Do-it-yourself body repair

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This article will be of interest to those new to body repair who are interested in the process of pulling a car body after an accident.

We will look at some points that are known to professionals, but not clear to beginners.

So, before repairing a damaged car body, it is important to carefully examine and understand the logic of the damage. What has shifted and where, what can be repaired, and what needs to be changed. It is necessary to determine if the geometric parameters of the body have been changed. In the event of an impact to the front or rear of the vehicle, the front or rear side members can be damaged, respectively. In the event of side impacts, the side pillar, as well as the sill and floor, can move. The complete picture will be visible after disassembling the body, removing damaged panels, radiators, headlights, etc.

The repair begins with putting all the power elements that affect the geometric parameters of the body in place. Even if some of the power elements need to be replaced, they still need to be pulled out and, as far as possible, to return the "geometry" of the body to the desired size. This will return the attachment points of the elements requiring replacement to their places.

To understand where and how much the body's load-bearing elements have moved, various measuring systems are used to measure geometric parameters.

Most often, in the conditions of garage workshops and small car services, rulers are used to measure the geometry of the body, as well as simple tape measures.

It is not always convenient to use a tape measure, since there may be various obstacles in the path of two points between which you need to measure the distance (especially in the engine compartment). The measuring ruler allows you to take measurements quite easily (see the article on measuring the geometry of the body).

It is important to check the diagonals of the shock absorber cups and the attachment points of the suspension to the body. These parameters affect the setting of the camber-toe-in of the wheels.

In order to pull out the power elements of the body, as well as, in general, to carry out pulling operations, bodybuilders use a slipway. The slipway is designed for rigid fastening of the body and subsequent pulling out of its damaged elements. Fastening is usually done behind the flanges of the sills. This is to prevent the vehicle from moving with the stretched element.

Many garage bodybuilders dispense with the use of a slipway. To do this, garages use concreted hinges that are located around the perimeter of the garage floor. They serve both for pulling the body (a winch or hydraulic coupler clings to them), and for fixing the car with chains on the back of the pulling force. If it is pulled out in front, then it is tied with chains to the hinges of the rear of the car, if the rear is pulled out, then the front part is tied, respectively. Also, stops are used when a lateral pulling force is applied.

More often, however, the slipway is used.Garage body repairmen purchase slipways suitable for use in small workshops, and also copy and make designs of factory slipways, as well as assemble self-made slipways, invented by themselves. In large car services, platform-type slipways are used.

• The principle of pulling out a damaged element is to apply a force in the direction opposite to the force of impact in an accident.
• In the process of stretching, it is necessary to tap the folds on the metal formed during deformation. This is realized as follows: the pulling force aligns the element and then the process seems to be suspended, after tapping, the pulling resumes, and the metal fold is smoothed out.
• There is such a thing as "hauling". The point is to drag the damaged element a little more than necessary, since it will still come back a little.
• Stamped metal, one might say, has a "memory". That is, all deformed body parts are in tension. The task of the repairer is to remove these stresses by leveling the damaged elements and "helping" the metal to return to its original state.
• Sometimes, when pulling out the power elements of the body, heating is applied. This helps draw out stubborn areas. It is not recommended to make load-bearing elements on high-strength steel, as this significantly weakens it.
• Also, sometimes you have to make cuts to loosen the stubborn fold.

You can also read the article on car body alignment, which details body repair technologies.

Hydraulic stretching is used in body repair for extrusion stretching. There are various hydraulic stretchers, giving different forces from 4 tons and more. An example of the use of this device can be called the pulling of the side pillars of the body, squeezing out from the inside of the passenger compartment. Side members that are offset to the side can be straightened. And also, straightening of deformed doorways and openings of the front and rear windows. Typically, carpenters purchase a set that includes several types of extension cords of different lengths, attachments, the stretcher itself and a hydraulic pump, but you can buy each item separately.

The hydraulic tie acts like the previous device, but on the contrary, tightens. Can be used for pulling as an alternative to a winch.

Various body clamps are used to directly attach the chain from the pulling device (winch or tie) to the damaged element.

Sometimes metal hinges and plates with hinges are welded in places where it is impossible to use a body grip, or in the absence of special grips.

Some modern body grips have a self-gripping design. When pulling force is added, the gripper is compressed more, which prevents it from slipping out.

As mentioned above, when measuring the "geometry" of the body, it is important to check the position of the shock absorber cups. The diagonals of the segments are measured from the centers of the upper pillars fastening bolts to the bonnet brackets fastening bolts to the body. Also, the diagonals of the distances between the centers of the bolts of both body cups are checked.

When displacing the shock absorber cups, a special device is used. It allows you to pull the cup in any direction.

After pulling out all the power elements and replacing damaged body parts that cannot be restored, the body front panels are tried on. If all the power elements are stretched correctly and all the attachment points are in place, then all the gaps of the front body panels should be even and the same on both sides of the car.

All doors, bonnet and boot lid should close without significant force and should not interfere with adjacent body panels. You can read about how to adjust the clearances on the car here.

Irregularity of the gaps can show what and where is not stretched or overstretched. The clearances thus provide information on whether the body is stretched correctly.

Summing up, we can say that if you have the necessary, not the most expensive tools and devices, as well as knowledge and experience, you can pull out complex damage to the car body even in a garage workshop. Experience is of course important. With insufficient experience, it is better to start pulling emergency bodies that have small displacements of the load-bearing elements.

Straightening of damaged body panels requires no less skill. Having mastered the basic techniques of straightening, it is possible to straighten rather complex damage. Read about the method of straightening dents using a straightening hammer, support and body float in another article.

Pulling a car, a car body at a cost, even if there is a small accident or other damaging factors, is quite expensive. Although, it seems that there is nothing difficult when performing such work. The main desire, free time and the necessary tools, then car body repair is possible on your own.
How the body is stretched, stretched, let's figure it out in stages:

First, it is necessary to determine the amount of work required, and then the car must be washed, then carefully inspected.

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First of all, you need to make sure that the spatial geometry of the body is not violated. You can check the geometry by measuring the distance between all control points. When there is no information on these points, then you can navigate by the visible power structure. For example, the distances between the suspension mounts and the engine mounts are symmetrical.

When the geometry of the body has suffered, then restoring the car with your own hands will be extremely difficult. Because, you need not only to know how the body is pulled out the body, you need specific equipment, in fact you need a whole stand that allows you to pull the body in any required direction. The equipment is bulky and expensive.

Of course, you can try to use the tools available at hand, for example, stretchers or jacks, however, it is very difficult to properly restore the car body with such means.

If you do not have the opportunity to use the appropriate stand (for example, to rent), then there is no point in purchasing a stand - the repair will be cheaper in the service.

The second thing to pay close attention to is rust stains. Moreover, through corrosion cannot be missed. The appearance of a rusty spot on the surface does not mean that the body is not rotten through and through - the metal under the paint may already be absent. Such places should be checked (by simple tapping, everything will immediately become clear by sound).

As a rule, body repairs begin only because of the appearance of minor damage in a conspicuous place. However, it does not hurt to check the rest of the points.

And if the dents are not large, tears, metal pulling did not occur, the stiffening ribs were not touched, then they can be straightened out neatly, and subsequent painting will not be needed. This is achieved by restoring the shape by mechanical action, while maintaining the paint and varnish layer, the work is complex and requires experience.

A feast of more complex works, it is not possible to preserve the paintwork, therefore, after straightening, a primer and painting are required.

The process consists of pulling a certain point of the body in three-dimensional space, for which it is necessary to "calculate" the desired point geometrically, and then predict the behavior of the body when pulling, and this requires some experience.

Therefore, you need to consider a simpler, often necessary type of repair.

First you need to replace the body kit parts, which will be cheaper and easier to replace as a whole than to restore. For example, doors, fenders, hood, trunk and more.

Then, the consequences of the resulting corrosion are eliminated. Pieces with through holes are cut completely, down to solid metal, then the patch material is welded.

If corrosion has not yet reached such a scale, then we simply clean the rusty surface to metal.

Small defects (for example, shallow dents that appear on flat surfaces) are the easiest to fix. They are called "flaps", because of the pops during recovery - it will be enough to heat or act mechanically on the other hand, the dents return with the cotton to their original state.

Repairing major damage will require paint removal. To do this, it is convenient to use a grinder with a nozzle. The main thing during grinding is not to overheat the metal (so that the surface does not turn blue), otherwise its properties change, and it will continue to collapse, even under a layer of putty and paint.

That's when the metal stretched out quite strongly along the perimeter of some of the dents (it turned out to be a deep dent). Then it is necessary to "bring" it back so that the metal returns to its original form. It is necessary to act around the perimeter, smoothly pulling the surface to its original appearance. You will need a small anvil and a rubber mallet (or wood). The use of an iron hammer is undesirable, since it itself leads to deformation of the sheet.

Apply the anvil to the outer edge of the resulting dent, and use a hammer from the inside, returning the metal to its place.

If the metal is stretched too much, then it is very difficult to straighten it with the previous method. However, paint removal will also be required. In addition, this type of repair requires a building hair dryer and even a spot welding machine using graphite electrodes.

The process is, in fact, similar to the previous one - you need to straighten the dent from the edges to the center. Only at first, point heating of the bent metal is used, and then mechanical action is applied. After heating, the metal becomes more ductile and pliable. Select the heating level empirically.

When using an industrial hair dryer, there will be no difficulties. However, the use of spot welding requires attention, otherwise it is possible to burn through the iron. The shape of the electrode is selected according to the shape of the dent, it is more convenient to correct a round dent with a round electrode, and a long one with a wide one.

To restore the shape, it is necessary to reach the other side of the part, however, this may be impossible or difficult. In this case, you should try to fix the dent on the outside.

For this purpose, the electrode is welded (grabbed) to the place on the surface that needs to be pulled out. Then, using a special tool or a reverse hammer, the metal is pulled out.Then the electrode is broken off and the surface is ground. Here is a fairly simple and most effective method for restoring the shape, when pulling the car body with your own hands, since only a welding machine is needed from expensive equipment. And the reverse hammer can be easily made by yourself.

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Stretching the body is a very complex process, which is usually performed after an accident, when all the distortions of the geometry of the car body are eliminated by applying the opposite force obtained during the accident.

To repair damage of this nature, special tools are always used that can return any part of the car to its previous state, these are hydraulic and screw jacks that can be used on:

• door openings,
• hood and trunk lid,
• openings of the windshield and rear window.

How much a body hood costs always depends on the method of operation, but sometimes you can repair a car after a minor collision, for example, an unsuccessful parking, with your own hands.

To perform straightening with your own hands using the heating method, you need to arm yourself:

• rubber or metal hammers of different weights;
• protective equipment - gloves, glasses;
• heat source - burner or hair dryer.

Pulling the body

Aligning the body shape with jacks should take place in several stages:

1. Dismantling of all parts that in any way interfere with the repair and access to the damaged areas.
2. Installation of a car body on special supports.
3. Installation of a hydraulic jack and determination of the angle of impact.
4. Starting the hood. During the pulling process, it is always very important to take measurements with a special body ruler and compare the indicators according to the control points of the primary drawing of the body.
5. While pulling, the mechanics also "tap" with a hammer on all distortions and bends of the metal, which helps to give the body its primary shape.
6. In cases where the first time it was not possible to pull the parts to their previous position, repeated stretching with squeezing is performed, in this position everything is left for a day for the metal to "get used to it." If the damage is very large, then the dent can be pulled out by two or three jacks at once.

This method may imply the use of a vacuum in cases where the concave part has retained the integrity of the paint layer, it will avoid the need to make "cosmetics". It can be more expensive, but considering how much it costs to paint a car, such a hood is still cheaper.

Pulling equipment installation locations

The use of a reverse hammer is also possible, but painting cannot be avoided here. The method works like this:

1. A thick wire hook is welded to the bent section.
2. A reverse hammer clings to the hook, which with blows will pull the metal back to its original position.
3. When the process is successfully completed, the hooks are cut and the body is sanded and painted.

Sometimes, to install the hammer, a hook hole can be drilled into which a nut and washer is threaded. After completion, the hole is treated with a putty or welded.

Another method of repairing the body is stretching using a gas burner, it is mainly used to settle the stretched metal and smooth out folds. Here you need to work very carefully, keeping the burner at a distance, otherwise there is a risk of burning the body.

Please note that the extraction must be completed on time.This means that you must complete all work at the same time as the surface has completely cooled down, otherwise it may return to the wrong position.

Car straightening stand

The most popular among the devices for eliminating deformations of the car body is a special stand:

1. The body is installed on it and fixed with clamps at four points for reliable fixation - at the points of connection of the car floor with the sills.
2. Suitable grips are selected based on the location of the damage. They are then attached to the vehicle and the correct pull-out angle is set.
3. The hydraulic jacks are triggered and pre-stretch the hull. After that, control measurements are made, if necessary, the process is repeated.
4. Next, the body is straightened.

Also noteworthy is the simplest way to repair deformations - dismantling the damaged part using an amplifier, which will pass along the perimeter of the weld with a 6 mm drill and separate part of the body from the body. It is straightened and welded into place.

If the entire body is being repaired, then it is necessary to prevent the doors from collapsing by supporting the front and central pillars of special tragus in the amount required for reliable support.

For each type of deformation, different stretching and straightening methods can be applied, all of which are aimed at reducing the scale of interference with the integrity of the body. Therefore, the preferred method of extraction is considered to be working with the car body on the stand or using jacks. Small dents can sometimes be eliminated with your own hands with a household hairdryer, using heating.

During the operation of the car, scratches, chips and dents appear on the body. The reason for their appearance can be both negative environmental factors and careless driving. Chips and scratches are painted over. Repairs and pulling out dents on the machine are performed using various methods and devices to eliminate metal jams.

Before straightening a dent on a car with your own hands, you need to know what types of damage exist. Dents on a car have different shapes and degrees of damage. Small defects usually appear on the roof and hood of the car due to hail and small stones. Medium to large metal creases are a direct result of careless driving. Such dents on the car body can have a complex shape.

If the paint at the site of a large crease is covered with cracks and began to fall off, then, in addition to removing the dent, it will be necessary to restore the paintwork. Otherwise, on the part of the body where damage has occurred, foci of corrosion will form.

Repair of small dents, performs without repainting the damaged area. The defect is corrected using the PDR (paintless dent repair) technology, that is, without repainting the part being repaired. To perform work, apply:

• Magnets. Allows to compensate for minor damage to the body. a small piece of lint-free cloth is placed under the device.
• Glue applicator, the device is attached to the car body with glue. After the adhesive has dried, the specialist slightly pulls the applicator in his direction, thereby leveling the body with the hallway.
• Suction cups allow you to correct simple defects. The vacuum pulling method removes metal creases formed after small stones hit the machine, hail and icicles fall.
• Building hair dryer, with the help of a tool, eliminate defects of various shapes. Warm air is blown over the damage, after that, it is immediately doused with cold air from a can.
• Hooks. These attachments are useful for pulling out hidden parts. They get boxes, and stamping from hidden areas of the body surface.
• Bump stop.It has a cigar-like shape and is designed to align outwardly bent metal.
• Rubber hammer. A rubber backing is installed on the reverse side of the damaged area. Smooth the surface with gentle strokes. The method of removing dents on a car is applicable for both small and deep defects.

Also included in the list of required tools is the Pops a Dent defect alignment kit. It includes nozzles, a plastic bracket, glue. Repairs are performed as follows:

1. The center of the damaged area is thoroughly degreased.
2. The adhesive is heated. To do this, insert the glue stick into the gun and connect it to the mains.
3. The heated composition is applied to a rubber nozzle, glued to the center of the damage in a circular motion.
4. After 2-3 minutes, a bracket is attached to the patch.
5. The staple is screwed onto the nozzle with a lamb until the defect is eliminated.
6. 5 minutes after the completion of the work, the device is removed from the body.

The use of special equipment Pops a Dent is advisable in case of frequent dents on the car body. If defects of this plan appear rarely, it will be more profitable to use other technologies for pulling out damage.

To eliminate the deepest dent, impact pads of various shapes and hammers are used. Spoons are used as a counterfeit tool. They have different shapes and sizes, they are used depending on the type of damage.

In the center of the damage, the metal is thinner than at the edges. Before straightening, it is necessary to pull the iron to the center of the defect. For this, a gas burner is used. Next, the dents are aligned.

After rough leveling of the defect, it is covered with a putty.

Pull out the dent of the car body with your own hands, a jack will help. The device is used to repair deep damage to the fenders of a car.

Before carrying out work, dismantle the front direction indicator and headlight. From the side of the dent, the jack rests on the heel (a rubber bar is preliminarily placed under it), the device lever should rest against the opposite edge of the opening. The operation is stopped after the defect is straightened, and the damaged area is covered with a putty.

Correction of dents with a reverse hammer is performed when the driver has difficult access to the damaged area, or the parts to be repaired cannot be dismantled. Such repair of body dents usually requires the subsequent painting of the restored part. To straighten a dent, do the following:

• Clean, dry and degrease the surface to be repaired. Remove traces of corrosion.
• One end of the hammer is attached to the center of the damage. The operation is performed using a special suction cup or an applicator.
• Straightening is performed by gradually increasing impacts of the weight on the hammer handle.
• After completing the restoration of the outside of the body, the hammer is disconnected.

An applicator or suction cup is only effective for straightening the body if the damage is minor. In the presence of deep and complex defects, the hammer is welded to the surface, or they cling to the technological holes using special hooks.

The process of removing a dent on a car and repairing a local section of the body is called straightening. The work, with a certain amount of experience and time, is carried out with their own hands according to the following algorithm:

1. Wash and dry the work surface.
2. Degrease the damage.
3. Car body repair.

Straightening of small lesions can be carried out without subsequent staining of the damaged area. With the help of reverse hammers, hooks, a hair dryer, suction cups and applicators, rubber hammers, the defect is eliminated.

If you need to fix a deep dent on a car, accompanied by creases, peeling paintwork and metal tearing, then use the following tool:

1. Hammer and anvils of various shapes and sizes.
2. Spoons.
3. Jack.
4. File.
5. Welding machine.
6. Grinding device.

The anvils are applied to the outside of the indentation, and a rough leveling of the surface is carried out from the center with gentle blows. Spoons act as a substrate for a percussion instrument, but they are used to eliminate defects that have appeared in hard-to-reach places. After leveling, the area to be repaired is inspected. If there are metal breaks, they are welded together. Excess bulges are removed with a file. Next, you need to putty the body to level the working surface. The treated area is sanded, primed, painted and polished.

Before you putty the car body with your own hands, you need to prepare. This will help to avoid visible defects after painting the car:

1. Grind and remove excess metal bulges.
2. Degrease and clean the treated surface. In some cases, the operation is performed several times.
3. Fill up the corrected area of ​​damage by applying the filler evenly in several layers.
4. After it dries, the surface is sanded. It is important to ensure that the putty layer is flush with the rest of the car body surface.
5. Apply a primer in two layers.
6. The surface is painted with a spray gun. Apply varnish and polish the surface.

In the presence of more serious damage, removing the dents will not help restore the integrity of the part. In this case, the body element, or its most severely damaged part, is replaced with a new one. When replacing, it is necessary to find a part identical to the one being replaced. If a certain area is replaced, then the patch is cut out of the same metal. Then it is welded to the part to be restored.