So, I need some body work and i am pretty well tied up with money. I figured i could do most of the body work, and someone else can do the paint. What i need is some good tips, and or "tutorials" on how to do some good body work. My car can be seen @ Wickedstylz.com under the member section Dan. If you wanna take a look go ahead. I need some Help. Molding of my kit, roof scoop, Striping factory paint, and fixing simple dents and dings. Thanx!

I hear dry ice works really good on minor door and side panel dings...I'm about to try it to mine very soon.

im about to try the dry ice thing for a couple really light dings on each side, as soon as i find out where to go get dry ice over here. let us know how it turns how/works if you get around to it soon, id like to know what to expect. and ill make sure i post up my results on here too. is there some standard place to buy dry ice?

Go to any local place that sells ice-cream to vendors or ice-cream trucks...do a search in your local yellow pages for vendors who carry icecream directly from the major chains of ice cream makers....

That shit is CHEAP too dood. Like $5 for a 10lb block. AND, it has many many other cool uses ;-) But I would get in trouble if I stated MY personal uses for it. Heh

I prefer the 'ole plunger method myself, although I've never used it on my car. HEHE!!

Bondo is quite easy to work with, make sure you mix it right and apply nice very even layers, sanding in between the layers will help to smooth out any imperfections you may have. MAKE SURE that before you paint car, the bondo and molding is perfectly smoothed, bondo shows waves 100x worse when painted. If you can do the bondo, then everything else will be a breeze.

what do u do with the dry ice once you have it? Also If NE one knows good places to get cheap bondo, PAINT, and "show me how to do it" would be helpful too. Thanks.

You wear THICK gloves... (or u will lose ur hands, literally...it will freeze them off....) and constantly keep rubbing the area that has a dent until the ice melts off on the car and outta your hand...the sheer cold factor will suck the dent rite back out...with no dings or flaws...it contracts the metal back to its original shape. I hear of SEVERAL body shops doing this now. ;-)

you hold the ice on the ding and you will hear a pop.

your paint will start chipping afterwards, so i hope you plan on repainting

Your paint only starts chipping if you hold it down on it over and over and over again.

Given he does everything himself besides painting, how much should one expect to pay for a paintjob?

Just to give you an idea. If someone did all the prep work, the paint job inside and out would be around 1600, whereas if the body shop did all the work, it would be 2000 to 2300 depending on the car and kit etc. This is just one example though. Your prices would vary. I would suggest letting a body shop do the prep work unless you really do it good. Like someone mentioned, the bondo can easily end up being wavy even though it looks normal before it is painted. I did all my prep work myself, but had the pros double check to make sure there were no waves or dimples etc. I have one little spot smaller than an eraser head that wasn't perfectly smooth.

marcus, as a body shop dude, what have you heard of the dry ice idea?

>marcus, as a body shop dude, what have you heard of the dry
>ice idea?

I've heard nothing about dry ice but rumors on here (has anyone actually done it themselves?). I think the right way to fix dents is to pull it out and bondo it smooth. If the dry ice works, then won't the metal be a bit weak since it popped in and out? I wonder if it would easily pop back in?

The right one is to fix it professionally and I haven't heard of any body shops using dry ice to pop out dents (although that would be a funny sight to watch hehe).

You guyz r helping me a lot. My estimate for body work molding and paint was (from 2 different places) $3500. TO EXPENSIVE! Are NE of you in cincy or near ohio?


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