Extensive Damage

[Princess]

Looking for advise or suggestions on how to remove or repair extensive damage. It seems as though someone decided to have Halloween a bit early this year at our expense and after looking into some options it will be a very LARGE expense. Has anyone out there been able to repair very large, deep dents, made by what we can only assume to be either a baseball bat or tree limb?

[Silvertwinkie]

Sorry to hear about your loss.....I heard of some damage being fixed by a dealer, however, IMHO, I'd take it to Airstream directly (unless you are a sheet metal, rivet and sealer pro).

The thing to consider, is the cost of the repair, vs. what the unit is worth. If you have insurance, I'd make a call to them and to Airstream to see what the real costs to repair are and what the insurance company is willing to pay. It sounds like you have done some groundwork on repair costs, but I am unsure where you went to get the expense estimates. I learned a great deal on this forum about a insurance and Airstreams, let alone making good decsions on how to handle claims made.

In your case, the first question would be is the unit insured? Then, to get rough estimates from Airstream. If you are insured, in most cases the insurance company is not versed in repair of Airstreams like they are cars....Also, for the folks trying to help, where is the damage, how deep is the dent, what other damage besides dents if any, what year is the trailer, what is the model of trailer, etc. Does it look like it hit and bent any of the inner aluminum ribs....etc. These will be questions that might actually dermine if it's a repair, replace or something else. A bit more info might be helpful.

Eric

[59toaster]

That's horrible! Some folks should be shot early on.

Was it being stored?

The side pannels should not be a big problem as long as the ribs are intact. They are flat and using the old pannel as a templet they could be made easily. The problem pannels are the curved ones.

[j54mark]

You can do a search on this site for dents and dent removal.

Your best and cheapest help would be a suction cup. You will need a really good one, not the ones typically sold in auto parts stores. You may need to try a body shop or two to locate one.

The biggest problem is creases in the metal. It is very difficult to deal with them in any satisfactory way.

Mark

[Steve St. J]

I recently purchased a 71 Globetrotter and it came with a few complimentary large size dents in the upper corners. I was quite successful with their removal using a product called the "Ding King". It uses a hot glue to pull on the skin which removes easily afterward but leaves a subtle mark behind. I did however, need to add my own modification to the product for it to work successfully. I manufactured a longer crossbar. The one that comes with the product is to short for larger dents. Also, I found that I got better results by using two at one time. Its a slow process because you need to start at one edge of the dent and work acrossed it. Good Luck!