don long
Well-known member
I'll bet that paint job took a day or two. lol
Fixing a dent in my F350
- Thread starter kc2llw
- Start date
sberry
Banned
Painting big is slightly different, I fog some ahead,,, cut in after and come back with a big old heavy wet coat just shy of runs. I painted some big stuff like this, tanks, out of crane and scaffold, tanker trucks etc and there isn't time for 2 coats in some of it, to keep it wet enough, got to do a lot in one depending on type of paint. Some colors more difficult.
If I havnt painted a while I really got to watch it especially with slow old tractor paint in cool weather. A guy should outright stop and go eat dinner long enough to let it set, its super easy to want to hurry and hang it on too thick, looks great, come back 20 mins later and big ole runs in it.
If I havnt painted a while I really got to watch it especially with slow old tractor paint in cool weather. A guy should outright stop and go eat dinner long enough to let it set, its super easy to want to hurry and hang it on too thick, looks great, come back 20 mins later and big ole runs in it.
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Guys thanks for all the reply’s. We are going to fix it. Truck is a 2012 F350 with the 6.2 gassers engine. Has 18,467 miles on it, my Dad bought it new and since has passed away. My Mom gave it to my son who just turned 17. Needless to say he is going to keep the truck.
Thanks again
Steve
Thanks again
Steve
sberry
Banned
I agree you should fix it. No need to toss 1000's at it. Fix it, if you are not happy fix it again. Super great truck for a young guy.
driz
Well-known member
That’s the great thing about body work like that . You just keep adding and sanding until it’s right. You can’t really screw it up irreparably. Just keep at it till it’s ok.
To the OP , if you do it yourself here’s a way to see if it is smooth enough and what it will look like with paint on it. Just take a spray bottle and water. Clean it up the spray some water over it , use a hose ect. The water accentuates the goof ups or places it isn’t feathered well enough and it will stand out just like [emoji80]when it’s painted.
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There's always the option like some people have done. Rhino Line or some Duplicolor /Plasti-Dip from that body line down.
driz
Well-known member
Oh no not The Last Gasp, plastidip[emoji30]. Save that for the bitter end. What the OP needs to do more than anything is concentrate his washing efforts IN BACK of those fenders. That’s where all those boxes go straight to Hell from, THE INSIDE.
Strange now that nice thick steel turns to tinfoil from the back but it does. It’s not a bad idea to clean that puppy up under there well and spray some chainsaw bar oil and ATF nicely warmed. Before winter sets in. It cheap and pretty effective if you live in snow country. That Krown process works better but gets a tad pricy every year.
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Strange now that nice thick steel turns to tinfoil from the back but it does. It’s not a bad idea to clean that puppy up under there well and spray some chainsaw bar oil and ATF nicely warmed. Before winter sets in. It cheap and pretty effective if you live in snow country. That Krown process works better but gets a tad pricy every year.
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csp
Well-known member
You have confused the word "pro" with "hack".
sberry
Banned
Only an amateur would throw thousands of dollars at something that d be done reasonably.
Bigblue&Goldie
Well-known member
You seem to struggle with the fact we all have different standards we hold our vehicles to. Sure, the dent doesn't effect the "function" of the truck, but the O.P. clearly wants to keep the appearance of this truck in top shape as it's got sentimental value. I've had 2 trucks painted; one I asked for an "OEM grade" paint job and the other I asked for a "work truck grade" job. Big difference in quality and price. In my circle (motorsports) we take great pride in attention to detail in every aspect of our vehicles. In my uncle's circle (rancher) they take pride in minimal downtime, and maximum production out of their vehicles, which often calls for improvised fixes. When we arc weld a part back together in a pit, we cut it back apart and tig weld it when we are back in the shop so it looks clean. When my uncle's fender support breaks on his tractor he arc welds it and doesn't touch it unless it breaks again. My uncle doesn't coat the suspension of his truck in $24/can spray paint like we do on a $500k race car. Neither mindset is wrong or "amateur".
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sberry
Banned
I didnt struggle with anything. The op asked for diy fix. Turns out this truck is going to be driven by a 17 year old and not going in a car show and is not 500k. Yes there is a difference, knowing that is part of the professional part.
There is also some assumption that everyone someone pays does an excellent job,,, especially underneath on stuff can't be seen.
My response would have been different to a guy come and said, this is high end, want to win car show and don't care how much it costs.
What is obvious as daylight is several people didn't even bother to read the first post in this thread, or the other posts by the op. They just want to fix a little dent. It was others opinion to leave it alone. It was others said he should have sentimental value. I am with the op,,,, good place for him and his son to do a fix themselves.
They can probably live with the dent if it cost too much but it doesnt have to in order to be presentable and not eye catching,,, especially since its white.
There is also some assumption that everyone someone pays does an excellent job,,, especially underneath on stuff can't be seen.
My response would have been different to a guy come and said, this is high end, want to win car show and don't care how much it costs.
What is obvious as daylight is several people didn't even bother to read the first post in this thread, or the other posts by the op. They just want to fix a little dent. It was others opinion to leave it alone. It was others said he should have sentimental value. I am with the op,,,, good place for him and his son to do a fix themselves.
They can probably live with the dent if it cost too much but it doesnt have to in order to be presentable and not eye catching,,, especially since its white.
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myredracer
Well-known member
We have an '09 F250 with almost identical dent in the same spot. I turned into a dead end alleyway (thanks to my copilot) with our travel travel and I tagged a fence post backing out (sigh). I like vehicles and things to look perfect and I have the tools and know-how to fix it but decided to just let it go.
Some options for repair for fixing it have been mentioned. Another option would be to form a bowl shape, cut out damaged metal and weld in a patch and then finish as needed.
When you get older, the years pass by a lot faster. In another 5+ years you'll have collected a few more dents and scratches and you won't be so bothered. It may be purdy and shiny otherwise, but you *could* just get some white electricians tape and try and hide it (needs a drain hole). Only you will know!
Some options for repair for fixing it have been mentioned. Another option would be to form a bowl shape, cut out damaged metal and weld in a patch and then finish as needed.
When you get older, the years pass by a lot faster. In another 5+ years you'll have collected a few more dents and scratches and you won't be so bothered. It may be purdy and shiny otherwise, but you *could* just get some white electricians tape and try and hide it (needs a drain hole). Only you will know!
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Biff Lungren
Well-known member
- Joined
- Sep 1, 2013
- Messages
- 80
It is a beautiful story and I get wanting to hand it over in perfect condition but, 17,,
Let their first dent not be the first dent. If they prove to be exceptional in their desire for pristine cars and respect for family history they can prove it by fixing it with your help.
Nice thread I liked the train Pictures!
Let their first dent not be the first dent. If they prove to be exceptional in their desire for pristine cars and respect for family history they can prove it by fixing it with your help.
Nice thread I liked the train Pictures!
driz
Well-known member
Hey Steve here’s the very best suggestion you’re ever going to hear if you wanna keep that truck for more than 10 years. It’s real simple, you live in a Rust Belt **** state just like I do so you know damn well nothing lasts there! And if you don’t know already being just 17 start looking around at 5 to 7-year-old trucks. Don’t look at them look under them!
You won’t see but very little slight bubbling rust on the outer panel. What you will see is bubbling flaking rust on the backside of those panels and frame rails. With the truck any truck that I know of the worst place for us to come straight straight from the inside back of the box panels. Especially where they have the stiffener rate directly above the wheel that I see you lately did intelligently replaced with plastic so at least it doesn’t rust that the weld especially when they have the stiffener directly above the wheel that I see lately they intelligently replaced with plastic so at least it doesn’t begin to rust at the weld attachments. All the crud from the road loves to collect up in there especially on top of that brace between the inner and outer box over the wheel. That’s where you’re going to find your first rust in all likelihood so make sure you keep that clean when you’re washing. In fact when you’re washing it I would spend more time under there than the rest of the truck because that’s where the majority of the **** is going to be laying starting the rust. Keep that area clean back there and you’ll be doing yourself a huge favor later on. A pressure washer is your friend when dealing with these things
The other areas to be especially careful of is the top of the fuel tank( Again a flat surface where the **** can lay and rot your fuel lines, then there’s the rear bumper back and vicinity. Again everything sticks and stays there until you wash it out. Speaking of fuel lines they run those on the back inside of the frame rails to protect them in the event of an accident. Once again look at that in her lower flat long service with the fuel line laying on it helping to keep all that salt in seeing it in place rotting your fuel lines away.
Once you get crawling around under there you know what to look for and you’ll see what I mean about where this mixture of sand salt in water like to get stuck and do the damage so just pressure wash the hell out of it and get it clean and keep it that way.
Door panels, they love to rust right along the bottom pinch weld. Same reason salt and sand get in there and stay trapped and start rust in that area where the panel is folded over inside the door. There’s two weep drains Front and rear that door you can run water in one until it comes out clear in the other. Keep those clean .
Here’s a trick to seal those pinch welds. Get cheap petroleum jelly and old / new cheap ATF. Mix it half-and-half and heat till it’s liquid. Duck tape both weep holes. Somehow get a couple cups of the mixture inside that door Using either undercoating pole or as one guy showed an old piece of transmission lines shove down along side the window in the channel. Anyways get it in there let it sit and drain it after a bit. Don’t throw it out you can reuse it. There’s a YouTube video showing how to do this but I couldn’t find it ,but you get the picture You won’t ever have any rust at the bottom of your door doing this yearly .
You might want to consider getting it treated with Krown rustproofing if you can get it there. I seen that stuff work and it really does ,the only drawback seeing you have to get it put on annually. The homemade version is chainsaw bar oil and petroleum jelly.
Of course you’ll never religiously do all this over and over but if you make an effort to somewhat try to keep up more or less You will get at least another 15 years out of that truck. You’ll find in the end that what goes on under there is much more important than little dings and scratches in the exterior paint ect. Rest assured in the end it’ll end up Skunky ragged looking like everything else that’s just the way things are in Rustland[emoji90]
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You won’t see but very little slight bubbling rust on the outer panel. What you will see is bubbling flaking rust on the backside of those panels and frame rails. With the truck any truck that I know of the worst place for us to come straight straight from the inside back of the box panels. Especially where they have the stiffener rate directly above the wheel that I see you lately did intelligently replaced with plastic so at least it doesn’t rust that the weld especially when they have the stiffener directly above the wheel that I see lately they intelligently replaced with plastic so at least it doesn’t begin to rust at the weld attachments. All the crud from the road loves to collect up in there especially on top of that brace between the inner and outer box over the wheel. That’s where you’re going to find your first rust in all likelihood so make sure you keep that clean when you’re washing. In fact when you’re washing it I would spend more time under there than the rest of the truck because that’s where the majority of the **** is going to be laying starting the rust. Keep that area clean back there and you’ll be doing yourself a huge favor later on. A pressure washer is your friend when dealing with these things
The other areas to be especially careful of is the top of the fuel tank( Again a flat surface where the **** can lay and rot your fuel lines, then there’s the rear bumper back and vicinity. Again everything sticks and stays there until you wash it out. Speaking of fuel lines they run those on the back inside of the frame rails to protect them in the event of an accident. Once again look at that in her lower flat long service with the fuel line laying on it helping to keep all that salt in seeing it in place rotting your fuel lines away.
Once you get crawling around under there you know what to look for and you’ll see what I mean about where this mixture of sand salt in water like to get stuck and do the damage so just pressure wash the hell out of it and get it clean and keep it that way.
Door panels, they love to rust right along the bottom pinch weld. Same reason salt and sand get in there and stay trapped and start rust in that area where the panel is folded over inside the door. There’s two weep drains Front and rear that door you can run water in one until it comes out clear in the other. Keep those clean .
Here’s a trick to seal those pinch welds. Get cheap petroleum jelly and old / new cheap ATF. Mix it half-and-half and heat till it’s liquid. Duck tape both weep holes. Somehow get a couple cups of the mixture inside that door Using either undercoating pole or as one guy showed an old piece of transmission lines shove down along side the window in the channel. Anyways get it in there let it sit and drain it after a bit. Don’t throw it out you can reuse it. There’s a YouTube video showing how to do this but I couldn’t find it ,but you get the picture You won’t ever have any rust at the bottom of your door doing this yearly .
You might want to consider getting it treated with Krown rustproofing if you can get it there. I seen that stuff work and it really does ,the only drawback seeing you have to get it put on annually. The homemade version is chainsaw bar oil and petroleum jelly.
Of course you’ll never religiously do all this over and over but if you make an effort to somewhat try to keep up more or less You will get at least another 15 years out of that truck. You’ll find in the end that what goes on under there is much more important than little dings and scratches in the exterior paint ect. Rest assured in the end it’ll end up Skunky ragged looking like everything else that’s just the way things are in Rustland[emoji90]
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Farrier
Well-known member
Grab a sledge and beat in the opposite so it matches