This is my son's BA XR8.I have decided to have a go at fixing the dent in the rear door.I'm a bit concerned due to it being painted that Toxic colour.It will be almost impossible to match I think.But he needs it fixed so he can get a place of his own.Once the door is fixed I will also be fitting a new clutch.
I'll be doing this while I'm on holidays at Xmas so I thought I would start a thread and show the progress so that if anyone is thinking of tackling a similar job they can see it can be done by someone with no training.

Didn't that car need a new clutch like a year ago? I think I remember it.

Yep.Long story but it is insured now so I will fix it.

should be able to goto a paint supply shop(there is a protec place on welshpool rd, just before the leach hwy lights heading east) and get a 1lt can of that mixed up don, its non metalic duco so should be easy to match in IIRC.

Yep Gav.Went to Premier paints in Malaga yesterday and picked up all the paint I need for the job.It's clear over base so it will match OK it's just the level of oxidisation in the clear coat that may cause a drama.If I need to I can put a bit of clear over the area around the door and blend it in i bit.Cost $197 for the gear.

make sure to take plenty of pics

Will do.Check the pic in the first post for the start point.I pulled the rubber strip off today to lay it flat to straighten it and half the dent popped out.

how did he manage such a dent

Lost control on a roundabout and hit one of those yellow pedestrian railings.
Should be getting started on this repair this week.

good too see that the paint didnt cost arm and leg, premier isnt too bad at all thats where i bought the paint for my old EA ie: plain white tinter.

back then mind you wasnt all that long ago(3yrs) they didnt have much in the way of colour charts which was bit wierd.

Started this today.
First thing I noticed was how thin the BA doors are.Took the trim and stripes off and found a little surface rust under the stripes.This was caused by the paint cracking in the crash and moisture getting in.



This is a side veiw of the damage.



First thing to do was straighten the bottom edge of the door to get a baseline to work off.



Woking slowlt with a hammer that resembles a meat tenderizer we stretched the dent out.



All the dents were taken out as much as possible to minimise the amount of bog used.



When you get a high spot you use a pointy hammer and strike the panel on the edge of the dolly behind it.With a low spot you use the tenderiser and a flat dolly and hit it in the middle.

Next the paint was removed and final panel beating was done.This big dent proved to ba a problem.The metal had fatigued to a point where it would pop in and out.To fix it we used an oxy to heat a few spots and cool rapidly with water.This has the effect of putting the strength back into the metal so it doesn't pop.Unfortunately this left a few high spots that couldn't be removed.Each time we knocked them down another spot would come up.In the end we beat the whole ares down a little and used bog to fill it.Not as good as getting it flat first but we only needed a couple of mills of bog so not too bad



The first layer of bog is a rough fill.We put heaps on and as it starts to go off sand most of it off leaving some low spots but a fairly flat panel.Always use a long speed file to get the panel as flat as possible.The longer the sanding tool the better the chances of getting it flat.



Once the base layer is done we just used a thin smear to fill any low points.



With the panel looking pretty flat we hit it with some highfill 2 pac primer.


I will leave it for a couple of days to settle then start the final sanding in preperation for painting.
Just a discalaimer.I am not a panel beater and while this technique works for me I have no idea if it is correct..

looks pretty freaking good to me Don

yeh looks quite textbook don.

good effot i say, the boy better buy you a good fathers day pressy or me and schnoods will lets just say "pay a visit" lol

Thats a great effort, looks like its gonna end up perfect.