I am _so_ mad with myself...

[Steve Sears]

Tess,
Sounds like what happened to my 5ktq when my FIL backed into it, denting 
both front and rear passenger side doors - the rear door took most of the 
glancing hit.  Took the door skin off, removed the side impact bar, and then 
set the skin on a blanket on the grass (outside down) and used my sock feet 
to carefully push the dent out - of course, a soft lawn might be hard to 
find in ICY Bellevue, WA USA (not so here in Ontario, Canada until a couple 
of days ago...)  The repair was good enough to be passable until I can get a 
new skin painted.
I can't take credit for the sock foot dent repair - Frank DeKat told me 
about it (Katman on AW)
Cheers!
Steve Sears
1987 Audi 5kTQ - it's true...4x0 = 2x0!!! ;-)
1980 Audi 5k
1962 and '64 Auto Union DKW Junior deLuxes
(SPAM Blocker NOTE: Remove SHOES to reply)

----- Original Message ----- 
From: Tess McMillan <tessmc at drizzle.com>
> Subject: I am _so_ mad with myself...
> To: quattro at audifans.com
> Message-ID:
> <Pine.LNX.4.44.0701131801450.32521-100000 at cascadia.drizzle.com>
> Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII
>
> We've had some snow here in the Pacific Northwest and it hasn't been too
> bad, in perspective. I've done some driving around in my 80Q, up hills and
> down hills, looking for places to "build character" by practicing in
> the snow, since I'm not in snow that often.
>
> But I'm here to tell ya that all wheel drive might as well be no wheel
> drive if you're going over ice. I managed to run into a tree on the way
> home this afternoon. And I wasn't even trying to show off! I was following
> a Mercedes coupe into my neighborhood but where he took a right turn, my
> car went straight. The tree literally leaped out and smacked my door at
> about 5 mph.
>
> Now I've got a huge dent in the driver's door, and the trim is broken. The
> door wants to pop open when you close it because the dent (I think) leans
> agains the cable that pulls the latch. You can get the door shut, but you
> have to work at it.
>
> What is the wisdom about having body work done on an '88 80Q? Can it be 
> done?
>
> My car is fairly modified, suspension-wise, and is extremely driveable
> plus the body is in great shape except for a dent on the _opposite_
> side of the car where I had an excursion at the track that smooshed the
> sheet metal below the rear door. I was thinking this would be a good
> excuse to repair both places at the same time, but I'd like to bounce the
> idea off of other listers.
>
> It's not an urQ, but it has been my daily driver/track driver since
> 1990... and I'd really hate to lose it.
>
> And I'm _not_ independently wealthy.
>
> Tess
> in ICY Bellevue, WA USA