Samantha Reed

A slide hammer kit is a puller tool that uses a heavy sliding weight along a steel shaft to generate sudden impact force, used to remove stubborn parts like wheel bearings, CV joints, dented body panels, axle seals, and pressed-in pulleys. Our team spent the last 8 weeks testing 10 of the most popular kits … Read more

After a hailstorm or an unfortunate parking lot encounter, most car owners dread the body shop quote. Our team spent the last 90 days testing the best dent puller kits available right now, evaluating everything from budget glue-pulling sets to heavy-duty slide hammers that professional technicians actually use. We pulled real dents from hoods, doors, … Read more

You walk out to your car after a grocery run and find a fresh door ding. Maybe it is a parking lot souvenir. Maybe the neighborhood kids hit a baseball into the fender. Either way, a body shop quote can sting worse than the dent itself. That is exactly why we spent the last three … Read more

I still remember the day I dragged my first dented fender into the garage. A door swing in a parking lot had left a creased mess, and the body shop wanted more than I paid for the car to fix it. That weekend I bought my first stud welder dent puller, burned a few practice … Read more

When a fender takes a hit or a hailstone leaves a softball-sized crater in your hood, you have two real choices: drop a thousand dollars at a body shop, or pick up a hammer and dolly and fix it yourself. I have owned and used body hammer and dolly sets for over a decade, working … Read more

Last updated for — We tested seven stainless steel and accessory discs across two months of panel work on hoods, doors, and motorcycle tanks. Below is our honest take on the best shrinking discs available right now, plus the technique we wish someone had taught us before our first project. A shrinking disc is a … Read more

An English wheel (also called a wheeling machine) is a metalworking tool that forms compound curves in sheet metal by passing the panel between a domed lower anvil wheel and a flat upper rolling wheel. Operators adjust downward pressure to locally stretch the metal into shape, and overlapping passes with different anvil radii let you … Read more

If you’re building a hot rod, repairing a motorcycle gas tank, or fabricating custom panels, a bead roller is one of the most useful tools in your shop. A bead roller presses shaped ribs into sheet metal to stiffen panels, strengthen flanges, and add clean decorative lines. We spent three months testing eight of the … Read more

I’ve spent the last decade bending sheet metal in home shops and small fabrication spaces, from rebuilding truck fenders to forming HVAC transitions. Choosing the best sheet metal brake makes the difference between fighting your tooling all weekend and walking away with crisp, repeatable bends. A sheet metal brake is a metalworking tool that clamps … Read more

Three years ago I bent my first piece of copper tubing using nothing but a spring and a lot of cursing. The result looked like a dog had chewed on it. That is when I bought my first real tube bender, and I have been obsessed ever since. After testing more than a dozen best … Read more