Painting fenders

[thirstee]

They are a bit beat up with small dings and dents. Do I hammer them out or use a filler or something? I also would like to remove the struts/braces before I prep. I figure I'll drill out the rivets and reinstall them with screws. Any thoughts, ideas, suggestions? School me!

 

[Markm]

I once used a ziplock baggie full of rice to cushion the fender and a hammer to beat the dents with and it worked great!!!

 

[KOTA]

I once used a ziplock baggie full of rice to cushion the fender and a hammer to beat the dents with and it worked great!!!

What a GREAT idea!

 

[2manybikes]

I once used a ziplock baggie full of rice to cushion the fender and a hammer to beat the dents with and it worked great!!!

Kind of like a poor mans shot bag. And when you're done you can cook up the rice and have some stir fry :lol:
Someone else here turned me on to another trick. I bought a couple of wooden balls from the craft store and I use those as dollys.

 

[Bettleguise]

If you want to go crazy you would heat them up with a torch and tap out the dents, fill in the remaining dings it with solder and then smooth it down with a file and sand paper. The easy way would be just smooth them out as much as you can by hand and fill in the dings with bondo.
Bondo is good but the purist will still make fun of you for using it.

 

[JLarkin]

You're on the right track. You can just grind off the backside of the rivets and punch them through the top. Tap the dents out, fill, block and prime. It just takes time. Or you can send them away and have someone roll out the dents for a reasonable price.