Folks,

Today at some point whilst parked, some little scroat has appeared to back into me, leaving a single dent above the honeycombe grille on my lower nearside valance. Looking at where it is, it looks like the offender(s) car had a towbar, and this is what has done the damage. Amazingly, the paint surface doesn't appear to have cracked/crazed or broken, so was wondering if I could just heat this up and pop it back out from behind the bumper? Anyone got any experience of doing this sort of repair? If so, would welcome some pointers. TIA...

Click image to enlarge

Admin note: this post has had its images recovered from a money grabbing photo hosting site and reinstated

Did mine with a heat gun badger, worked a treat
Popped it back out with no damage to the paint or bumper....
If you can get your hand behind the bumper to work the dent out while you heat it up will be the best method  BETTER looking half of the famous Twinlanders
The wanna be other half - http://www.freel2.com/forum/member-carriec.html

Minor stuff will react quite nicely to heat, larger dings won't. Difficult to say with yours. Bodyshop best to advise.

Can't help on the repair but seeing who had done it would have given me some satisfaction

http://www.blackvue.eu/Blackvue_DR500G_HD_...tAodghYAQA p****d off with a Digital Keyboard Warrior

The dent I had in mine was twice the size,, 6" by 4" and about 25mm indentation
When I revived my facelift bumper thro the post it arrived with a large dent in it just near the fog light on the right hand side.. I thought ill give it a go with my heatgun and I was surprised how easy it popped out..  BETTER looking half of the famous Twinlanders
The wanna be other half - http://www.freel2.com/forum/member-carriec.html

Hi , I've done loads of bumper repairs for a friend in the bodyshop trade, there are three key points. You have to be able to reach the back of the bumper, I've fitted mine with facelift but can't remember if the grill has overlaps; second you have to apply the hot air blast to the REAR non paint side and third you have to be careful to sweep the gun in arcs until the area begins to warm up. Use a rag bunched up into a pad to ping the dent back.
.
It's such an easy job to do yet its equally easy to get it all wrong!
.
Pm me if you need further discussion.
.
Kind regards from Fred 2010GS Auto ex Celeb, Santorini Black, 2011 facelift , spoiler, spats, mudflaps, LED footwell lamps, Witter detach,
Other cars:-
1958 & 1959 Austin J40 Pedal Cars under restoration (I make many J40 parts)
If you have an Austin J40 or Pathfinder Pedal Car looking for a new home pls PM me.
2009 Meriva

Theres lots of clips on youtube showing dent removal with hair dryers and cans of compressed air! Didn't realise it was so simple. I take it there must be a knack to it as Fred said in the previous post it can all go wrong easily. Black MY2013 SD4 GS Auto, Wood Company Armrest, Freel2 sticker.
Gone MY2010 Freelander 2 Manual TD4.e S, Alaska White.

Thanks all for your input.

I got two differing opinions today...one from the local ChipsAway guy who just wanted to fill and spray it, the other from my friendly local independent Bodyshop, who said much the same as Fred above. As the paint isn't actually broken, he thinks it will be do-able quite easily; the labour charge comprises mainly of getting the damn bumper off to get at it. He's quoted me £80 cash.

Perversely, as it has been an unusually warm day today, it appears to have partly got itself back into shape, compared to yesterday's picture....it now looks about the size of a 20p coin, rather then the tennis ball it resembled yesterday...bizarre!! Foraging near Gaydon....
——————————————
MY13 HSE Lux SD4, Baltic Blue - current, 30,000> miles without fault
MY12 HSE 2.2 SD4, Sumatra Black - gone after 10 months/43,000 fault-free miles

It's not so surprising that the warm day has seen a difference. Plastic is no different to metals in this case of a dent. The plastic was formed in a mould to the shape; the bump has turned it inside out so its all stressed up and wants to revert to its initial shape ; you've just got to help it.
.
Given the comments about filling it; I wouldn't trust that guy with my granddaughters pram!
.
How about you undo the inner plastic wing liner, chuck a bucket of really hot water over the area and then try a little hand pressure on the inside?
.
My comments earlier should serve to warn about using heat guns both on the wrong side and using in a localised excess manner as its easy to actually melt a zone till it sags.
.
Just take it cautiously and it's easy.
.
Good luck and kind regards from Fred
. 2010GS Auto ex Celeb, Santorini Black, 2011 facelift , spoiler, spats, mudflaps, LED footwell lamps, Witter detach,
Other cars:-
1958 & 1959 Austin J40 Pedal Cars under restoration (I make many J40 parts)
If you have an Austin J40 or Pathfinder Pedal Car looking for a new home pls PM me.
2009 Meriva