So you come out of the mall and someone has pushed a shopping cart against your car door, leaving an ugly scratch or an even uglier dent. A red car has banged the side of your car with a door — and you know it was a red car, because there is red paint on your white car.
You’re driving down the road, and the car in front throws up a piece of gravel that chips your windshield. Or you reverse out of the garage and catch the edge of the front bumper on something, ripping it half off the car, leaving you unable to drive anywhere.
Some say you can pull out a dent with a bathroom plunger, but there’s a better way to do it.
These are all little irritating things that look ugly and can turn nasty. A scratch can rust, and the chip on your windshield might spread until you have to replace it. A half-broken bumper hanging down means you can’t drive somewhere to have it replaced, and do you know what a tow truck costs?
Here are some hacks to lose the scratch, prevent rust, maybe save the windshield, or fix your bumper so you can at least drive somewhere to get your vehicle fixed. The scratch or nick hacks might not always work, but if you’re careful, they won’t make the problem worse. The broken bumper hack definitely works. I have used it to at least allow me to drive my car. Some say you can pull out a dent with a bathroom plunger, but there’s a better way to do it.
These hacks are to save you money and hassle when you use them to fix minor problems. There are no guarantees they will work, but they might. The first thing is to work slowly and carefully, and stop if you think it won’t work, or when you realize the fix can make the problem worse.
1
Buff out minor scratches
Toothpaste to brighten your day
I am referring to minor scratches, those irritating scuffs or nicks that have damaged the clear coat but not penetrated the car’s enamel paint. Teeth-whitening toothpaste is a gentle abrasive compound, designed to clean your teeth without damaging the enamel coating. With this in mind, I’m talking about toothpaste that is normally white, not the blue gel.
First, clean the area with soapy water to remove all grit, then dry thoroughly. Dab a small amount of toothpaste onto a soft cloth, or even onto your finger. Gently rub the toothpaste back and forth along the scratch, or in a circular motion for a larger scuff. Wash off with water, and repeat until the scratch is gone, or at least less visible.
If the scratch doesn’t come out after about three tries, stop, and either leave it or pay to have it fixed. As long as you don’t overdo it, you may at best have fixed the problem, or at worst, tried and failed without causing more damage.
2
Seal deeper scratches to prevent rust
Nail polish can save the day
When a scratch is really deep, when you can see metal underneath or think it may have gone through the enamel paint layer, your problem is not getting rid of the scratch, but preventing rust. Rust forms when moisture oxidizes metal, and it happens quicker when the metal is contaminated by grit, dirt, or salt.
Clean the scratch thoroughly with soapy water, rinse off the soap, and dry the area as much as you can. Gently apply the clear nail polish to the scratch, using only as much as you need to cover the damage. It should harden in a clear lacquer, which will protect the damaged area from rust. Some people use colored nail polish for this, but it’s best to first paint a swatch of cardboard and let it dry to ensure the color matches.
Check the area frequently for rust — it will manifest as small bubbles under the paint. If that happens, have it fixed as soon as you can.
3
Chipped windshield
Haul out the nail polish and hope for the best
It normally goes ‘crack’ and a small white spot appears on your windshield. It’s generally a small piece of gravel thrown up by the car in front of you. You know when you take your car for a service and the mechanic notices a couple of chips on the glass, and they can fix them for only 50 bucks each? It’s like that.
The thing is, you don’t know if the chip will spread and cause cracks that will require a new windshield, or stay as little nicks until you sell the car. You can pay $50 to fix the crack, or you can leave it.
Alternatively, you can reapply the clear nail polish and hope for the best. Professionals who repair nicks like this will tell you nail polish doesn’t work, but many people still swear by it. I really don’t know either way; I just clean, dry, and polish, and hope for the best.
4
Ripped bumper
At least drive to the body shop
When you back out of a tight garage door, it’s easy to catch the edge of your bumper and rip it half off. So you are left with this piece of splintered plastic hanging on the road, which means you can’t drive your car to have it repaired. But you don’t want to rip the rest off, in case you cause more damage, but you have to drive your car.
Get a pack of longish cable ties, preferably UV-resistant. You may need an awl or even a pointy knife to make holes through the plastic bumper. Look for anchor points in the car’s body, make holes in the plastic bumper — you’ll need to replace it eventually anyway. Thread the ties through the holes and around the anchor points, and pull tight. It will look terrible, but it’ll hold. You can, if you wish, trim the ends off the ties.
Using cable ties to hold your bumper in place is a very temporary fix and should not be used for longer than necessary.
5
Pulling out a dent using suction
A suction cup sex toy
There’s a common myth that you can pull out a dent in a flat panel like a car door or a bumper, using a plumbing plunger. This won’t work because the suction cup is too hard, and you will need to push quite hard to force the air out. This alone could further dent the panel. When you try and pull the dent out, the vacuum could be strong enough to tear the panel from its anchor points in the chassis.
It sounds bizarre, but a suction cup sex toy works very well in most cases. The cup is made from softer silicone, and it is smaller than the plumbing option, so there is less force needed to attach it and pull the dent out.
Note, though, dents with sharp creases or on corner panels will most likely not come out in this way. Some people suggest heating the metal with boiling water first, but you should not use this method, as you could make the damage worse.
