Denty Td5 Defender 90

Hi all,

My 02 Def 90 has a few dents in the bodywork which, although somewhat accepted on these, go beyond 'character' and towards 'beaten up'.

What is the best way to fix these? Can I pop them out or should I go for filler, then primer/paint? What should I use?

Thanks

I would try to pull them out before using filler, for non creased dents, some dents can be pulled out using a hot glue gun and a wooden dowl. Simply place a blob of hot glue in the centre of the dent, then place the dowl in the glue to set and then gently pull whilst putting pressure around the dent and usually after a few attempts it will pull out or be less of a dent. Glue does not damage the paint if it's in reasonable condition.

Thanks. I've never heard of the hot glue trick but will give it a try.

The paint has cracked on most of the dents, so I guess after popping the dents out and filling I'll have to prime and paint. Will I have to take the whole panel back to bare metal and prime and paint, or can I just do the area immediately around the repair?

Try not to remove the original LR black primer and expose the alloy, if you can. If you do, try to use an acid etch primer, as it will bond with the alloy and hopefully not flake off a month later. Acid 8 etch primer is the primer brand I use, 800 grit wet and dry sanding paper with lots of water mixed with fairy liquid to key up the paint and feathering off flaked stuff. Take your time, and tackle on panel at a time, preparation is crucial for the finished job to look good.

When I painted my last Defender last year, after painting it, left it for a couple of weeks for the paint to harden and then spent a couple of nights cutting back the paint with a rotary polisher and a random orbital polisher with two grades of cutting compound to remove any orange peel and to blend all the panel colour tones back to an even shine, as with wet sanding use lots and lots of water also.

As for having to repaint the whole panel issue, well usually unless the affected area is quite small it will look pretty crap if you just paint the dented area, its a better job and easier to paint the whole panel to be honest.

Did I mention not to sand through the black primer under the top coat?