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I was getting in my car to go back home, but it wouldn't start. It was cold out so it made it even more frustrating that it wouldn't start. I stepped back outside my car, and to try to relieve this frustration I back handed it a few times and gave it a strong knee to the side.

After some time, I'm thinking that maybe violence wasn't the right answer for this specific situation. Also, I have a dent in the side body of my car from my knee, about 2.5 inches in diameter and 2 inches in depth. The back hands didn't leave any marks, thankfully.

I definitely don't want to spend any money on getting this dent repaired. Is there any way to lessen the size or appearance of the dent, or even fix it pretty completely with regular household tools?

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    A crappy title is not a valid reason to close a question, so long as the body makes the question clear. If you think the title is crappy then you can downvote, but not close it.
    – Wipqozn
    Feb 21, 2015 at 14:48
  • I guess using a filler doesn't count as a hack...
    – J. Musser
    Feb 21, 2015 at 18:32

3 Answers 3

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There's at least a couple things that might just work in this case with removing/minimizing the dent. I wouldn't advise anyone with a nice car to try the following though.

First thing you could do is just grab a toilet plunger and a cup of hot and soapy water, as shown by Taya05 on this youtube video. Then pour some of the soapy water on and around the dent. Lastly, just plunge in slowly and out quickly to try to remove or minimize the size of the dent.

Second thing, if you're able to get to the other side of the dent, you could try hammering it out gently. To make this go more smoother, you could also maybe heat up the outside of the dent with a hair/blow dryer, to possibly make the metal easier to adjust out.

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  • Do you have any experience with this hack yourself? The video doesn't convince me to be honest.
    – Mast
    Apr 13, 2015 at 22:52
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You can sometimes pop dents out (if they aren't creased) with a GoPro suction cup, or a particularly strong GPS windshield mount suction cup.

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Short answer, no, unless you have a friend who is or was a panel beater. I'm surprised it took you 'some time' to conclude that violence wasn't perhaps the best reaction to your situation, I'd have realised it immediately, but there you go, we're all different.The lesson is one for you rather than the car regarding future behaviour on your part though, along with perhaps watching that episode of Fawlty Towers where John Clees beats the c*%p out of his broken down Mini with a branch off a tree - that's probably what you looked like when you were venting your spleen, must have been funny to watch. Next time, just kick the tyres, if you must.

If the dent is in a door, you could try removing the door panel on the inside and trying to push the dent outwards, but even if you do, you'll still be able to see it isn't perfectly shaped and smooth from the outside.

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