More Toyota assistance - how do you...

... take apart the inside of a door on a Toyota SW?

My lovely Toyota stationwagon got hit by my front gate as I was driving through it, leaving a dent down the side. By great fortune, the paint was not damaged.

It obviously needs to be "popped" out again, but I'm very wary about my Dad doing this. He did it on my Hyundai with great success (a post jumped out and bumped the car [][]), but from that day on, we could not get the window to wind back up successfully, even though inside the door was an incredibly basic set-up. The window just didn't sit straight and it was really, really annoying (especially in the rain ).

By contrast, the Toyota has electric windows, and more technology generally, so I'm worried we'll get the panels etc off, but damage the inner workings. Also, which bit of the panel do you try to take off first?

Never thought to ask on here, until I saw Andrea's question.. any tips?

Otherwise, I'm just driving with a dented door, no $$$ to waste on a car unnecessarily!

Did the gate have third party insurance? [}]

No, nor does it have public liability or contents

It can be very tricky to get the panels off without wrecking something. This didn't used to be the case on older vehicles.

To be honest, I would use a Paintless Dent Removal specialist. These guys have rubber suction cups and all sorts of other gadgets like you wouldn't believe. They can suck out a dent as though it was never there.

One very good company I used a few years back is DENTS PLUS:

Dents Plus - Paintless Dent Removal, NZ Wide Ph. 0800 NO DENTS

Secondly, there is DENT MAGICIAN:

www.dentmagician.co.nz/

It didn't cost me much to get a dent repaired by Dents Plus, I was very pleasantly surprised, but can't remember exactly.

Give either of them a try and I'm sure you will be impressed.

Hmmmmm, thanks Grant, I didn't know that was possible!

Cheers!

Yep there is one in Pukekohe too PG. Haven't used him but have thought about it - but then maybe insurance is there for a reason! Mine was someone in the Manukau shopping centre who didn't own up. Funny that. I have had it for ages but am getting sick of people commenting on it and I am still with the same insurance company so...

Then again - I have an AMAZING friend in Huntly who is a panel beater and you can PM me off line for details. He just did my horse truck. Less than my excess for brilliant work.

DiDi;181984 wrote: ...maybe insurance is there for a reason! Mine was someone in the Manukau shopping centre who didn't own up. Funny that. I have had it for ages but am getting sick of people commenting on it and I am still with the same insurance company so...

Unless the dent is very bad, I would be surprised if the repair cost anywhere near as much as your excess.

So, it's best just to get it fixed and fork out the small fee without bothering to make a claim.

Grant - as you know, I worked in insurance in the not too distant past and I was horrified at what was being charged for "small" dents. I came to the conclusion that we don't have many "real" panelbeaters left in the world because it was easier to replace the whole door (not joking) than fix a dent and that was way more than an excess. Blew my socks off so I am quite cynical as you would expect. Also explains why insurance is so costly!

personally if it were my car I'd have the door panel off and the dent pushed out from the inside myself, but someone elses car is a different matter. Most cars, come the armrest and door latch are removed from the inside are simply clipped on with expanda-bolt style clips. so it's just a matter of prising them of and pulling the plastic sheeting apart over the closest hole in the inner skin to the dent.
I've never had a problem with the windows after fishing around the inside of a door before, and I've done a few, not for dents tho, generally broken lock knobs.

Kiwi303;181997 wrote: personally if it were my car I'd have the door panel off and the dent pushed out from the inside myself...

That's what Dad wants to do too, but he's a bit impatient sometimes, and I think that's what wrecked the Hyundai door. I mean, a Hyundai is really the most simple of cars, so you'd think it wouldn't really be possible to do much damage, but it did and it was a pain in the butt every single day.

My Toyota and I have had a bad run. I hit a post backing in a hurry (emergency in my defence) and did just a little ding but it's right on the corner of the back of the car, and incredibly difficult to fix, so I'm told. But my excess is also high ($750 with the AA) and I just don't have $750 to spare at the moment.

Then a work colleague reversed into my number plate (fixable I know), and then denied it! He's lucky he's old or I'd have had a good stand-up argument with him.

Then the damn gate hit the door. I know I'm lucky there's no paint loss or scratching (it was an old, wet wooden gate, so quite soft), and my Dad suspects it will just pop right out again...

I'd just hate for it to go wrong and end up with another munted car. I never did this as a young driver, all my cars were perfect. But these last two have suffered, having me as a driver.

There is a "dent puller" that sucks to dent out, providing it is not too bad. Super Cheap have them as well. I am sure with your dad's abilities he would be able to sort it out. This would not need the door interior to be romoved.
(we have one here incase you are in our area [])

You beat me Spoook as we ( my son )has one and they work good on modern tinfoil cars:) unless its a crease then noway