How To Fix A Dent In A Steel Door In 6 Easy Steps (Picture Tutorial!)

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Last updated on February 28th, 2024 at 10:55 am

Wondering if you can repair a dent in a metal door? Well, look no further because I have your answer!

Bondo is an excellent way to repair a dented metal or wood door. The body filler and red cream hardener mixed together quickly fill any-sized dents in a door and are easy to sand and blend in with the rest of the door. The glazing and spot putty easily fills tiny scratches to make a dented door look brand new.

Now that we’ve got that covered, let’s dive into how you can fix your metal door with ease using the Bondo Dent Repair Kit.

Let’s dive in!

Quick Navigation: How To Use Bondo Dent Repair Kit To Fix A Metal Door

1. Clean, Sand, & Mix Bondo Body Filler With Red Cream Hardener 
2. Spread The Mixed Bondo Filler Across The Dent 
3. Sand The Dried Bondo Filler Mixture
4. Spread The Bondo Glazing & Spot Putty Over Any Remaining Imperfections
5. Sand The Dried Glazing & Spot Putty
6. Prime & Paint The Door
7. Final Thoughts

Level Of Difficulty	Time To Complete
Medium	1-2 Days

Material List	Tool List
Bondo Dent Repair Kit	Drywall Hawk
Microfiber Rags	(Optional) Mechanical Sander
Dawn Dish Soap	Fine-Texture Foam Roller
Rustoleum Metal Primer	Soft-Tip Paintbrush
Rustoleum Front Door Paint

How I Fixed A Dent In Our Metal Front Door – Video Tutorial

See the full tutorial on my YouTube Channel – DIY With Christine!

Why Use The Bondo Dent Repair Kit To Fix A Dent In A Steel Door?

This Bondo Dent Repair Kit found at Amazon makes repairing dents and scratches in metal extremely easy.

The kit comes with all of the required tools and materials needed to successfully repair dents like a professional.

In addition, the kit comes with Exact Mixture pouches, so there’s no messing up how much harder to mix into the filler.

(Speaking from experience, this is the hardest part about using Bondo in my opinion. When I repaired our door, I tried to mix my own amounts and epically failed more than once until I dialed in the correct mixture and was able to finish repairing our front door.)

Using this kit will save you tons of time and money while repairing and painting a steel door.

Now, let’s go over how to use this repair kit!

Step One: Clean, Sand, & Mix Bondo Body Filler With Red Cream Hardener 

The first step to repairing a metal door with Bondo is to clean, sand, and mix the body filler and red cream hardener.

First, you need to properly prep the surface. Clean the area around the dent thoroughly with soap, water, and a clean microfiber rag.

After the door has dried, use the 80 grit sandpaper that comes in the kit and fully sand the entire dent and surrounding area until all that is left is bare metal.

After the area is sanded, wipe down the area again with a clean, damp microfiber rag to remove any dust particles on the door.

Now, it is time to start using the Bondo filler. This kit makes it super easy for you to mix the correct amounts.

On your clean, flat mixing surface (such as a drywall hawk or equivalent), squeeze out the entire packet of the Exact Mixture body filler.

Then, also squeeze out the entire packet of Red Cream Hardener onto the mixing surface next to the body filler.

Use the plastic, yellow spreader tool/putty knife that comes with the kit and quickly mix the two creams together using a chopping and squishing/pulling motion.

The key thing to remember with Bondo is that it only has a working time of 3-5 minutes. That is plenty of time to cover the dent, but not so much time that you can spend forever trying to mix the creams together.

Once you have the mixture a consistent pink color on your mixing surface, it’s time to move on to the next step.

Step Two: Spread The Mixed Bondo Filler Across The Dent 

The next step to repairing a metal door with Bondo is to spread the mixture across the dent.

Use the yellow spreader tool to swipe a thick layer of the mixture across the entire dent.

Be sure to wipe it a little farther than the dent actually is so when you sand, you can make it flush to the surrounding area.

Try not to overwork the mixture. The fewer swipes you can do and still cover the entire area, the better.

It will be sanded, so having more mixture on there is better than not enough.

Once the mixture is spread, let it dry fully before moving on to the next step.

Step Three: Sand The Dried Bondo Filler Mixture

The next step to repairing a metal door with Bondo is to sand the dried mixture.

Start sanding with the 80 grit sandpaper that comes in the kit until the filler is almost flush with the surrounding area.

Then sand a little bit more with the 180 grit sandpaper until the entire damaged area is blended with the surrounding area.

Don’t worry if there are tiny imperfections quite yet, we will address those in the next step.

Using a mechanical sander such as this DeWalt palm sander found at Amazon to sand a large dented area makes this step go much faster. You will have to purchase separate sandpaper from the kit to go this route, however.

There will likely still be tiny imperfections in the Bondo filler after sanding. Don’t worry about them because the red glazing and spot putty will help fill those in.

Once you are satisfied with the sanding, use a clean, damp microfiber rag to wipe down the entire area.

Removing the dust particles is crucial for the Bondo and future paint to adhere to the door properly.

Once the door is clean again, it’s time to move on to the next step.

Step Four: Spread The Bondo Glazing & Spot Putty Over Any Remaining Imperfections

The next step to repairing a metal door with Bondo is to use the glazing and spot putty to fill in any tiny imperfections.

The red glazing and spot putty is already premixed and is an excellent way to fix any of the tiny imperfections that are likely still there after sanding.

The putty is extremely easy to sand and fills in any tiny scratches or knicks that might be remaining.

Squeeze a tiny amount of the putty onto the cleaned yellow spreader tool and swipe it across the remaining imperfections.

Again, be sure the apply it farther out than the scratch you are trying to cover so that you can sand it smooth with the surrounding area.

Once you are happy with the spread glaze and spot putty, let it dry fully before moving on to the next step.

Step Five: Sand The Dried Glazing & Spot Putty

The next step to repairing a metal door with Bondo is to sand the dried glazing and spot putty.

This is the final step that uses the Bondo Repair Kit. Use the 320 grit sandpaper from the kit and sand the entire area until it is flawlessly smooth.

If you find any more tiny imperfections, just use more red glaze and spot putty, let it dry, and sand again.

To check whether the entire area is smooth enough, run your entire hand over the area (not just your fingers). You will feel any imperfections or high spots easier this way.

Once you are satisfied with the smoothness of your repair, use a clean, wet microfiber rag to do the final cleaning of the entire area.

Your dent should be successfully repaired and beautifully smooth!

Now, the final step to protect the newly repaired area is to prime and paint.

Step Six: Prime & Paint The Door

The final step to repairing a metal door with Bondo is to prime and paint the door.

The Bondo and exposed metal on the door must be covered with a metal primer to help protect it and help the new paint adhere to it properly.

This Rustoleum Metal Primer and this Rustoleum Front Door paint will help you finish out repairing your front door like a pro. Both paints can be found at Amazon.

To help you make sure you get the best paint finish on your metal door, check out my full tutorial on how to paint a metal front door without removing it here.

I learned some things the hard way, so hopefully, you can avoid some of my painting mistakes!

That’s it! Your door should look brand new once it is fully painted!

Final Thoughts On Using The Bondo Dent Repair Kit

There you have it!

Using Bondo to repair dents takes a little bit of finesse and speed, but it’s definitely doable even for the beginner DIYer.

Thankfully, any mistake you might make can easily be sanded off and re-done.

Good luck with your door repair project. May it come out super smooth!

Catch you in my next post!

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