How to Repair the Body of a Jeep Wrangler

Major damage to any vehicle should be handled by a professional repair shop. It is possible, however, to handle small body repairs on your Jeep Wrangler. These areas of minor damage on a car range from small scratches, to dents, to holes created by rust. Each one of these has its own method of repairing the vehicle's surface damage, followed by applying coats of primer and paint over the restored area.

Instructions

Scratches

1

Rub all superficial scratches -- where the scratch doesn't go down to the metal -- lightly with a rubbing compound to remove loose paint and wax, then rinse the area.

2

Pick away any rust from the scratched area, using a razor knife if you have a deeper scratch, then apply rust-inhibiting paint to the area. Coat the scratched area with a glaze-type filler using a nylon applicator.

3

Apply touch-up paint with a small brush. Wait at least two weeks for it to completely harden, then blend it into the surface with the rubbing compound, and wax the surface.

Dents

4

Pull out small dents from the outside with a large suction cup, working your way around the circumference of the dent.

5

Pound out larger dents from the inside using a soft-face hammer. Place a block of wood against the outside of the dent as you lightly pound to keep the metal from stretching out.

6

Remove all damaged paint from the area using sandpaper or a wire brush. Score the surface of the bare metal with a screwdriver.

7

Apply filler and touch-up paint as described in Section 1.

Holes or Gashes

8

Remove all paint from the hole/gash and about an inch of the surrounding area using multiple sheets of sandpaper or a sanding disc.

9

Trim away all loose metal or metal that has been badly damaged by rust using metal snips. Hammer the hole's edges slightly inward, remove all remaining powdery metal using a wire brush and stuff the hole with wire mesh.

10

Mix up a body filler paste and resin hardener, following the exact instructions included with your filler kit.

11

Apply the filler paste to the affected area using a wide nylon applicator. Spread the filler across the surface with the applicator until you get the desired contour, wait 20 minutes and repeat with another coat until the filler reaches above the surrounding metal.

12

Sand down the filler until it is even with the surface, starting with 180-grit sandpaper and finishing with 600-grit. Rinse away all dust and grit from the area.

13

Cover all areas of the Wrangler that don't require painting with a tarp, towels and/or masking tape.

14

Apply a coat of primer to the surface using several thin layers. Rub down the primer with 600-grit sandpaper until it is smooth and wait for the primer to dry according to its instructions.

15

Apply aerosol paint in the correct color to the unpainted surface, applying multiple light layers in a circular motion starting from the center and going outward. Wait 10-15 minutes before removing the tarp and/or other masking material.

16

Wait two weeks for the paint to completely harden before blending and waxing the paint as described in Section 1.