Crease in hood: Advice on repair

beezee

True Classic
My '83 X has a crease in the hood. I am guessing that at some point in the cars history someone tried to open the hood without releasing the latch. I am curious if this can be repaired using paintless dent repair. Any advice?

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You might be able to massage some of it out but there will still be a very noticeable mark possibly worse . To do it right is going to take some aggressive metal work and a repaint. At least you have some distinct boarders so there will be no need for trying to feather the paint edge.
 
I had the exact same crease. It was the result of a friend attempting to lower the hood without disengaging the prop rod. This bent the hood on that side and when I tried to straighten the hood by placing a shoe under the tip and applied pressure on the edge midpoint it created that crease. I might have avoided this by placing the shoe/block between hood and body farther down but my 18yo thought process was not too keen.
You may find a very crafty dent remover but the frame under the hood makes it very difficult to undo that bend. I ended up filling and repainting the hood.
I suspect you are spot on as to how your damage occurred...
GL
Regards
 
Good used hoods are not hard to find.... IMO it would be simpler to replace and repaint rather than repair and repaint....or hunt around and find a hood in the same colour as your car.

I doubt one of those paintless dent repair guys could massage that out due to the hood framework in behind it.

SteveC
 
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Good used hoods are not hard to find.... IMO it would be simpler to replace and repaint rather than repair and repaint....or hunt around and find a hood in the same colour as your car.

I doubt one of those paintless dent repair guys could massage that out due to the hood framework in behind it.

SteveC
Ii had the same issue. I made up rods and pushed the crease out from the under side inside the stiffener. Used High Build primer over the repair and is currently on my car.

I repainted in my garage over the winter.






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TonyK.

Grimsby Ontario Canada.
 
Thanks for the replies folks, apparently this type of damage is not that uncommon. You've more or less confirmed my thoughts, but I may end up taking the car to a paintless repair shop and get an opinion anyway. I'll keep my attitude more "cynical" than "hopeful". In the meantime, if anyone knows of a decent hood for sale in the southern Ontario area, keep me in mind.

Beezee
 
Ouch! I agree with Steve. Given that, unless you have the skills of a TonyK, and given the cost in labor of getting a repair, you would be far better just getting a another straight hood and repainting. That looks to be rossa arrancio, which is difficult to color match after aging/fading. I have had similar problems on other vehicles and had precisely that recommendation from a shop that has the skills for the repair but were trying to save me money. Repair is expensive. Just get another hood.
 
Unfortunately I did this to my hood this past weekend. My hood seems to bow upwards where its flush in the front and rear. I tried to be careful at what pressure I used and just tried to give a feel at if reversing the bow was feasible. I didn't notice the crease until I walked away and it caught the light. Now my hood is slowly bowed and contains two creases, one each side.
 
Unfortunately I did this to my hood this past weekend. My hood seems to bow upwards where its flush in the front and rear. I tried to be careful at what pressure I used and just tried to give a feel at if reversing the bow was feasible. I didn't notice the crease until I walked away and it caught the light. Now my hood is slowly bowed and contains two creases, one each side.

For the bowing, did you try adjusting the corner bumpers, turning them clockwise of counter clockwise.? When the latch pulls the center down, there is a lot of adjustment possible. I made the same mistake you did before I figured this out.

Alas, the crease will take filling, and repainting. If you want to try this here is my experience:

I am a beginner in the middle of a bare metal repaint, one panel at a time, For me, this means stripping it,bump out the old dents that appear in the process, metal prep, spray two wet coat of epoxy sealer letting it flash between coats, apply bondo as necessary, coarse sand, apply a guide coat, block sanding (with long blocks, no side pressure), more bondo, block sanding, thinned bondo top coat, block sanding, spray two to four coats of high build primer letting it flash between coats, block sanding, (a respray of high build primer may be necessary in spots), block again, guide coat, then block sanding finer and finer steps finishing with 1200 wet, then base coat and clear coat. This is how I was coached, I sure techniques vary and we have professionals here who know better than I (I am having a pro do the final base and clear coats). My point is that I had no idea of how much work and time it takes, and how it would effect my marriage.

I have no experience with doing part of a panel over existing paint and blending it in, I know pretty good results are possible. Perhaps others can talk about these techniques if you choose to go this direction.

Or, take it to a good body shop. waay easier, and much more costly.

Paul Davock
 
For the bowing, did you try adjusting the corner bumpers, turning them clockwise of counter clockwise.? When the latch pulls the center down, there is a lot of adjustment possible. I made the same mistake you did before I figured this out.

Alas, the crease will take filling, and repainting. If you want to try this here is my experience:

I am a beginner in the middle of a bare metal repaint, one panel at a time, For me, this means stripping it,bump out the old dents that appear in the process, metal prep, spray two wet coat of epoxy sealer letting it flash between coats, apply bondo as necessary, coarse sand, apply a guide coat, block sanding (with long blocks, no side pressure), more bondo, block sanding, thinned bondo top coat, block sanding, spray two to four coats of high build primer letting it flash between coats, block sanding, (a respray of high build primer may be necessary in spots), block again, guide coat, then block sanding finer and finer steps finishing with 1200 wet, then base coat and clear coat. This is how I was coached, I sure techniques vary and we have professionals here who know better than I (I am having a pro do the final base and clear coats). My point is that I had no idea of how much work and time it takes, and how it would effect my marriage.

I have no experience with doing part of a panel over existing paint and blending it in, I know pretty good results are possible. Perhaps others can talk about these techniques if you choose to go this direction.

Or, take it to a good body shop. waay easier, and much more costly.

Paul Davock

Mine are no more than TonyK's above. I wonder if one of the suction style methods would work to "pop" them back into plane. It's minor enough that I might wait it out until I find a shop i trust. Someone that knows what to do could probably fix them in minutes. For me the work might end up being easier finding a new hood and starting from scratch.
After all this, I realized my issue was the frunk (and trunk) seal being too big. I always thought the hood rear contour lines should line up with the windshield frame. Mine didn't so I adjusted the latch tension. What I need is a thinner press on bulb seal. I'll be ordering 27' of this: https://www.steelerubber.com/push-on-seal-70-3854-99.
 
Andrew, first sorry to hear this happened. Sounds like you were being careful but it still distorted. Second, was it bulged across the rear from the left to right sides, or across the side from front to back ends? I ask because I have a bulge on one of mine and wonder if it could also be the seal.

I should also add that I do not believe you will be able to pull it out with a suction method or with a paintless dent repair. But that is just my guess from limited experience with body work.
 
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Andrew, first sorry to hear this happened. Sounds like you were being careful but it still distorted. Second, was it bulged across the rear from the left to right sides, or across the side from front to back ends? I ask because I have a bulge on one of mine and wonder if it could also be the seal.

I should also add that I do not believe you will be able to pull it out with a suction method or with a paintless dent repair. But that is just my guess from limited experience with body work.
Yes i was trying to be careful knowing the weak corners there. I really didn't expect to do any plastic deformation but was just feeling the waters. On my car the rear section of the V sticks up over the window frame by about 3/4 inch. I thought that was standard but always hated it. I saw Paul V's car and how flush his was and wanted to play with the latch. It closes and then pulls down considerably far after closing. Before it just closed and the interior hand locked in the over center position. I removed the seal at the rear edge, side near the latch and it latches with effort.

The gap for the bowing is on the left and right sides like it's bending over the front "axle" so to speak. After I fix the seal I will re-evaluate. I did the hood flexing before I looked at the latch... <brickwall>
 
So it sounds like you had two issues; the bowing on either side, and the raised edge at the rear? I can see how the latch adjustment would help the rear edge. But I don't think it would do anything for the sides bowing. It actually might make that worse if the rear comes down more than the rest of the hood. However a oversized seal might(?) affect both issues (assuming it is oversized on all sides).

I recall several others saying they had bowed sides, and they put a piece of wood under the corner and pushed down on the middle/side to bend it flat - with success after considerable force to actually bend the hood. So I'm quite surprised yours creased so easily. I would not have expected that. But others here are saying similar things, so now I'm not sure what to think.
 
So it sounds like you had two issues; the bowing on either side, and the raised edge at the rear? I can see how the latch adjustment would help the rear edge. But I don't think it would do anything for the sides bowing. It actually might make that worse if the rear comes down more than the rest of the hood. However a oversized seal might(?) affect both issues (assuming it is oversized on all sides).

I recall several others saying they had bowed sides, and they put a piece of wood under the corner and pushed down on the middle/side to bend it flat - with success after considerable force to actually bend the hood. So I'm quite surprised yours creased so easily. I would not have expected that. But others here are saying similar things, so now I'm not sure what to think.

For the crease I am thinking to get a dent suction cup puller thingy. Its feint enough that this just might work. Honestly I havent fully measured the gap around the whole hood. It might just need pulled down at the latch. I won't attempt any changes until the seal comes in and I install it.
 
My hood have same problem, how and when it appeared have no idea, it was small enoght just to bond it up. And yes :D that corner has a lot of bondo on it, so far on the car alltogether about 2kg.
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