Body damage - can I fix this myself?

[LETMGROW]

Originally Posted by paz

Some RV dealerships have body shops, which would probably be the best place to start.

As I scrolled through the posts I was thinking exactly that. Find a dealer who sells the brand you have. If they don't have a body shop ask them if they know or use someone they could or would recommend.
Doesn't anyone trust an RV dealer for anything?
Lynn

[TeJay]

While driving by a golf course our vehicle got hit by an errant ball. Dented it pretty good. Easy to see it was a golf ball hit. The guy who did it fessed up easily and we took it to a paintless hail dent remover. If I told you the approximate location of the hit I'd defy anybody to find it. He used no paint and no bondo. I was impressed.

What you have on your MH is a painless/paintless fix. Based on the pictures there is no apparent breaks in the paint clear coat or for sure paint coat. Easily fixed to the point that you'd never know.

A word of caution!!! Since I can see no break in the paint if you try to add some clear coat you're asking for a problem. If you use any even the finest grit wet/dry sand paper (1000,1500, 2000) you asking for trouble unless you know what you're doing.

I'm not a body man nor a dent repairer but I know that could be fixed in about an hour. Carefully protecting the paint from scratches with painters tape and/or some real thin 1/8" foam like a door mat then using some wood as suggested and C-clamps.

Some shop(s) might tell you it's going to cost $1,500 to $2,000 bucks to get it right. You drive an expensive rig and they think you'll spare no expense to get it back to 100%. Just be careful!!

I once lowered our new car down with the drivers door wide open onto a 55 gallon drum and jacked the drivers door straight up at the top rear corner at least 8" to 10". I used a jack some 2 X 4's and some desperate common sense. I had it fixed and about 98% aligned in 2-hours.

The top metal rim of the drum did put an 1/8" wide slot in the bottom of the door. Nobody ever knew it was there but me.

Three years later when we traded it in as we departed the dealer lot with the new ride I started laughing. My DW asked what was so funny? It was then that I told her about my screw up three years earlier. We still laugh about that!!!

[Winemaker2]

I only recently became aware of paintless dent repair...a friends car was damaged by a major hail storm...broke windshield and damed every body panel as well as trim pieces. He said painless did an amazing job.
You might reconsider the DIY approach as a first attemp...if you change the nature of the dent it might make paintless repair not possible?

[timjet]

I tried it, it looks better but you can still tell. We'll wait a year or so and get it fixed. It's very minor. I'm new to RVing and afraid I might get another "learning experience" so will wait an get them all fixed at the same time.
Paintless dent removal looks like the way to go.