UK Car Repair: 1997 jaguar xj6, body seams, spring perches

Question
Hello John, I just bought a used 1997 jaguar xj6 and going into it, I knew of a couple issues. There are small dents on one side away from body seams and I was wondering what your opinion of progressive dent repair (dent wizard) was. I also have a situation where while driving, when I hit a small bump or road imperfection, I can hear what sounds like an impact chirp. My first thought was maybe old bushings or shocks. The steering functionality is good and only happens on bumps.
thank you

Answer
Dent wizard works fine as long as the impact was not severe enough to delaminate the paint. I prefer the tried and true method of sanding it down and using a magnaspot to attach a rod to the dent and then pulling it and filling/refinishing. It is fact that all dents stretch the metal and although the dent wizards are good at removing superficial dents and making them casually ignorable the perfectionist will still see the dent and be driven crazy by it "especially on a dark car.

As for the chirp, probably bushings and possibly sway bar end links. I would advise using penetrating oil on all of the bushings to try to remedy this providing it passes a mechanics inspection. A product made in the USA called PB Blaster may be available to you in the UK and it is by far the best for alleviating this problem. Make sure you also soak the spring perches as they have rubber pads in them as well.

Regards,

John