Took me 4 hours to fix a dent that should have taken 45 minutes

Was working on a 2018 Civic rear quarter panel yesterday. Dent was small but right on the body line. I kept chasing it with the stud welder and pulling too hard, then having to tap it back down. Four hours later I finally stepped back and used a slide hammer with a threaded tip instead of the glue pull method. Anyone else have jobs where you just overthink the simple fix?

3 comments

3 Comments

kim1911mo ago

Did you try stepping away for a quick break before switching tools?

bennett.patricia29d ago

Did you actually switch tools sooner or did you just keep banging your head against the wall? Because that sounds like 3 hours of stubbornness, not overthinking. The slide hammer is literally the first thing most of us grab on a body line dent. You wasted time with the stud welder and glue pull method which is meant for softer panels, not a sharp crease on a Civic quarter panel. Sometimes you just gotta admit you picked the wrong tool for the job and move on faster.

the_charlie18d ago

bennett.patricia hit it right, that was mostly stubbornness on my part. I had a similar thing happen on a Toyota Camry trunk lid last month, kept trying the glue pull method on a crease near the taillight for almost two hours before I finally grabbed the slide hammer. @kim191 stepping away for a breather is actually smart, I grabbed a coffee and came back and realized I was fighting the wrong tool the whole time. Ended up using a pointed tip on the slide hammer and had it smooth in about 20 minutes.