Ideas to fix my tailgate

Last weekend I managed to uncouple my trailer, got distracted and lowered the tailgate, then shifted some weight on the trailer and the tongue gave the tailgate a good whackin'.

Any creative ideas to cover up the scratches? Body shop wants $770 to redo the whole deal. Paintless dent place says he can do it for $200. There's only one dent (right under the handle) that I think I can push out from the back. The rest are scratches/gouges in the paint. I'm thinking a vinyl decal or "racing stripe" like this:

All of the damage is above and below the handle. The rest is dirt and water marks.


Anyone with some smooth photoshop skills want to give me some ideas to consider? Just no unicorns and rainbows, please.

 

You can maybe see it better from this angle:

 

Get ready for the ole 'it adds character'

Sucks man, bet you won't do that again. But I wouldn't worry about it...

 

Personally I'd probably just leave it alone and use it. It's a truck.

If I wanted it kinda better, I'd fix the dent and refinish the gate with a 'close' color from www.monstaliner.com.

If I wanted it all purdy again, I'd find a more reasonable body shop. (I got a whole passenger door (new Toyota replacement) and a repair on the access door for only about 2x that).

I'd de-badge the gate, remove the handle and interior hardware for them, take them the gate and have them correct the dent and paint, then do the reinstall myself. Should be no need to 'blend' into the fenders, as 1) the paint is still pretty new 2) the taillights break the 'connection', so old and new paint adjoin just a couple of inches above and below.

 

As a PDR tech ....don't touch it yourself...if you choose to go PDR route...best let them have at it without creating more work/damage .... Countless times if the customer would have just left the dent alone it would have been a cleaner repair....just my .02

 

While I concur with that regarding the dent itself, how can this be a PDR job? The paint is clearly broken.

Why bother removing the dent if the finish isn't corrected?

 

I let my daughter borrow my truck to move and it came back with slightly worse damage. She backed into something with the gate down. At the time my truck was 6 years old, if it had been 2 years newer I'd have fixed it. Two years older and I'd have never given it a thought. But at the time I did look around for a used tailgate in the same color. I found several in the $200-$250 range, but they all needed painting to match. If I'd found one at that price painted white I'd have bought it and just put in on. Never did run across one in white and that was almost 3 years ago. Don't even notice it anymore.

 

The most amazing thing to me was the fact that I have that $30 Jimmi Jammer device on my tailgate and the trailer tongue knocked the tailgate clean off. Straightened the Jimmi Jammer right out. Not impressed. Tailgate was hanging by the camera wire.

So no vinyl racing stripe or giant Punisher skull to cover the middle?

 

You'd be surprised how gentle a great PDR tech can be without further damaging the paint....if the dent is removed all you need is some color matching touchup paint....no need to repaint the whole tailgate.

It's really all customer preference.... If the OP is looking for a %100 fresh off the production line ...then fix damage (or replace tailgate)...then paint to match....If not then there are plenty of options out there

 

If you wanna go that route....maybe your favorite sports team magnetic logo...Vikings?...gophers? Twins? Timberwolves?... Prolly all have some sort of car decal....Fathead maybe?.....

...P.s. I don't really know if you like sports ...or any from MN for that matter ...worth a shot tho

 

I am a sports fan...just not enough to want a logo. I wish I could do a really big version of this in the middle but I think the handle in the middleof the forehead would look goofy.

I just want to cover the scratches and seal up the metal.

 

Maybe that exact size.... Try a local vehicle wrap company and see if they can hook you up with something

 

I had 2 similar dents on the tailgate and the PDR guy was able to fix them and it looks perfect.

I even had a pretty bad one on the cab corner from being hit by a shopping cart. He was able to fix that too.

As long as no paint is missing, a PDR guy can be amazing.