Removing dents from the gas tank

[frankenduck]

K bike fuel tanks are double-walled aluminum tanks so you can't pound then out from the inside.  (And don't be surprised if that magnetic tank bag you bought doesn't cling to your tank.)

Here's a little trick I learned for making dents "fix themselves."  It might not get the dent all of the way out but can make it smaller/better.

Heat the dent up with a heat gun or hair dryer.  Then slap some ice (or dry ice if your local grocery store carries it) on the dent.  Repeat this process a few times and the dent should come out, at least some.

The reason this works is that the metal has a structural "memory" and by running it through a few hot/cold cycles it will tend to return to it's original shape.

[johnny]

i wanted to extend my miles per tank so i filled up my tank with pressurized air to ballooon out the inner wall... not only did i extend my miles per tank it also fixed my dents...

the reason this works is that high pressure air crushes the inner liner outward thus creating a larger tank which holds more gas which takes me farther + when the inner liner  is crushed against the outer wall it pushes out the dents whether they gotts memory or not...

j o

[Turkus]

I was tempted to offer the "air hose" method but it seems that J O beat me to it.....and then some  :D

[Rick G]

The only time I ever put a air hose into a gas tank it ended up 4 feet wide and 4 inches high and didn't fit the bike very well at all.  My boss couldn't complain about having to buy a new tank because I said I didn't want to do it but he assured me it would work.  Took about a week to stop laughing.