Cost of panel dent

[Soonersalt]

I'm looking at purchasing a used 2017 International with a dent in the rear left panel. Can this be repaired or are they replaced? What would be a the approximate cost of either?

[rugjenkins]

That is a crease so it would have to be replace. Yes it can be done but it's not a cheap job. Personally, I'd live with it or put a personalized aluminum patch over it first. It adds character

[rmkrum]

If the price is right, and that dent is just cosmetic, I’d discount it, and not bother fixing it. Call it a ‘beauty mark’ and go camping. A segment repair could cost upwards of $1200 and that crease looks minor from here.

A ‘paintless dent repair’ outfit might be able to minimize the ding, but personally, I have worse ripples I’m ignoring. As long as it does not leak, it’s minor.

[SteveSueMac]

I don’t believe that can be repaired (meaning bumped out/back in to shape) as aluminum doesn’t have the same bending properties as steel.

I had far more severe damage from a hit in the storage yard. There’s two options (at least) to replace. One is to cut out the dent and have a new piece of aluminum riveted on top of the existing corner. Only a trained eye will know from the shaved rivets that it isn’t factory original. The other is to replace it and buck rivet it from the inside - easily twice the work effort required and not necessary (as I understand it) from a structural integrity perspective. When I had mine done at the factory in the “cover” fashion, I was told there’s a slight advantage to having the dual panels riveted together - but both options are good in my view. The first might run $2-3K, the second double that range - check with the factory to be sure. They can estimate with photos.

Two options you didn’t mention include:

1) live with it as is. It’s a character mark. YMMV - to me, that’s not worth doing

2) patch creatively over it - check this thread out for unbelievably fun and creative options:

http://www.airforums.com/forums/f381...hes-68104.html

Good luck!

[AtomicNo13]

That's $5k done properly with bucked rivets.

[Soonersalt]

$5k!! Wow, that must be gut wrencher for an owner when this mishap occurs. I was thinking maybe half of that. I guess that is one drawback of a newer model, the first dings are more painful and harder to take. Maybe the patch idea would acceptable, even doing them on both sides for symmetry. Who would one hire for that type of job? I assume a dealer would not be interested in that kind of work.

[CRH]

I would prefer to buy the trailer with 5k knocked off the price and camp on.

[azflycaster]

The 5K price is for bucked rivets which means the interior would have to be removed in the area of the panel to do the work. A realistic price with olympic rivets is half that. I would negotiate that price into my offer and live with the dent.

[AtomicNo13]

What he said, but I personally will never use Olympic rivets.∆

[wulfraat]

Repair facility would probably oversheet that segment for $2-2.5k ish. Might be able to pop most of it out via dentless repair for $300 ish.

[Hans627]

I had this damage repaired at JC and it was about $5,000, which also included a new bumper at about $400.

While this looks (and is) much worse than the dent in your picture the repair process will be very similar.

[Mollysdad]

I'd try the dent repair guys first. Maybe they have a suction gismo.
What's on the inside? Dinette? Maybe a hole drilled behind the seat big enough to get a tool inside and massage the dent out some.

I'd hate to pay $5000 to get the panel replaced and back into a post on my next trip.
I have a small dent. I have no idea how it got there. I suspect a stone was thrown by a semi. Repairing it is not practical, it's not accessible inside without surgery, and it's only about 1/2" round.
Almost under the forward awning arm. I'm thinking some clever Airstream badge would cover it and look like I planned it..

[RichHog]

So I have a dent in similar spot a little higher and to the right. We pulled it out some but there is a crinkle. Because it involves a bit of the window rivets it’s labor intensive and will require one panel ($700) replaced. With labor I’m lookin at a 4,000 repair. The shop will make it look new again and they do great work. Here’s the bad side if you don’t fix it right it WILL be a price/value deduction if you don’t fix or do a patch job. Worse though every time you pull into a rally or hang with other Airstreamers you will get heckled and asked about how it happened and why you didn’t listen to your wife, etc. Just saying.....

[RichHog]

Ouch!

[Soonersalt]

Your absolutely right RichHog. The trailer is in very nice condition and great shape, but people will probably wear me out asking about it. I just need to find someone that does nice patchwork. If anyone knows someone in the Oklahoma/Texas area, please pass it.
Thanks to everyone's quick and informative responses. I really appreciate it

[fwjumper]

Definitely, use it to negotiate. If you buy it, leave it alone and learn to love it.

[TBRich]

Personally I would have a hard time living with it, but thst’s me.

On the other hand … I know iit is not the issue, when I look at your picture what I notice first is how bad those curtains look from the outside. And then, “Oh, and there’s a dent, too!”

[Rgentum]

You should be able to pull out most (but unlikely all) of the dent with paintless dent removal (PDR) tools easily and cheaply acquired, for example, on Amazon. I've done this before will aluminum panels on my AS, and it works well although not perfectly.

https://www.amazon.com/s?k=paintless...f=nb_sb_noss_1

[trumpetguy]

I just had a rear panel with a dent replaced. $1600 parts and labor at Foley Airstream.

[trumpetguy]

That included a pressure test for leaks.