I don't want to talk about it, but….
Shortly after final assembly of Project 39, my personal '93 VFR750, in an instant of inattention, I dropped the bike in the shop. It landed on a carpeted area which mitigated some damage, but the right handlebar moved rearward at impact and dented the freshly-painted fuel tank.
This is not acceptable, so I showed my painter, Steve, and after a suitable, well-deserved scowl from him, he determined that paintless dent removal was not an option (no interior accessibility) and he would need to repaint. He's working on another task for me right now, so I took the tank back home and decided to try out an inexpensive tool I'd seen on YouTube — a dent puller kit.
Shortly after final assembly of Project 39, my personal '93 VFR750, in an instant of inattention, I dropped the bike in the shop. It landed on a carpeted area which mitigated some damage, but the right handlebar moved rearward at impact and dented the freshly-painted fuel tank.
This is not acceptable, so I showed my painter, Steve, and after a suitable, well-deserved scowl from him, he determined that paintless dent removal was not an option (no interior accessibility) and he would need to repaint. He's working on another task for me right now, so I took the tank back home and decided to try out an inexpensive tool I'd seen on YouTube — a dent puller kit.
Click on image for Amazon link These ingenious gadgets use hot glue applied to little tabs of various sizes & shapes, which are glued to the dent and then pulled straight out with a special puller attached to the tabs. The kit also supplies a light-weight hammer & driver with various-shaped plastic tips to drive down any raised spots resulting from the pulling action.
With nothing to lose, I began repeatedly glueing/pulling/tapping, watching in amazement as the dent slowly disappeared. Now, this technology is obviously meant for the thin sheet metal used on modern cars, not heavy gauge motorbike fuel tanks. The glue has only so much holding power, and would often pop off at its limit. I probably glued/pulled 30 times before deciding I'd progressed as far as possible on this dent. In the end, I think I got the dent to about 90% removed, but the metal remains a bit "lumpy." Amazingly, the initial impact and all the pulling/tapping never affected the paint, which remains perfectly intact. I will likely still have the tank repaired/repainted, but at least I made the job quicker and easier for my painter. I do think this device would be very effective for automotive use.
I tried to photograph the final result, but the camera doesn't pick it up well. If the bike's overall presentation was of average quality, I would accept this repair, but that's not the case with #39.
(click on an image to enlarge)
With nothing to lose, I began repeatedly glueing/pulling/tapping, watching in amazement as the dent slowly disappeared. Now, this technology is obviously meant for the thin sheet metal used on modern cars, not heavy gauge motorbike fuel tanks. The glue has only so much holding power, and would often pop off at its limit. I probably glued/pulled 30 times before deciding I'd progressed as far as possible on this dent. In the end, I think I got the dent to about 90% removed, but the metal remains a bit "lumpy." Amazingly, the initial impact and all the pulling/tapping never affected the paint, which remains perfectly intact. I will likely still have the tank repaired/repainted, but at least I made the job quicker and easier for my painter. I do think this device would be very effective for automotive use.
I tried to photograph the final result, but the camera doesn't pick it up well. If the bike's overall presentation was of average quality, I would accept this repair, but that's not the case with #39.
(click on an image to enlarge)
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