Door dent repair project

I started a project to repair a dent on my Camry's door.

A door from the wrecking yard is out of the question due to the following reasons:

1. Beige wagons are rare


2. Doors may have damage


3. The wrecking yard charges extra for hardaware so you will have to buy the sheet metal only


4. It will have color mismatch and may no seal properly causing leaks

First I pounded the dent with the block of wood and rubber hammer

It looked ugly





Most books for home mechanics are skipping the facts that before filling and painting you should shape the sheet metal using body dollies and special hammer. I made some tools for this purpose trying to copy the curvature of the door







This is how it looked when I knocked the spots down:









and this is how it looks when almost done (note I skipped the some larger but very shallow dents at the molding line)

Reply 1 : Door dent repair project

Looks good so far. Did you hammer from the outside only or inside too?



I use paintscratch.com. I've found their touch-up is actually more accurate than that from the dealer, and they will put it into an aerosal can for you.



Some tips: the paint they send you matches the original color of your car. Most of the gen2s have oxidized paint by now. To see how different it would look, open any door and look at the inside of the jamb comparing the paint that's never been exposed to sunlight to the paint elsewhere. If it's close, then the factory-code paint will match.



Paint scratch will also match paint chips if you send them in. This is better to match aged paints. I would also recommend painting more than just the region you've primed or else it will look like a blotch. If you don't to paint the whole door, paint the entire area underneath the plastic moulding to get a more even look. You'll need to sand and prime, and of course mask the plastic.

Reply 2 : Door dent repair project

First I did it from inside out (picture1), then I used hammer with polished flat tip on the outside, with the "dollies" inside.

The paint did not oxidize much

I actually found the website that sells the paint matching the color code.

in the past I used some Rust Oleum premium enamel from Grainger (almond) but it was lighter then the car's paint.

Reply 3 : Door dent repair project

...also, I think 3H4 is red. Do you mean 4H3?

Reply 4 : Door dent repair project

4H3

my bad

Reply 5 : Door dent repair project

Just wanted to make sure you didn't end up with a beige Camry with a red door

Reply 6 : Door dent repair project

I recommend Paintscratch.com also. Several years ago I had to fix the back bumper of my Camry. After the repair, I could not tell anything had even happened.