Vent: Spent 3 hours at a local shop last Friday watching a rookie mess up a quarter panel

Stopped by Joe's Body Works in Phoenix to pick up some supplies and saw a new guy trying to hammer out a quarter panel on a 2018 Civic. He was using way too heavy a hammer and just kept making the dent worse, had to step in before the shop foreman lost it. Took me 20 minutes to show him how to work the metal with a shrinking hammer and dolly. Anyone else deal with greenhorns who think brute force is the answer?

3 comments

3 Comments

diana5121mo ago

Brute force is just gonna make you buy a new quarter panel.

avery_flores171mo ago

Hold up @diana512, is it really that serious? I've seen guys beat on quarter panels with a hammer and dolly and get stuff looking decent enough. What's the worst that happens, you mess up and then you still need a new panel?

charles_mitchell1mo ago

Ha, yeah but what about using a porta-power? Ive seen guys push dents out from the inside without even touching the paint. If you tape up the edges and go slow you can get real good results. Way cheaper than a new panel and you dont gotta deal with body filler either.