Removing dents with dry ice?

[dufferdj]

A couple of years ago we stayed in Custer State Park/Blue Bell Campground. While there a rather industrious red squirrel , while collecting pine cones, dropped a number of them on the hood of our Jayco Melbourne. Unfortunately about 6 of them left small dents in the hood. I've seen on u-tube where people have used dry ice to get the metal to contract enough to remove the dents. It would be nice to hear from some of you if you have tried this technique successfully. If you have tried this with/without damaging your paint job, please let me know.
By the way, the same squirrel went on to fill the engine compartment with pine cones ---
in fact I removed about 20 gallons of the cones plus grass and paper from under the hood ---fortunately some camping neighbors warned me prior to me starting the engine.
Thanks for any and all info.

[Vulcaneer]

I could never make the dry ice idea work. Nor the heat/cold with upside down compressed air. On even the smallest hail dent. But the paintless dent repair guys are 100%.

Five hail dents on my new car came out perfectly.

[hershey]

I tried the dry ice thing on hail damage but it didn't work for me.
Did use the toilet plunger trick on a large dent where the panel was pushed in and it did indeed pull it back to original but there was still a half moon crease showing afterwards where the metal had been actually bent when the dent was made.

[Geocritter]

While in college I had a large dent in my car door. One day while driving the interstate home I picked up a hitch-hiker (this was in the 1960's). The guy was a hobo on his way to anywhere, I guess. He noticed my dent and said that if I'd pay him $2 he'd tell me an easy way to remove it. My response was "Hey just tell me, I'm giving you a ride after all" his response was that the ride didn't put food in him. I gave him the $2 and he told me to polish and wax the center of the dent. Then take a toilet plunger, press it onto the dented area and give it a sharp backwards yank. It was $2 well spent, it worked perfectly. One yank and the dent was gone.
Steve

[fpresto]

Several years ago a sudden hailstorm came through our area. Within a day a multitude of dent repair places popped up on almost every corner. They just seemed to magically appear overnight. Most seemed to use the dry ice trick and talking to people who had it done it worked fine. If the paint wasn't cracked from the dent you could not tell there had ever been any damage.

[UsualSuspect]

My niece showed me the dry ice dent removal on their truck, she just rubbed it on the dent and eventually it popped out. I had a few door dings that didn't scratch the paint but left a good dent. I just called the local "Paintless Dent Repair" guy. He came out, $175 later and all the dents were gone. He actually used some sort of tool to remove it.

[TucsonJim]

I actually used the heat/cool method on my home refrigerator. I'd bumped it with a chair and put a small dent in it. I didn't use dry ice though. I purchased one of those canned blowers you can use to blow dust out of computer equipment. When you turn the can upside down and spray it, you are actually spraying freon.

1. Heat the area with a hair dryer on the "hot" setting. Do it for several minutes so that it gets really hot. But take note: if you put the nozzle of the hair dryer too close to the metal, the heat will build up in the nozzle and the dryer will shut off.
2. Once the metal is really hot to the touch, turn the spray can upside down and spray it for 20-30 seconds into the center of the dent. If the dent is small enough and the metal pliable enough, it will pop right out. If not, you probably need professional help.

No guarantees, but this method shouldn't damage your paint.

[SCVJeff]

Mebbe they use dry ice.....

[B_O__Plenty]

I've never seen it work, ever. I've heard this for many years. If it was that easy why why are there so many paintless dent repair shops around. I really think this is just an old myth...If you can prove otherwise I'd like to hear about it..

B.O.

[Bull_Rider]

I've never seen the dry ice remedy, but I have watched a skilled bodyman pull out hail dents with an oxy/acetylene torch. He would just flame a circle around the dent and they would disappear. Was kind of hard on the paint, but they were repainting the hood and top anyhow. The new auto metals are much more sophisticated than what was around twenty years ago.

Maybe a good auto restoration forum would be able to help.

Good Luck.

[1492]

Moved from Forum Technical Support