2016 Silverado - remove small dent in wheel wheel (inside bed)

rayzzr · August 22, 2016

So I am getting a Linex sprayed in later this week, but I was hauling some cargo and now have a 2" dent in my passenger wheel well. It is a mild dent, but one that would show if they spray over it. I have those fender skirt liners, and I have not taken those off, but is the bed double-walled there or is my fix as simple as removing the wheel well liner, and using a mallet to tap the dent out? It won't have to be perfect, as they are spraying over it.

TJay74 · August 22, 2016

bed is double walled, so I don't think you can get to it from the backside. Since the bedliner company is going to spray it see what a body shop would charge to spot weld a pull tab on it and pull it out. Then once they grind down the spot spray it with some paint until the bed liner is sprayed in. You will never notice the repair that way,

rayzzr · August 22, 2016

bed is double walled, so I don't think you can get to it from the backside. Since the bedliner company is going to spray it see what a body shop would charge to spot weld a pull tab on it and pull it out. Then once they grind down the spot spray it with some paint until the bed liner is sprayed in. You will never notice the repair that way,

I figured it was double walled, oh well. I may see what a body shop can do it with it. It looks pretty shallow, but generally they can't fill it in with the Line-x stuff. Bedliner is going in this Thurs, so I just need to get it taken care of quickly.

pm26 · August 23, 2016

I have seen a paintless dent removal guy use a suction cup like puller which he glued on to the surface and then pulled out a shallow dent which could not be accessed from the other side. They use special glue that is heat activated and separates and cleans up afterwards.

Grumpy Bear · August 23, 2016

I just has such work done on mine. Paintless dent removal. You would be surprised the places they can get into with those yard long tools. He got to mine via the rear tail lamp opening after removing it.

silveradosid · August 24, 2016

pull the inner plastic wheel liner out and you will be able to tap it out. double wall construction applies only to the box sides,

rayzzr · August 24, 2016

pull the inner plastic wheel liner out and you will be able to tap it out. double wall construction applies only to the box sides,

I did last night, but I could not see the dent from the inside. It must be double wall there on the 2016. I plan to hot glue a puller on it, and pull that with pliers to try and pop it out. I used a strong magnet and got the worst of it out. The bedliner spray may cover it up. It isn't a huge deal, but the truck has less than 1100 miles. I'd prefer to not have a dent encased in Linex. The PDR guy said he cannot work with the dent once Linex is sprayed. I either need to get the dent out myself, cancel the Linex appt and wait for the PDR guy and reschedule, or just let them shoot the liner and not worry about it.

rayzzr · August 25, 2016

So no local PDR places could fix this for me in the time I needed it done by, and I did not want to cancel my Linex appt so....

I studied various ways of removing it myself:

Tapped wheel well inside bed with rubber mallet around the dent - no change

Heated the dent and applied ice (alternated multiple times) - no change

Heated the dent and used a strong magnet - this actually worked, a little

Removed wheel well liner to try and access for underneath - appears to be double walled, couldn't

A buddy told me he used one of those suction cups with a hook on it (like you use to hang something with), and hot glue. He had put hot glue on the cup, pushed it on the dent, waited for it to setup, then pulled it with pliers. Different materials, but similar concept to what the PDR pros use (granted their 'cups' are textured to hold the glue, more on that in a sec)

Since this was inside the bed, and since Linex scuff off the paint to apply it what did I have to lose?

I tried it, and the result was zip. The suction cup was too slick and turned loose from the glue before it would pull on the dent. So I removed the hot glue and had another idea.

I took a 5" piece of 1/2" PVC, and scuffed the outside with sandpaper to make the glue adhere better. Then I cleaned the area around the dent really well, and applied hot glue liberally to the PVC. I then stuck it into the dent, following the crease (so the PVC was 'cradled' in the valley made by the dent)

I waited 60 seconds for the glue to cure, and went to pull off the PVC. It was more muscle needed than I could apply holding the tiny piece of PVC, so I ran a rope through it. It took quite a bit of strength to pull the PVC off, and when it came off it made a very loud bang! Lo and behold, 95% of the dent was gone! I repeated the process and got closer to 98% of it out. You could still see a distortion in the paint if I pointed it out, but that was close enough considering Linex would be shot over it.

Got the Linex liner shot in today, and you cannot even tell it was ever there.

Sort of my own hillbilly version of a pops-a-dent