Most people leave auto body repair up to the professionals. If you do have a severe dent or hole in your car surface, you probably shouldn't mess with it if you don't have experience. However, if you have a few small dents, you can probably fix them yourself. This is a great project to do because you can end up saving yourself a lot of money in the long run. If you leave small dents and dings alone, rust can form and the damaged area can get bigger. With a few basic tools and supplies, you can fix these blemishes before they become more serious.

Prep the Area

This technique is useful for any holes, dents or dings that are smaller than your thumb print. Even with holes this small, you will need a little bit of sandpaper to prep the area. The purpose of the sandpaper is too lightly rough up the damaged area. This is important because you want to remove the shiny, clearcoat finish on top of the paint. The body filler will stick better to a slightly rougher surface. The sanding should only take a second, because the area is so small. You don't want to sand too much and actually remove the paint, but just take some gloss off of the area.

Fill Holes

When filling such small holes, you can either use a plastic putty knife or your finger to spread the body filler. Apply a little extra body filler. Don't try to shape it perfectly flat because you can sand it down to make it flat after it dries. The body filler will probably take a few hours to dry, but you can apply the touch up paint as soon as it is sanded.

Paint the Patched Spot

Touch up paint is easy to use if you buy your product directly from the dealership. The small touch up cans come with a handy brush built into the lid. They are ideal for such small spots. The paint already has primer and sealant mixed into it, so the painting it is the final step.

The larger your holes and dents are, the harder it is to make these patches look natural. Also, the more practice you have, the better each patch job will look. Once you learn this technique and have these supplies, you can fix small blemishes as soon as they pop up.

For more information, contact local professionals like Leo's Automotive.