tank dent --&^&%^&^

[slider]

have a dent in top of tank ,about the size of a quarter..any suggestions on best way to fix..maybe new tank??or bondo??or???

[YoungPUP]

Dry Ice.  Should pop out, or try hot glueing a wood dowel rod into place, put the hot glue on the stick, and then stick to the tank before it cools, and then pull like hell.

[Chrome]

Hey Slider. Scott from Talisman has told me that alot of his tank bibs cover dents (like one of my Valks)
and scratches from belt buckles. I would say , just bib it.
Chrome

[Tropic traveler]

Tried the dry ice & heat trick, no dice. This one is going to be a pain so I just put a bullet hole sticker on it. 

[larswlvs]

You could put some of those bullet hole decals around it......just kidding...try the dry ice and hair dryer treatment.1st get it real cold with the dry ice then  warm it quickly with a hair dryer or heat gun, it should pop out.

[Jess from VA]

Ride it around to an auto body shop or three and let them look at it (some won't touch motorcycles), they can probably pull it out, if it's not creased.

There are also kits.
http://www.amazon.com/s/?ie=UTF8&keywords=car+dent+puller&tag=googhydr-20&index=aps&hvadid=8020056459&ref=pd_sl_1j1zf3xjgn_b

Put a tank bib over it (if it's underneath one).

My wife's bike came with a bullet hole decal over a paint scrape.......... really, the scrape looked better than the decal.  Everyone who ever saw it said.... "screwed up your tank did you?" 

[Russell Rice]

find one of the hail repair guys, they might be able to rub it out from the inside

[UTAH INFANTRY]

Now this is all speculation and I heard this from one of my friends.

He said that he fixed a dent like that on one of his old Harleys by a freezing technique. Like he had filled (or a autobody shop) the tank up with fluid, probably water and froze it. The expansion popped that dent right out.

I tried to get a hold of him a minute ago and no dice.

If anyone has heard of something like this let me know, I think that it is pretty interesting.

[CASABROKER]

I'd be careful there's a guy in San Diego see youtube tank dent removal.  I got a dent within 3 days of owning my bike some dumb as kid at a restaurant banged it with the trash can.  Never caught her but i knew that's what happened.  I would rather live with the dent than screw up the paint.  You screw the paint you screw the pooch it will never be the same.  My dent is unreachable for the technique on youtube.  i hardly even notice it now.

[R J]

I used a guy that did dent removal without removing the tank or anything like that.     He went through the fill hole with his little funny looking hammer.   It had a plastic tip on it, and he set there and tapped for about 45 minutes and it went plunk and I defy you to show me where it was.

I can't remember what they call themselves, but Dealers all over the states use them to remove little dents in doors, fenders and etc on used or new cars.   Yes, new cars get them oh crap dings.

They are called something like 'Paintless dent repair'.     

[Dougs2000IS]

Hi.  I do paintless dent repair in SE Wisconsin. I have worked on a few bike tanks. It does take a bit more time and patients to do a tank, because when a dent on dome (TANK) gets pushed in. It becomes much harder to push it out. At least that is my thought. It can be done though. Look online for your local PDR guy. Ask around There are good and some not so good guys. So watch out. The hammering out from the inside seems interesting to me. Never heard of that one. Oh, You should be able to get that quarter dent out for under $50.

[Tropic traveler]

You could put some of those bullet hole decals around it......just kidding...try the dry ice and hair dryer treatment.1st get it real cold with the dry ice then  warm it quickly with a hair dryer or heat gun, it should pop out.

Tried that for at least an hour with no success.
Asked a local dent guy {I worked at a new car dealer at that time} to have a look at it. He said he could probably do it but for what he charges for 1 dent {$25} he could do $100 worth of easy fender & hood dents on a car.
I work at a new car dealer now in a different city so maybe I can find another dent guy tough enough to handle the tank dent.

[DFragn]

Now this is all speculation and I heard this from one of my friends.

He said that he fixed a dent like that on one of his old Harleys by a freezing technique. Like he had filled (or a autobody shop) the tank up with fluid, probably water and froze it. The expansion popped that dent right out.

I tried to get a hold of him a minute ago and no dice.

If anyone has heard of something like this let me know, I think that it is pretty interesting.

That's not a good idea...
Neither with freezing water inside or even pressuring with air.
Why, you may wonder...
Because if you use either method with the tank off the frame the underside will expand more rapidly then the contoured exposed surface and you'll never get the tank remounted around the frame. Unless you care to have to pound/knock the underside expansions back in.

Even worse:
If you do it while mounted to the bike, you'll be wondering why you can't get the doggone tank off as the underside will expand around the frame locking it in place.

[The Anvil]

Now this is all speculation and I heard this from one of my friends.

He said that he fixed a dent like that on one of his old Harleys by a freezing technique. Like he had filled (or a autobody shop) the tank up with fluid, probably water and froze it. The expansion popped that dent right out.

I tried to get a hold of him a minute ago and no dice.

If anyone has heard of something like this let me know, I think that it is pretty interesting.

That is a horrifically bad idea. I've seen stainless steel potable water tanks in airplanes bust right apart from freezing their contents. Your tank will pop like a balloon.

I have a silver dollar sized dent in the top of mine. I don't even notice it anymore. That reminds me of something I should probably start a separate thread on...

[jmann]

+1 on the paintless dent repair. Nephew knocked over a wheelbarrow into my brothers Harley and left a half dollar size dent in the tank from the handle hitting it. Paintless dent repair guy met us at a strip mall on the outskirts of Phx. as we were on our way to the Laughlin River Run and within an hour the dent was gone and you couldn't tell where it had happened. Used the long plastic tipped tools as described above and just slowly worked it out. Think it cost my brother about a $100. Kinda spendy but no more dent. Freezing the tank with a fluid in it seems like a bad idea.

[slider]

guee I will find a dent repair place and see what happens...thanks for the suggestions and feed back==great bunch on here

[tonyfan70]

huh, I guess I'll have to check into other paintless dent guys. I have a dent on the tank of my Magna and I stopped and had a guy look at it. He said the metal on bike tanks is thicker than the sheetmetal on car hoods and doors. Therefore it's harder if not impossible to get the dents out.

Perhaps he misinformed me or didn't want to mess with my tank. Perhaps there is hope after all.