Fixing some trail damage

So I was out with my buddied, and figured I would be ok without a pair of sliders for my first *real* expedition in my taco. Well, she held up awesome, but I eneded up with some dmaage on my back panel.

I dont need to fix it to where it looks like new, but I was hoping to just paint over it so it wouldn't rust, and then pop on a pair of sliders to cover up the damage.

Any advice on what is the best way to approach this?

 

Use a block of wood and a hammer to straighten the pinch weld.

Mask the door with tape and paper.

Sand to promote adhesion but not remove all the existing paint.

Spray a coat of "touch up" primer.

Spray a couple coats of body color touch up paint.

Blend the edges.

 

2x4, hammer, touch up paint

 

Yep, that is the best thing to do.

 

Did you buy the touch up paint from the dealer? Or just any red paint?

 

Dealer.

Tell them your paint code and they have it in stock.

Honestly I think it was $5

 

Thanks!

 

Ok after looking at it again, it looks similar to your damage, but I'm not sure what the 2x4 does to help me?. It doesn't seem like I can straighten it out in any way. I took another picture to try and show better the damage and where it is.

 

Ah. That pic shows the dent much better than the first one.

No, you can't pound that out with a block of wood.

Depending on how deep it is, you can either

1. pull it out with a dent puller, then fill with bondo
2. or just fill it with bondo directly
3. or just leave the dent, sand and repaint to protect the metal.

 

this^^

 

The reason I needed a 2x4 was because the top part of the rocker panel was pushed up into my door and pretty much seized my door. You can see the bottom of my door kind of flexing out a bit.

So I had to bang the snot out of the rocker panel so that my door could open and close, and do so without rubbing.

If I were you, I'd just sand and paint the dent.

 

Thanks for the advice. I will just be sanding and repainting as I just ordered my rock sliders tonight so that whole area will be covered anyway.

Any advice on the prep work involved? (grit of sand paper, primer choice etc.)