Question for you body & fender guys.... Options

[914werke]

Back in the day dent repair often involved drilling a bunch of holes in
an area to pull with a slide hammer or such then bondo'ing over to finish
If you are refinishing these areas now, either blasting or DA'ing that area clean
...do you bother to weld up all those holes?

[rick 918-S]

The only place in the country that is dry enough to squeege body filler through open holes is in the western states. I bought a few Cali cars that have had this method of repair done. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/screwy.gif) If we even thought about drilling holes in panels and leaving them open with a body filler "wick" hangin out the back side we would be setting ourselves up for failure. moisture would soak the filler in no time.

I never drill a hole in a panel. I will go to great lengths to work the damage without drilling and causing heat damage to a panel. If not done with the utmost care, welding can warp a panel and or harden the panel making the fine work diffecult to complete.

I've spent an hour or more making a special tool to avoid this on many occasions. I have special shortened body hammers and very short homemade bullseye hammers for bumping out hard to reach damage. I have a stud gun but very seldom do I use it. Infact I think my son borrowed it out to a friend. I'm sure I will never see it again. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/dry.gif)

Drilling holes is not the worse thing. Sometimes you have no choice. The most important part of the end result of the repair is to clean burnt paint off the back side of the welded hole, prep the metal and prime and seal it for rust prevention. Even if it's bomb can enamel where it's hard to reach or see. Your repair will last as long as the rest of the car if you take a few extra minutes to get it right.

BTW: Marks photo of the 365 is a classic example of the correct use for a stud welder. There is no way to get behind the nose panel to finesse out a dent.

If the dent is large enough you would cut the nose off, hammer out the panel, weld it back in and blast the welds clean to finish. There are many methods. No one is more right than another. Just think about the work long term and you will be fine.