Flimsy sheetmetal

Shaners · April 28, 2003

My wife's boss has a '03 Avalanche. It's fully loaded with every option available and it probably has less than 2k miles on it.

He went to get his Lexus out of storage and it needed a jump start, so he jumped it with his Avalanche.

When he closed the hood on the Av it didn't latch completly, so he pushed down on the front of the hood right in the center... Now he has a softball sized dent in the hood from his hand!!!

gnet158 · April 28, 2003

That's an easy fix. A few years ago when I still had my Chevy S-10 I went to a football game (Raiders/Chargers) some A$$ dented in half of my hood. I was pissed but I knew that it was cheap sheet metal. Sheet metal can be bent back into shape. So the next morning I got out my rubber hammer and whacked them all out. The hood came out 99% perfect except for one spot that I could have continued to bang out but I didn't want to take a change on screwing it up. My hood under side was covered in like a cotton lining and you could see indentation on the inside from the rubber hammer but it's not like I show off the under side of my hood. It wasn't bad at all. No one could tell except for me. Good luck!

asepgrad98 · April 28, 2003

i thought everybody knew you are supposed to push down at the very front of the hood.

Shaners · April 28, 2003

i thought everybody knew you are supposed to push down at the very front of the hood.

I guess I didn't state it correctly... The dent is on the center crease that runs down the hood, right where it rolls over to meet the top of the grill...

I'm sure they will be able to "pop" it back out, but that isn't the point.

I guess the moral of the story is, that if your hood doesn't latch when you shut it, then open it again and shut it a little harder!!!

gnet158 · April 28, 2003

Or just hold the hood about 4 inches up and let it go. That works for me.

lrymal · April 29, 2003

A long time ago, in a few memories far far away, I was talking with my high school buddies, as I was leaning against the passenger door of a Lincoln Continental. Careless, but....

I pushed with my rear against the car to walk away, joining the others, and as I did, I pushed in the metal and made a dent about 16 inches wide. Now, this was back in 1967.

Obviously, you discover who your true friends are when you pull a stunt like this. Well, I left a note and to make a very long story short, a trip to the high school's vocational tech class fixed up the flat panel on that door in a hurry, using a multi-plunger type device.

Anyway, thin metal has been on cars for a long time.