[VAC] Re: A/S Skin Repair

[Toby Folwick <toby_folwick@xxxxxxxxx>]

> Toby, is it necessary to remove the interior wall
> paneling to pop out a
> dent or can it be done from the outside? 

Depends on the dent - broad sweeping dents with no
fold can be pulled out with a body shop style suction
cup.  

> I would
> assume that some scrapes
> could be sanded out and polished if not too deep and
> the owner wanted it
> shined up. 

Sanding is tricky, and I wouldn't recommend it - I'd
recommend the slower method of just polishing until
they're not noticeable.  I sanded parts of mine using
papers that were rated in Micron grits (i.e. 3
microns) and it still didn't take out the scratches -
but you need to be careful not to sand-through the
Alclad.  That would be worse than the scratch itself.

there's a slide show on my site where I sanded a dome
that was severely pitted, then brought it back up.

http://www.airstream-bohemia.com/journal/page1.html

it wasn't that time consuming, but in hindsight it was
costly because I was working my way through the
dark...

> I think if I were going to repair/replace
> the front belly pan
> I would put in a heavier gauge aluminum that
> wouldn't dent up so easily
> from road debris. 

that's what I'll be doing, but I won't be going too
much heavier than what is already there...

Toby 2029