So this dent has been on my W123 as long as I've owned it. I've tried to "push" on it with a prybar from the inside of the door with no real results. Obviously it needs professional body work, or possibly just a new door. But I'd like to get it looking presentable... meaning just getting the major dent out. What would you guys do?

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'83 300D - 261K | '97 Jetta - 209K | '63 Rivera - 22K | '86 C30 Dually - 105K

WTB: W123 Passenger doors - preferably Brown!

WOW. That's a deep dent. You can't push that baby out. The metal has stretched, and cannot be put back to where it was.

To to the pick-n-pull, get a new door, strip it down, get it painted. Easy peasey.

Sincerely,

Packman.

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83 240D - 4 speed manual - Manilla Beige
189K miles, Tachometer mod, cool wooden shift knob from PeachParts, CocoMats, Original factory paint, manual windows, manual sunroof. Starting to add AudioWrap to this car too!

Wonder if you can do the old torch trick that a lot of body shops did in the old days to remove hail damage.....heat the outside of the dent up with a torch, until the metal pops back into place....metal has a memory....I would also think you could push it out....I pushed one out on my fender that looked like that...

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the problem with the dent is where the mirror connects, you have three creases... to pop it out, you would need to hammer, not pry on the center of each crease, and gently get it to go back where it's supposed to be... you will also need a plastic coated dolly to support the metal as it goes back.
I'd go the replacement door route if it were me... (of course, I've got 7 doors in my garage...)

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a decent bodyshop should be able to pull that out, smooth out the creases with body filler, and paint the door. The steel is thick and good quality, so they can do a lot with the stock panel

what color is this car? seems like a really light brown, is it the lighting? I don't know if ive ever seen this color, looks cool. Can you post a full pic?

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Haha, not going to scrap the car for a dent. Was more just looking at popping it back, knowing that there will be wrinkles, etc. As long as the gaping dent isn't so gaping, it would seem it would be less noticeable.

I agree on the door swap being the easiest... its too bad this color is hard to find (at least where I'm at). If I swapped in a different color door, I would just paint the whole car, since it needs it anyway. My wife is in love with this car.... so am I, but debating on picking up another one and transferring parts, or fixing up this one.

Not sure what color, here is a full pic:



****Edit - haha, just looked at my signature! Been a while since I've posted here.

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'83 300D - 261K | '97 Jetta - 209K | '63 Rivera - 22K | '86 C30 Dually - 105K

WTB: W123 Passenger doors - preferably Brown!

It isn't Manganese Brown.

Mine is that colour it is darker and metallic.



Anyway for the problem.

As you might go down the new door route I'd try the following first.

If you can't get suitable access from the inside of the door - get hold of a slide hammer / dent puller...

...and drill a hole about here =>



(Small print - some extra pictures at different angle may provoke a different suggestion!)

Attached Thumbnails

 

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1992 W201 190E 1.8 171,000 km - Daily driver
1981 W123 300D ~ 100,000 miles / 160,000 km - project car stripped to the bone
1965 Land Rover Series 2a Station Wagon CIS recovery therapy!
1961 Volvo PV544 Bare metal rat rod-ish thing

I'm here to chat about cars and to help others - I'm not here "to always be right" like an internet warrior



Don't leave that there - I'll take it to bits!

wow, thats a cool color. Ive never seen that, like a hot chocolate brown. Defintiely not maganese, and I had a dark UPS type brown 240, and its not that either, like a mix of both.

Can you see what the paint code is?

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I love that color. Too bad it isn't more common...

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Maganese brown? I too would go for the replacement door route.

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I thought maganese was a lot darker than that, but you are probably right

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The best thing is to scrap the car.

Or you could do what I recently did with my pickup. Go to PnP and grab a door, Unless you have paint skills, drop it off at MAACO (or similar) and have them paint it BEFORE you screw it on. That way they can spray the jambs all the way around (called "jambing). You'll need to be careful when reinstalling a painted door but I've done many and it works fine. Then once the door is hung you're done.

Be VERRY careful when you prepare to close the door for the first time as this is where you're most likely to rub the new paint on something and skin it up.

That door might be fixable but it would take careful handling and some metal shrinking. This is stuff for skilled hands. After your PnP door is on and that project is done you might want to tackle the repair project as a skill-builder. Always good to learn new stuff and this way if it's not perfect it doesn't matter.

Dan

I had door damage on my signature car that was less than half of what you have. The local body shop wouldn't touch it, get another door, which I did. I had it painted before I installed it and it was a perfect color match (astral silver), but of course, they couldn't match the crazed finish on the rest of the car. When they slowed down for the summer, I stripped all the trim off the car and had it repainted.

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'83 300D, 126K miles.

404 Milan brown?



Picture from MBeige here =>

What color name and code is this? - Mercedes-Benz Forum

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1992 W201 190E 1.8 171,000 km - Daily driver
1981 W123 300D ~ 100,000 miles / 160,000 km - project car stripped to the bone
1965 Land Rover Series 2a Station Wagon CIS recovery therapy!
1961 Volvo PV544 Bare metal rat rod-ish thing

I'm here to chat about cars and to help others - I'm not here "to always be right" like an internet warrior



Don't leave that there - I'll take it to bits!

Look for a paintless dent repair company in your area.

They have specialized tools and I have seen some impressive before and after pics of what really good guys can do. Most of their business is from used car dealers.

They can reach awkward places with their specialized tools.

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Mac
2002 e320 4matic estate│1985 300d│1980 300td
Previous: 1979 & 1982 & 1983 300sd │ 1982 240d

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