That quarter panel dent that took me 4 hours to fix

Had a 2018 Honda Civic come in last Tuesday with a dent on the rear quarter panel near the gas cap. Thought it'd be a quick 45 minute PDR job but the metal was stretched weird from a previous bad repair. Ended up spending 4 hours with my glue pull kit and hammer and dolly before I got it looking right. Anyone else run into hidden bondo or bad repairs that cost you way more time than you planned?

3 comments

3 Comments

chen.casey21d ago

Had a buddy find a whole soda can under bondo on an old Camry. Took him all weekend to fix that mess. Felt bad for him but kinda funny too.

daniel_walker20d ago

Weekend? For a soda can patch job? Unless your buddy was trying to turn the thing into a show car, that seems like a whole lot of drama over a little tin can. Old import cars are held together with rust and prayer half the time anyway, I've pulled crazier stuff out of beaters that still drove fine. As long as the bondo didn't fall out on the highway, I'd have just slapped some tape on it and called it a day.

the_laura6d ago

How'd you end up dealing with the old glue residue from the previous repair? I had a similar situation on a Toyota Corolla where someone used cheap panel bond and it left this sticky gunk that was impossible to clean off. Ended up using some lacquer thinner and a plastic scraper, took forever but it was the only thing that broke down the adhesive without ruining the paint. Also found out the hard way that if you rush through cleaning that stuff, your PDR glue won't stick right and you'll waste even more time. Definitely learned to check for leftover bondo or filler before I even start pulling.