Wavy Roof!

[RichardLSU]

My recently aquired festiva has got tons of dents in the roof, so much that it just looks wavy. Do I just get under there with a rubber mallet and start beating them back out or what? Its about the only body work I know how to do:tongue5:! The passenger side has a gash up the side by the door and in front of the rear tire. Interestingly enough I've seen the same damage on many different festivas... coincidence??? ANYWAYS I know that I'll have to have a body shop take care of that but I try to save money where I can. Is anybody else having a problem similar to mine? The metal just seems so thin I'm afraid to do anything to it!

[miami man]

what ever you do do not take it to an drivethrough car wash because the dryer put a dent in my roof when the force of the air was turned on. i heard a loud pop sound and i cringed.

[Hot_Wheels]

I use to do paintless dent repair and have the same problem as you, so heres some inight the festiva is a hard car to fixs the panles back to straight because the metal is very thin and stretches once the metal stretches its hard to get it to shrink so you have to take extra metal and kind of blend it in with the rest. One thing you can try is to first drop your head liner, once you do that i think you will see 3 or 4 support bars running from side to side, find your self a large thin spatula, (not the angles one but like a large icing knife, its long, thin and wide,) take the spatula heat it with a torche and slide it in between the roof and the supports, the heat will allow you to cut the glue and seperate it from the supports. some times when you get dents in hoods or roofs the metal will want to return in place but these supports are glued and stopping the metal from returning back. if you need more pictures or info ill get it for you. once i cut my supports it helped a little but i still had some waves which one of the veterian techs tried to blend it but we wherent able to do to much the metal was a little to stretched. to fix the rest i will probably just drop in a sun roof.

[93SOHC]

I have the same issue but mine is worse cause somebody made a "make-shift" roof rack is its beat to all hell. bang out the big ones as best as you can and use some 3M Icing spot putty to make it all flush again. My car has a ton of dings and that stuff works great!

[Levitan]

I would think that the low oxygen torch then dry ice would pop those "hail" dents out.

[RichardLSU]

I've heard of the dry ice trick, does that really work?

And yeah, I could fill my car up with puddy but I'd rather just have strait metal, even if it does cost extra.

[RichardLSU]

And Hotwheels: Pics would definitely help. Thanks!

[GenevaDirt]

Put in a Fun Top....almost no roof to worry about denting.

[Levitan]

Yea, it works. Saw it done back in the day. Use an oxy/acet torch, I think, minus the oxy. Then lay a rag that has ice wrapped in it on the hot spot. Shrinks the metal. My 2 cents would be to research Google and document and photo everything from your project. for ppl from ff.com to use in the future.

I was just thinking, one of those dent puller guns from Harbor Freight or the equivalent. Looks like a toy gun, welds little rods onto the metal, then use a puller to pull the dent. Cut the lil' rods off, grind smooth, then Bondo.

No matter what, you are going to have filler, I'm sure. I believe the industry standard for for acceptable thickness is 1/8th inch thick layer of filler. New cars have filler in them.

I've heard of the dry ice trick, does that really work?

And yeah, I could fill my car up with puddy but I'd rather just have strait metal, even if it does cost extra.

[RichardLSU]

A funtop would be GREAT but I have no idea where to begin looking for one. It really would solve all my problems AND look good. Although, I wonder how much structural rigidity is compromised.

I know what guns your talking about with the little rivets. I'm weary about using one of those since the metal is so thin. Might end up doing more harm than good, plus it might just make a bunch of little spikes in my roof instead!

I think I'll try the oxy-torch and dry ice method first.

And I will for sure be documenting my project. I'm doing something similar with a 300SD over on mercedesshop.com. I'm going to be parking my diesel at the beginning of next year to start on my festy. Just doing my homework right now.

[TrueBoolean]

http://www.webastoshowroom.com/400info.html

this is the only funtop I've found so far

[RichardLSU]

After poking around for about an hour I found this: http://www.streetbeatcustoms.com/199...tops-Sunroofs/

let me know what ya'll think.

[RichardLSU]

BUMP, anybody ever heard of that roll-top company?

[25Horseplay]

A company called Webasto makes a funtop.