Can You Remove Dents in Your Car with a Plunger? We Tested It Out

Since the 1970s, most vehicles have been designed to crumple under impact, absorbing as much energy as possible in an accident. The reason is safety. More force absorbed means less collateral damage and a greater chance the passengers will be unharmed. Trouble is, this design philosophy means many parts of modern vehicles are much more fragile than they once were. This is especially true of front and rear bumpers. Usually made of thin molded plastic color-matched to the surrounding steel body panels, bumpers are notorious for denting with even the lightest of impacts.

A recently trending dent removal solution is attempting to solve that problem. It proposes a fast, simple method of removing moderately severe dents from plastic vehicle bumpers without any specialized equipment. But is this hack helpful, or just an urban legend? Let’s take a look.

How It Works

If you’ve ever dealt with a severely dented bumper, you know how expensive a professional repair is. Even plastic bumpers cost a lot to fix. The reason boils down to the philosophy of most auto body shops. In my experience, they often won’t attempt to repair a severely dented bumper. Instead, they’ll source a factory-grade replacement, which isn’t cheap. Add in the cost of labor and possible replacement of any internal bumper components damaged in the impact, and the bill can quickly inflate to a painful level.

This hack aims to sidestep that trouble and expense, using nothing more than a kettle, some boiling water and a toilet plunger. Here are the steps involved:

• Boil a full kettle of water, then bring it out to your vehicle. Be sure the vehicle is parked somewhere where lots of hot water on the ground won’t be a problem.
• Slowly pour all the boiling water over the dent. Then, stick your toilet plunger into the dent and try to seal it against the plastic surface.
• Simultaneously, pull gently with the plunger while reaching under your vehicle and pushing out the dent from the inside of the plastic. (This is much easier with a helper.) Be careful not to burn yourself on the dripping water.

Results

I tried this hack on my parents’ Toyota Sienna, and it didn’t work for me at all — at least, not the method proposed in the video.

First, the boiling water didn’t warm and soften the plastic bumper sufficiently to allow the dent to be pressed and pulled out. I could barely get my hand squeezed in behind the dent to push on it, but eventually, I did. I pressed on it as hard as I could immediately after applying the water, but it remained rock solid. I couldn’t budge it even a little.

A second kettle full of boiling water did not make any difference. When I tried to suction the dent out with the toilet plunger, I couldn’t get the plunger to seal to the bumper’s uneven surface.

My conclusion: It probably won’t work for most people. Any folks who did make it work likely got lucky, with a few circumstances aligning to make their attempt successful:

• The bumper plastic was thin enough that the boiling water softened it sufficiently.
• The dent location and vehicle shape let them slide an arm and hand behind the bumper to push on the dent from the inside — essential for any hope of success.
• The shape and size of the dent in the video were just right for the toilet plunger to seal to the plastic surface. That provided some pulling force to the dent.

These three unlikely conditions are necessary for this hack to work and probably won’t be present for most dented bumpers.

However, it’s not impossible that you might have some luck with it, says Chris “Moose” Pyle, and automotive expert with JustAnswer.com. “If someone leans up against your car caving in a panel that is relatively flat with a large dent that resembles a puddle, a plunger can pop that dent out,” he says. “And the hot water trick can work, but it is not greatly efficient.”

Also, it is possible that trying this hack could make matters worse by causing damage that makes the proper repair process more difficult, says Bud Center, director of technical products and curriculum at I-CAR.

Alternative Solutions

After my failed attempt, I tried a modified approach. I slowly waved a heat gun on its highest heating setting over the dented plastic for about five minutes, maintaining a distance of about eight inches between tool and vehicle. This softened the plastic sufficiently to reach behind the bumper and pop out the dent.

So, if you have a heat gun and a vehicle with a dented bumper, this approach is certainly worth a try. Just don’t hold the heat gun too close, or you’ll melt off the bumper paint.

It’s worth noting that even after successfully removing the dent, my parents’ bumper wasn’t as good as new. It still had creases where the dent had been and was missing some paint. If you don’t mind this sort of result, give this approach a try.

There are also some other options to try to remove dents: If you can get behind it, you can often push it out using your hand, a hand pump airbag or an inflated basketball or football, says Pyle. He also recommends kits you can buy online that include hot glue, a pad and a puller. “They really do work and they can handle some tricky dents,” he says.

There are also kits that use a special light with lines on it and rods to push the dent out from behind, but “those are not overnight learned DIY tools,” says Pyle. “It takes a lot of practice to know where to work the dent and how far to go and how to remove crowns when you went too far.”

Because most damage occurs to your doors and hood, which are also the places you are going to see the most, you might also want to practice to improve your skills, before going all in, says Pyle. “I recommend a trip to a junkyard, and ask them if you can practice on a wrecked car,” he says. “They may look at you funny or laugh but likely will say ‘have at it.'”

If none of these options work for you, it may be time to get your bumper replaced. And once you’ve repaired or replaced your dented bumper, consider buying a bumper protector.

About the Experts

• Chris “Moose” Pyle is a master-certified technician with 20-plus years of automotive experience. He has also worked as an expert for JustAnswer.com since 2006.
• Bud Center is director of technical products and curriculum at I-CAR. He has been working in the collision repair industry for over 35 years and is PPG certified.