Tools for Auto Body Repair

An auto body mechanic is a person who repairs both minor and major issues concerning the body of your vehicle. He repairs scratches, dents, rusted areas and some times touch up detailing on the paint job. In order to fix all these different problems, a variety of tools are needed. It is not always necessary to take you car to the shop for body repair. Some minor dents and scratches can be fixed at home with the proper tools.

Dent Repair Kit

Repair minor dents with a dent repair kit. These kits come with detailed information on how to use them and are sold at most auto shops. Kits a good for small scratches or dents. If you take your car to the shop to get this kind of problem fixed, it will cost you more than it would to buy the kit.

Jack

A car jack stand enables people to conduct repairs below the surface of the car and raises the car up high enough to work on the underside of fenders, which are difficult to work on so close to the ground. A jack can be raised manually by twisting a bar metal bar which raises the stand or some jacks are hydrolic. In any case, a jack must be strong and have a good locking system. It must be strategically and securely placed below the frame of the car. If a jack is not used properly, the car could fall or tip, in which case someone could get hurt.

Rubber Mallet

When pounding out dents that are small and you don't want to scratch the surface of the car body, a hammer with a rubber head is used. This allows you to hit with force but not scratch the paint or metal of the vehicles body.

Dent Pullers

Dent pullers come in two basic types, ones that go through the body of the and are pulled on and ones that are attached to the front of the dent through suction. The first type requires the mechanic to drill a hole in the center of the dent and push the head of the dent pullet into the hole. The head of the dent puller has claws at the end of it and once through the hole, these claws open. He then pulls on the dent puller and the claws spread against the back of the dent and pop it out from behind. The suction dent puller is pushed over top of the dent and then pulled on from the handles positioned at the back of the suction cups. The suction dent puller is for smaller dents, where as the other dent puller is for more serious dents.