they`re not that noticeable. It`s a delicate job & if you stuff up well .... gordon

[Franklin1]

G'day jenniewren,

I did a fair bit of panelbeating on the cladding of a van I worked on a few years ago. The lower front section was the worst - I think the van had travelled quite a few miles over unsealed roads during its life.

These first two photos will give you a bit of an idea of how pockmarked the cladding was...






I used the same sort of techniques as Gordon has described, although I used a timber "punch" with a rubber hammer to flatten out the pockmarks. Some of the ribs in the cladding were pretty buckled, so they needed some special attention to get them back to their original shape.

This photo shows how pockmarked the cladding was after the panelbeating effort...




You may be saying quietly to yourself, "Hmmm, doesn't look much better...", but I can assure you it ended up heaps better than what it looked originally.

This photo shows the cladding after the final paint coats were applied...




I would have no hesitation in bashing aluminium cladding back into shape if I had to do it again. You can use smooth timber under the cladding as a base, or those dense foam exercise mats are pretty handy as well. Just start softly-softly to begin with, and then once you get the hang of it you can show no mercy.

cheers,
Al.

[jenniewren]

Hmmmmm....your right....I was wondering what the difference was but I can see that the end result is so much better. Ok so that covers small dents....

What about quite a large one...I'm talking saucer size....may even be butter plate size!?

I was told "Yeah she'll be right to fix...not a problem luv! Alum is easy to belt out..."

Humphfff....Mmmmmm

I haven't seen it yet but I want to be prepared for when I do see it & won't faint with the enormity of the job......

You know what these ol fella's are like....hee hee

[Franklin1]

Obviously it depends on how bad the damage is on the cladding, as to how good it will look when bashed back into shape. Be aware that any damage means the metal has actually stretched in size, so you'll never get it back to looking exactly how it was originally.

Take for example the project I've got in the shed at the moment. It had a full-width sheet of aluminium covering the lower front half below the windows. A full sheet, not just those splashguards you see on vans. Anyway, when I carted it home on a car trailer after buying it, I didn't realise until I got home that the towball on a trailer dolly I took with me had actually pressed against that sheeting during the trip home. Now I've got a tennis ball impression in the sheeting, and no amount of panelbeating is going to make it flat the way it was originally. The best I can hope for is a flattened surface with stretch marks around the depression area.

I guess the bigger the depression in the cladding, the harder it will be to get it nice and flat again. Whether it's a deal-breaker or not can sometimes depend on where it's located. Down low might mean it's mostly out of sight. Up high might smack you in the face every time you look at it.

cheers,
Al.

[jenniewren]

Hmmmm....have a feeling it's going to smack me in the face & annoy me! Guess replacing it is the only option, if I'm capable of that, not sure. Just have to wait & see how big a tale he is telling me when I view it!!!!

Ahhhh dear. A LITTLE "bondy" would be prefect but most are too far gone for my capabilities or too damn fine that there isn't anything for me to unleash my creativity on.

Guess a professional panel beater could do it....but I guess they will only do what you have suggested.

Mmmmmm......(strumming fingers thoughtfully) Show no mercy eh??? or was that "softly, softly"

And...Gordon thank you....like you, small stuff doesn't bother me too much.
They are vintage after all & tell a story of their life!

Thank you both so much.......let you know the outcome. J

[stevej]

I spent a good long day tapping out the numerous dents and dings in my 52 Carapark 12/9 which was gutted. Had good results. I had a mate inside the van with the variety of metal blocks and I was outside with a few different panel beaters hammers. We just poked along steadily with little taps adjusting the backing blocks until it was 'good enough'. The aluminium was quite soft really and once polished it looked pretty good. I could have replaced bad panels as this van has flat Al cladding with no pattern but I like its lumps, bumbs and patina. My other 2 Caraparks are both differently textured so panel beating them will be intresting.

Steve

[jenniewren]

Hmmmm....these are difficult to reach although I can just manage to get my arm into cupboard....I would ideally like to try to tap gently on L/H side of BROW..however the R/H side has actual punture holes in it & I really think it needs replacing...not sure how to go about taking alum off...realise you unscrew it etc but the front lourve covering windows will have to be removed also & the screws are rusty & not co-operating.... and I have to admit, I am a little daunted by all this.....will give tapping gently, gently and see what happens??!!!

What could possibly go wrong!!!!!