Bonneville America Forums Forums Technical Forums General Tech Tank dent repair?

My bike fell over in a gravel driveway, the handlebars turned in and the turn signal put a small round dent on the left side. Has anyone else done this and know if a body person could get any kind of tool inside to pop this out? I haven't found a decent place to go to locally yet.
Or, if anyone has a nice yellow Speedmaster tank for sale, let me know. Thanks,
jef

if the dent is not too old I have heard you can use dry ice . It shrinks the metal and pops the dent out.

In my area, there is a company that specializes in just this kind of small dent repair. I think it is a national chain. DENT PRO'S, or something like that. Look up dent repair in your local yellow pages to see if there is a company near you. Good luck.

Freeze spray is another option.
Put the part in the sun or heat with hair dryer first.
In the case of a tank, drain it first.

I talked to a guy last night who has taken hail dents out of a car hood by putting it in the sun and running cold water on it.
But, a car hood and a motorcycle tank are different problems in a couple of ways (thickness and contour).
I just got done trying heat gun/freeze spray on an old Triumph tank.
No luck.

Definitely worth a try, though.

If the dent isn't real deep or creased, an old trick might do. We used to stuff an innertube in a dented tank (car door etc) and inflate it to pop out dents.

Thanks for all the ideas. As soon as I burn this fuel I'll give some a try.
jeff

Here's an outfit that claims they can perform PDR on a bike's tank.

May want to take a few pictures of the dent and get a quote. Initially won't cost more than time.

BTW, I'm not affiliated or have experience with this business.

Regards,

Tom

I was bored with the bitumen and decided to take the bike offroad. Actually I took a corner wide, and went off road into a grassy area where I dropped the bike at around 15km per hour.

The only damage that can't be fixed easily is the mirror stem scratches and a tank dent due to the turnsignal housing hitting the tank.

What was the final outcome on what you did with your dent. Any other suggestions.

There is a little 20 buck thing at Auto Zone that hot glues a rod to the dent then you screw it out and it pops it. I got mine 1/2 way out that way. Never did get it all the way gone. Tried heat and dry ice but the metal is too strong at the shoulder area of the tank. Tried to PDR guys but they cant reach it do to the frame hump in the middle of the tank. Their tools would not reach far enough in.

You will probably be in body shop mode after playing with it for a while. A body shop may be able tack it to pull it out. Then just touch up and clear it.

They'll pull it out as much as possible and use a little filler to shape it up right. But the whole thing will need paint. Might be cheaper to find a clean used one on ebay. Then sell the lightly dented one to someone who wants a tank for customizing.