Sixty hail dents, one roof brace

Sort by access, depth, sharpness and paint condition, not by count.

• Shallow, gradual dents (10–15 mm) on open areas of the skin, paint intact: paintless dent removal. The skin can be pushed from below or pulled with glue tabs, and the factory finish survives.
• Dents over the brace: access from underneath is blocked, so removal depends on glue pulling from above. A sharp 30 mm crater over a brace often will not come out cleanly and becomes a filler repair. Stud welding is an option only after checking the steel grade and heat sensitivity near the sunroof cassette.
• Four dents with cracked paint: these cannot be removed invisibly, because the film has already failed. They will need filler or a local refinish regardless, and pulling a cracked dent only moves the crack.
• Rear edge dents near the hatch opening: poor access and a highly visible, high-stress line. If the crease is sharp, these are the most likely to be filled, and if the edge is stretched, a skin replacement is the better repair.
• The old 4 mm repair near the antenna: beyond sensible filler thickness and a probable future failure. It should be stripped and assessed, not buried.

Forty-five removals plus fifteen fills is a reasonable starting estimate, but the cracked dents and the old repair need confirming before paint is authorised.

• What filler can go on: bare steel or sound factory e-coat, abraded with 80 grit in a cross pattern and feathered 40–50 mm beyond the dent so the edge thins to less than a business card. Filler must not go over primer, paint, wax or underseal.
• Cleaning: wax and grease remover, allowed to flash fully, then no bare-hand contact. Skin oils cause lifting at the featheredge.
• The old 4 mm repair: strip it back to sound substrate. At that thickness it has probably shrunk and cracked underneath. If it comes away easily, the adhesion was already gone and the new repair would have failed on top of it.
• Mixing: measure hardener by volume or weight as specified, usually around 2–3%. A 'golf ball' of hardener is not a ratio, and at 30°C a hot batch gels quickly - mix small and discard anything that starts to thicken.
• Application: thin layers, not one deep pour. The shop limit is about 3 mm; build beyond that and shrinkage and cracking are predictable.
• Finishing: 80 grit to shape, then 180–240 to finish, guide coat to find lows, and blow out pinholes. Trapped air and solvent in pinholes blow through the topcoat as blisters.
• Protection: any bare steel needs a corrosion-inhibiting primer before topcoat. Filler is not a corrosion barrier.

Stop and escalate when:

• Oil-canning or drumming appears when the filler is blocked - the skin has lost its shape and more filler will only hide it until the first hot day.
• The brace is deformed or the roof has moved at the hatch opening. Filling a structural deflection gives a roof that leaks or cracks.
• The filler area grows past roughly a third of the panel, or the required thickness approaches the 3 mm limit across a wide area. At that point a skin is cheaper and more reliable than a thick skim.
• The old repair keeps peeling or reveals corrosion underneath, because the corrosion will continue under new paint.
• Cracked paint extends further than first assessed, meaning the repair area is larger than the insurer's authorised paint on the roof.

Any of these is an authorisation conversation, not a decision to make quietly. Photograph the finding, note it on the job card, and get the extra operation approved before continuing. A roof that fails in twelve months costs far more than the phone call.