Spent 3 hours chasing a dent that should've taken 30 minutes

I was working on a 2017 Civic rear quarter panel last Tuesday, just a simple ding from a parking lot hit. Thought I'd knock it out fast, but the metal kept oil canning every time I tried to shrink it. Turned out the previous shop had bondo'd over a crease I couldn't see until I stripped the paint clean. Has anyone else wasted a whole afternoon on a dent that looked easy from the start?

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1 Comment

willow_martin1mo ago

Oh man, I used to think paintless dent repair was pretty straightforward too until I got humbled by a similar situation. I had a customer's Camry door that looked like a simple hail ding but there was so much filler underneath that it took me three hours to get it right. Now I always grab a paint thickness gauge before I even start, saved me from a lot of frustration like that.