Hi guys,
The bonnet flew up on my son's Impreza last night and smashed the wind screen and left two dents (no apparent creases) in the roof just behind the top of the windscreen, he's fine by the way.
He has been told by a local body shop guy to get his car booked in for repair as soon as possible as the longer he leaves it the harder it will be to pull these dents out.
I'm sorry, and I admit it's been a long time since I attended a physics class, but this has an unusual aroma from where I'm standing. Pardon me but it smells like bull****.
Am I right or does bent metal, that isn't going to be subject to further work hardening/unusual stresses, "set for life" if not corrected ASAP.
Please correct me before I let my ignorance make a fool of me.
Cheers,
Gene Stevo

 

Sounds strange to me - I could understand a scratch/chip going rusty but a dent isnt going to do anything else

 

I can't come up with any reason why they would have said this; however, I am off to our local trusted bodyshop later today to pick up an S5, so I'll ask the dent technician for some advice and report back.

 

from what i can recal, its called "metal memory"

 

Isn't that a term that refers to new technologies that can arrange atoms in such a way that if a dented panel is subjected to either heat or current it is able to instantly pop back into its original shape? I have never heard of this effect for standard metals/panels, only newer alloy technologies?

 

yup. have heard of the metal memory theory. the earlier you can repair the dent, the better chance there is of removing the dent to near perfect. all depends how bad the dent is though. when metal is dented it tends to stretch so wouldn;t go back completely. there are ways round this though. some involve heating and shinking the metal. not ideal if you don't want to fork out for a respray and the amount of time it takes to have done. it's a very hard art to perfect. hence why a lot of body shopy knock the dent out as much as possible and then slap a layer of filler on.

 

What year Imp ?
How much to repair ?

If you trawl ebay there are some real bargain bonnets to be had. I picked up a mint 555 ally bonet for £82, no need of a respray as my car is 555 blue.