Suck out dent on tank?

[Guest]

on each side of my tank there is an indentation and I wonder if this is something I might be able to fix using a suction cup or other method. My guess is the metal is stretch so I would probably just make it worse as currently the paint is not broken at all. It's actually not so noticeable at a glance but too often for me the light catches the wrong way, for example in this snap I took tonight with my phone. In this shot it actually looks worse than it really is. What are my options?



Many thanks,
-Bob

[chef1366]

http://www.thegsresources.com/_forum/showthread.php?t=99549&highlight=dent+king

[dcil]

I've heard dry ice held up to the dent will pull out the dent and shrink the metal. Haven't tried it though. One thing I saw work, accidentally. A friend of mine washed his tank out with water, put the cap on it and welded up a small hole on the bottom. Water to steam, pressure, pop boom. fixed the dent, not his underwear.

[littleroot]

I've heard dry ice held up to the dent will pull out the dent and shrink the metal. Haven't tried it though. One thing I saw work, accidentally. A friend of mine washed his tank out with water, put the cap on it and welded up a small hole on the bottom. Water to steam, pressure, pop boom. fixed the dent, not his underwear.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UUSkwlyDrKw

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y8Aj1tFjoyc


I found these two youtube videos. I might try the dry ice method as I wonder if holding the lighter to the gas tank is a great idea. Yikes!

[Jagir]

push em out from the inside. You won't damage the paint at all. check out "paintless dent removal" on youtube. You would essentially be trying to stretch the metal back into shape.

I have been working on a much deeper dent on an old Kawi tank. At first I used an old set of handlebars and began 'massaging' the edges of the dent. When I pushed too hard, it split the paint, so i learned to be more slow and gentle and push from the edges first and then move into the centre. Later, I found a curved piece of metal that resembles a mountain bike bar end that fits just right.
I don't spend much time on it, just a minute here and there. It's a long process, but its coming along.

[littleroot]

I've heard dry ice held up to the dent will pull out the dent and shrink the metal. Haven't tried it though. One thing I saw work, accidentally. A friend of mine washed his tank out with water, put the cap on it and welded up a small hole on the bottom. Water to steam, pressure, pop boom. fixed the dent, not his underwear.

For some reason my links did not work. Some of what I read is the freeze method via dry ice or other works but the dent will come back if/when the metal gets hot again. Hmmmm

[dcil]

lol never said the welder was a good idea. You should have seen the look on his face when it happened. Priceles lol

[littleroot]

http://www.thegsresources.com/_forum...ight=dent+king

On the large dent (shown in picture) I was able to use the suction cup for my GPS car-mount and pulled it out. But it seems like this area is weakend so I think it will probably push back in with my knee