For some people, their cars are an inseparable part of their daily life. Therefore, having knowledge of auto body repair you can do at home wouldn’t hurt at all. In fact, having this knowledge could save them a lot of money. For people who use cars in their regular daily activities, sometimes bad things happen and they are just inevitable. Scratches, dents, and other small damages are some of the standard issues cars have happen to them over the years.
Trying to decide to spend the money on these small repairs is often based on what is available to you for tools. The standard arsenal of tools does not usually contain tools for auto body repair. Understanding if you have a passion for repair is an entirely different set of tools. Overall, learning about auto body repair you can do at home could save you some money here and there. Imagine all that costs for small scratches, dents, and cracks could be reallocated for something else.
Common Issues
The most common thing to happen to every car is scratches. They could happen because of tons of reasons, either accidental or natural ones. Most of the time, they actually don’t need a professional to fix. Nevertheless, the only place available nearby to repair such damage is the one with professional standards. Of course if that is the case, spending a little more money would be inevitable. Most of time people don’t think they can do such repairs at home. However, with the proper knowledge and tools you can get some of the smaller items fixed. Moreover, it won’t cost even half as much as they have to pay at the professional auto body repair shops.
Basically, there are two types of scratches, they are minor nicks and deep scratches. Depending on the type of scratches you are facing, they would need a different method to fix. But a professional help is not necessary except if you don’t have enough time to fix them yourselves.
Minor nicks are scratches that are light and don’t cause the primer to show. The cause could be accumulated abrasions from dirt and wrong use of cleaning products causing the paint to wear down.
To fix damages like this one, you could simply use the touch up paints available at auto body shops or just look them up online. The problem is you need the exact matching color with your current paint. But you don’t need to worry because you would just need to look for the paint code and you are good to go. If you don’t know the paint code, simply look for your forgotten owner’s manual. All the details about your car would be listed there, including the paint code. Once you get the right paint, you could just simply apply the paint evenly on the damaged area. All those light scratches and nicks would just melt away like nothing.
Deeper Issues
Deep scratches would need extra efforts to fix. The damage to the paint is deep enough so that the primer would show up. Usually, you would feel the clear difference in the damaged area. To fix this kind of damage, you could use the touch-up paints as mentioned before. However, you would need to apply the paint on the damaged area multiple times until the deep scratches are filled until at an even height. If you think that the scratches are too deep, you can add scratch filler or rubbing compound to make an even surface first. Then you can apply the touch-up paints after smoothen the surface with fine-grained sandpaper.
The other type of damage you can try with DIY auto body repair are dents. Dents are unsightly and they can be a trigger for a bigger problem to occur, such as rusts, especially during winter salting. If you have dents on your car, the professionals would suggest you to do replacements instead of repairing. The money you would need to cough up would be much greater than fixing scratches. And that is why this is the common solution offered to you almost every single time.
DIY At Home
Depending on the surface and the depth of the dents, you could perform your own repair at home. You would just need the proper tools to perform the repair. One of the options you can do at home is performing suction repair. You need to get a suction handheld tool you can get from hardware stores. Use the suction to pull out the dented area. Some deeper dents might need more than one pull for them to get back to its normal shape. You can finish with sandpaper and touch-up paints afterwards.
Larger and more serious dents need more complicated methods than suction pulls. You would need a body filler which is more substantial than scratch filler. It consists of a base and hardener epoxies that would permanently harden soon when mixed. You would need to thoroughly sand off the paint on the dented area, up to the primer. Only after the paint if completely gone, you could apply the mixture and wait for it until dried off completely. Then you can smoothen the surface using fine-grain sandpapers and make sure that the surface is even. Before you apply the coloring paint, you should cover it with the primer paint first. After applying the primer, you should smoothen the surface once more. Only then you can apply the touch up paint until the damage dissipates.
If you need cars for your daily activities, damages would eventually happen and there is no way you would know that. However, if you have enough time to spare, you can perform auto body repair you can do at home tricks to save more cost. Coughing up quite a hefty sum of money each time your car has damages could be burdensome. Make use of these tricks and you would surprise yourself with how much money you can save.
We will feature certain auto body repair techniques in future articles. However, if you feel you have a repair that just seems to big to take on, remember Tender Car Care is just a phone call away. Call Now! 414-389-1014.
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