Deep scratch smallish dent

[Killagorilla102]

Well dudes I fucked up. Made this little mistake unloading her from the truck.

Anyways a little out of my depth in the paint/dent removal department. She doesn’t need to be perfect cause she spends quite a bit of time down dirt roads and what not but definetly want to get rid of this glaring reminder of my stupidity. Try to pop it out a little and touch up paint? A little body filler and paint? In a panic I purchased some scratches happen HD vivid black paint. Anyways any help would be much appreciated.

[Tattooo]

Try to pop it out a little and touch up paint? A little body filler and paint? In a panic I purchased some scratches happen HD vivid black paint. Anyways any help would be much appreciated.

Man I hate that happened, but that's not just a Deep scratch or a smallish dent......... That's in a very hard/strong spot your not just going to pop it out...... You should be able to save the emblem but that part of the stripe is gone....

Your not going to fix it with a touch up brush and it look good at all.......

I think you should seek out a professional...........

Best of luck.......

[Tattooo]

By the way it looks like it has bondo in it already....... Take a few pics from other angles.....

[Killagorilla102]

Will do when I get back home.

[seaking]

Definitely a bondo job bud been there. Find a good guy you should be able to get it done, decal and everything (have to find one on ebay or somewhere) for about $200-$300 cash. Shooting any paint (friend cost) is $50 minimum. Or try to find a left side tank, keep your eyes open.
Painting black sucks, lots of prep, it's too deep to pull with a non-marring tool (a small dent say hail damage), even a weld puller would pull the surrounding area out making it hard to hide, I'd go with the stronger fiberglass embedded bondo and just pretend it never happened. You get someone good the only way you'll be able to tell is when you pull the gascap and see some primer or a paint lip. MAYBE really deliberately looking at decal placement. If you don't want to address it? Put some stickers on it or something, ductape.

I have prepped my fuckups and that's why I say $50 to shoot paint, he's nice enough to let me pay for paint material only. My advice is, buy good product--no rustoleum primer or paint, it has fish oil in it. And if you can feel it, it's gonna show up in paint. Use the back of your fingers if your tips are worn off. Clean before you prep, I wash then use alcohol and haven't had any trouble. Honestly you're getting your money's worth if someone will do it for $300.

[markwade74]

I say ride it as is. Chicks dig scars

[Guest]

it might be cheaper & easier to find a good tank with the same paint but not dented, if it's a stock paint job....

[golfish]

That just sucks. I think we all have made a mistake like that..
Maybe but one of those bullet hole decals on it until you can get it done right. I know it sounds corny....

[Tattooo]

That's exactly why I don't put any of my bikes in a truck or on a trailer.......

Unless it's in boxes and I just bought it.......

[docmel]

Yeah, That dent will need body work, and the entire tank will need to be painted. Paint jobs, just for the tank, is sky high nowadays

Try Craigslist and EGAY. Sometimes you can find a complete OEM tank for a decent price

[Nottimportant]

We had a trick we used when motocrossing in the 70s before everything turned to plastic. That dent looks kind of gouged so it may not work but might be worth a try and don't cost nothin. We would take off the petcock n plug or cap the hole. Get a small piece of metal and a hose clamp to cap the hole you put the gas in. Fill tank with water, cap it, clamp it tight, and put it in the freezer. The water expands when it turns to ice and will pop out alot of dents. It don't fix creased metal but will pop out dents

[Tattooo]

We had a trick we used when motocrossing in the 70s before everything turned to plastic. That dent looks kind of gouged so it may not work but might be worth a try and don't cost nothin. We would take off the petcock n plug or cap the hole. Get a small piece of metal and a hose clamp to cap the hole you put the gas in. Fill tank with water, cap it, clamp it tight, and put it in the freezer. The water expands when it turns to ice and will pop out alot of dents. It don't fix creased metal but will pop out dents

That's a real good way to destroy a good tank. If it doesn't bust at the seam it will distort the tank. People don't do it unless you have another tank to use when you through that one away.

[confab]

Since we're bringing this thread back.. When I painted cars, a hinge buckle with no access in the back would be a prime candidate for a pull tab.

Weld a piece of sheet metal in the deep part of the buckle and put some tension on it with a come-a-long or whatever you have laying around. (Doubt you have a frame rack just sitting there waiting to be employed) and do some off dolly hammering to raise the center back up and out.

(A stud gun works too, but for deep buckles they don't really adhere well enough and it is yet another special tool you probably don't have just laying about.)

of course, in the case of a tank of any type, you need to prep it for welding first or you could have bigger problems trying to fix it than you do now.

[Dougtheinternetannoyance123]

Using a freezer to pop out a dent and compressed air as well are stupid myths that refuse to die! No matter how often its explained people recycle that BS like its a great idea.

Wrote out many explanations WHY NOT, But simplist is,, EVERYTHING Butt the dent will pop out, seams, curves, flanges,, the dent is stretched and compressed and thus, on a hardness scale the toughest part of the sheetmetal so thus is the LAST thing will move.
I have seen a lot of people ruin salvageable tanks doing this.

[Dragstews]