Ducati Monster Forum

Is there anyone on this forum who has been successful at removing the typical dent made by the handlebars on the tank WITHOUT having to repaint or take it to a shop? Please post what is your experience in dent removal!!! My bike went down in my garage and the left side bar hit the tank...I am devastated.. Wanted to cry!!!  [bang]

Welcome to the club. Some of us have them on both sides.  [laugh]

Oh man.

Yeah that hurts but it happens sooner or later. How did you drop it in the Garage  ??? Just curious.

check out this site. Perhaps they have one in your area.

http://denttime.blogspot.com/2007/10/motorcylce-tank-dent-repair-san-diego.html

You can always get the 696 to avoid the infamous Ducati Dent  ;D

Oh come on  ;D  pretty please

I wonder if their technology will work(repair) the current Ducati plastic tanks?

Ding King has very mixed reviews

http://www.epinions.com/reviews/Ding_King_Basic_Kit

What year is your monster ?

http://tinyurl.com/4978og

I seem to remember someone on TOB using the Ding King, or something like it, with moderate success.  Give it a shot, you haven't got much to lose.

By way of making you feel better, I'll tell you how I dinged the tank of my first monster.

I went to check the bike out - it seemed in great condition. I hadn't ridden in years,.. it was the first time I'd ridden a monster, & I loved it. 

Cashed up, & rode it home right then and there. I

Now, I bought this bike second hand about 2 hrs from home. And it was winter. Well, despite the layers, I was pretty much frozen when I pulled up at home. I just sat there on the bike for a couple of minutes, bone cold: then I took off my helmet, & tried to place it on the ground - and the bike tipped! I caught and held it for the longest time... but I couldn't exert any leverage...so I had to slowly lower it down... tank first, onto my helmet.  :'(

Google google google this problem - someone, somewhere has written something! Good luck.

You could just put a bandaide on it

(http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d56/c3vette/stupid.jpg)

I feel your pain.. I modded my tank w/the infamous Ducati Ding within 2 weeks of owning my bike, and have added a few nice nicks over the course of ownership..(rocks from a dump-truck, dropping a socket wrench on it  [roll] )  At first I was devistated like you said, but over time I realized that it wasn't that noticable, and have just lived with it ever since... I thought about trying to pull it but have never acted on it... :-\

 Tried the infamous Ding King with little to no success.
I think it didn't work because the radius of the dent that the handlebar causes is to small.

Anyone ever try using Dry Ice?

Remember that dentless repair is more technique than anything else when working with metal -- the tools just help.  An amateur can also do more damage than good if they don't know what they are doing.  Trick with the Monster tank is getting access to the spot damaged.  S4R's aren't too horrible due to the two-piece style fuel cap.

My best recommendation given you just recently purchased the S4R is to keep riding it through the Summer/Fall and make it part of your winter mod projects.  Remember there are literally a few thousand Monsters with the same type of tank dent in them -- you are just a member of the club now.

Years ago after slipping in an oily puddle in the rain, I tried the Ding King on my old carbed Monster and it was a total failure.  My wife still makes fun of me for buying it.  It was my first and last infomercial item purchase.  The older tanks did user thicker steel, but I think the problem is more the lines on the monster tank.  The DK might have a chance on thinner steel and with a flat surface, but the Monster's lines/curves give it little chance.  In the end, I sent my tank to Norm.

I agree with whoever said to ride out the summer with the dent and fix it over the winter.  I don't think there is a quick fix.  Bite the bullet and start thinking about custom paint jobs.  If you're going to spend decent money to get it fixed, you might as well spend a few hundred more and do something really unique [thumbsup]

The dent removal from the backside "usually" craks the paint leading to paint failure and corrosion.

Look up Wurth, a Euro company that used to sell a hot glue on option that worked very well for hail damage and dents. I had very good results with it. Be paitent and work slow.

Or just pull it off and send it to ducpainter. [thumbsup]

I've been reading about the glue method... and it seems to work, but it wont remove the dent 100 percent. So, I've decided to wait til tomorrow and have a local guy do PDR on it and get it gone. I think that I may be able to get a deal since it is not such a big dent. maybe 70 bucks...
Oh... i tried the dry ice and the compressed air upside down to compress the metal.. it doesn't work..  [bang]

That video was great I had not seen the procedure before. very cool.
that being said I have sealed ducati tanks and I have sealed japanese bike tanks, there is a big difference in the thickness of the metal.

acid etch a ducati tank and you can leave the acid in overnight without a problem, try that with a japanese tank and you will have a watering can.

I have heard good things about the paintless dent removal but no one I could find was interested in trying.

+2 off to ducpainter!

A friend just worked on the husband's Yahama Warrior tank with the glue kit dent removal.  Drag style handlebars dented his metal tank.  Friend pulled most of it out.  Still a couple of ripples, but looks better than what was there.  It does require a lot of detail oriented patience.  Understanding the perfect place to pull also helps in popping it out successfully.  Paint is flexible, but once cracked - forget it. 

That video was pretty cool.  never saw a system like that before.  Wonder if the tool has limited ability to reach the dent. Not a true test of repairing every dent - dent was tiny and in an easily repairable spot. 

Go with a professional if you want 100%.  Our friend charged nothing, and husband has a new paint scheme forming in his head - so how could we lose??

I will find out this week if they can do the PDR you saw on the video on my Tank. From what you are saying, then the ducati tank will be harder to do than the suzuki on the video. I will update this information after I talk to the PDR doctor.

It's just personality, don't worry about it.  I've got one of those, and I've got one further back and lower where I used my knee to save a lowside by riding motocross style and having my knee slam into the tank ~

JM

The metal used for the tanks on our bikes is pretty thick compared to the sheetmetal found on cars.  I have tried two different PDR guys ( some of the best around ) with no success.  If they try to pull the dent from the outside, there is a very good chance it will just pull the paint off instead.  Ask me how I know.  I am suprised Ducpainter hasn't chimed in on this one yet.

Deweey mentioned dry ice. I remember a friend who had once told me that he had read where you leave your vehicle ( in this case your bike ) in direct sunlight on a hot day and when the dent has gotten very hot place a piece of dry ice on it and the dent is suppose to pop back out. I think you are suppose to rub the ice across the dent now that I think about it. You might even try regular ice , an ice cube and see if that has any effect before you go running after dry ice.I don't think it will hurt the paint but I have never tried it. It would be a cheap an easy fixif it works.

I was going to mention that...  Shock cooling will have a better effect.  If it isnt a really hot day, maybe even try heating the tank with a blow dryer before applying the dry ice. 

Thanks guys! I will give it a shot . I tried it without heating the tank first and it didnt work. I will park the bike outsidefor an hour.(90' here) then do the dry ice. I'll update on this later!

crossing fingers for ya! 

Sometimes I just find a real cool decal and put it over a boo boo !

you know, back in my moto days i used to hear about putting the tank in a freezer! no kidding. i don't know if it worked or not, because at the time no one would let me put the tank to my ATC 200x in their freezer [bang]

the ron [evil]

I do not know of any monster tanks that are coated from the factory.

I have coated a few but none stock that I can think of.

it is easy to tell just remove the  cap and look at the inside sides of the tank.
On the few ducati's that are coated it is a black coating.
good luck

I can't say I've ever seen the PDR thing done on a bike tank but I've had it done on my car.  (Two week old Acura got a nice big door ding while parked at the gym...thanks anonymous person!!) 

It was absolutely amazing to see this guy work.  Just like in the video.  I would have never believed it if I hadn't seen it myself.  Best $80 I ever spent.   [thumbsup]   But I think it really depends on the skill of the technician.

Well hello everyone. My name is Myke Toledo, owner of DentTime.com Thanks for the kudos about my susuki motorcycle tank dent repair video.

I would like to clear some facts up about PDR. I have been performing PDR on motorcycles for over 17 years and I have never disturbed the inside coating of a tank. #1 I use a special protected tip. Mostly protected with a rubber or plastic cap. Some of you may think that it's possible to ignite the tank on fire.. but that's not even close to true. Some PDR techs say that because they don't want to work on tanks in the first place. Old myth.. old excuse.

There are good PDR techs but as some mentioned before on here, there are good one's and bad one's. Be really careful who you let work on your bike. Motorcycle tanks are tricky and take a lot of patience. Harley is the hardest then Ducati. The gage of the metal is what can make the removal difficult. We use a special reflection to guide our tool tip location and judge the curvature of the dent. Unfortunately when the metal is real thick, it's hard for us to identify the tool tip. That's the real reason why other PDR companies turn down motorcyle tank repairs.

Be careful if you use glue to attempt a dent pull. The professional version will pull the clear or paint right off. Access is another challenge. Depends on the fuel opening (the inside collar). If the collar is too long, we don't get leverage or an angle to reach the dent. And last but not least, the baffle. Some baffles block access and then it's pretty much a game over situation. About only 60% of gas tank dent repairs are truly successful. Depending on depth, location and access will determine the final outcome. Oh I did mention the tech too.. which might be the most important factor.
(http://i130.photobucket.com/albums/p264/420dent/motorcycle%20tanks/aad.jpg)
(http://i130.photobucket.com/albums/p264/420dent/motorcycle%20tanks/aac.jpg)

Look us up if you are ever in San Diego! By the way.. awesome forum here.

Ducati tanks are not coated from the factory except for some SBK tanks, and as ducvet says it is a black coating.

As denttime says access is always an issue.

Carby tanks have lousy access.

Thanks for finding and taking the time to post here Myke. I'm the guy who called you yesterday about local PDRs here in Nashville not willing to work on the gas tank because of the fire hazard they think they will be exposed to.
I am still waiting for the Dixie guy to call me back. Thanks for the recommendation and for taking the time to explain things. I will update everyone after I talk to the PDR guy today.
Oh.. by the way.. Will the Ice method work.. or is it a myth?

+1 on taking care with the glue and pull method. I used it on mine years ago, and I can confirm that it pulls off the clear.

I did about 4 total pulls, each one making the tank look better than the last. On the last one, however, the paint came off and now it looks worse than ever. I rattle-canned some more clear on, which helped, but overall I wish I had just left it alone.

The dry ice method is supposed to work on cars that have hail damage. However, hail damage usually causes pretty small dents. If it's a good-sized tank ding, you'll probably need more than dry ice.

THAT'S impressive. I have the exact same dent and havn't had any luck with a couple places here in Dallas but NOW, armed with the evidence that it can be done, I will throw the pix in their face and challenge their manhood!

Good luck and let me know how it works. I showed the video to a local PDR guy that said it was impossible to do it without blowing up and he is yet to call me back to say that he will or won't do it. My guess is he doesn't have the skills.