Got a call to fix a hail dent on a hood and the paint cracked when I started pulling

Tbh, it was on a black Honda Civic at a shop in Dayton. The dent was small but deep, right on a body line. I set up my glue pull kit, got the tab on, and started the pull. Honestly, I heard a tiny pop and saw a hairline crack shoot out from the dent. My heart sank. I stopped right away, heated the area with my heat gun on low to relax the paint, and let it cool. Then I switched to a low-profile dent lifter from the underside, working it super slow. It took me like an extra hour, but I got the dent out without making the crack worse. After that, I just feathered the crack, primed, and spot-painted. Has anyone else had paint just give up on a pull, and what's your go-to fix?

2 comments

2 Comments

garcia.rowan7d ago

Honestly, I've found that if the paint cracks on a pull, the metal was probably already stressed past its limit. My move is to stop and drill a tiny hole for a screw puller from the start.

amy_murphy857d ago

Remember watching my neighbor try to pull a dent from his fender with just a suction cup. He kept going after the clear coat spider-webbed, ended up needing a whole new panel. Sometimes you just have to know when to switch tools.