Bodywork home repairs

BEFORE you do anything go to the following web forum and classroom at:
http://www.autobodystore.com/

Ask about "moving metal" and show them a picture of your problem area. These guys know their stuff and many are ol'schoolers that pratice the "art" of bodywork. They would be the experts I'd ask first. I was turned on to these guys by Christopher Markley of www.motorapido.net, who worked on my wife's 1967 Vespa SS180.

On the Bajaj Yahoo Group today, Mark emailed and said his scoot was dented by a hit-&-run and he wanted suggestions for repairs. His cowl was damaged.
This dent is somewhat creased and that is not a good sign for an ameteur home repair. The more it is creased the harder it will be to repair without needing to repaint.
On the flip side if he can manage to bump the dent back out he may get away without re-painting the cowl, because the paint is in decent shape currently.
For smaller dents without creases I recommend either buying or building your own Ding King from "As Seen on TV". If you visit your local Harbor Freight Tools, Home Depot, and Dollar Tree (for mini hot glue gun and glue) I am sure you could easily make your own dent remover that is even more versatile than the Ding King.
In the photo you can see it's an easy 3-step process using a Ding King.

For this dent this approach would be my first line of defense. ALWAYS use the way of least resistance and work your way up. Hammers are almost always a BAD idea.

With a friend applying hand-pressure to the back of the dent and you working your Ding King try to pull out the dent while your friend pushes you guys may get it to pop back out and look somewhat decent (not perfect). You never know. Research heating and cooling the metal too for expansion and shrinkage. You can heat it with a Harbor Freight Tool's heat gun (cost about $10 on sale) -- just check on how it will affect the paint first. This is a much better approach than a dent puller, which requires you to drill a hole into the metal and then pull it out.

Your next line of defense is hammer & dolly (costs $16 on sale at Harbor Freight Tools).