Maybe this should be in the general section but...
I have my front and rear valances off and want to start ironing them out as they've both suffered a bit. Not rust, just banged up a bit. I'm no body man but I have pulled a few dents out of a car or two, but my question to you pro body men or even you DYIers such as my self is, on something like a valance with its compound surfaces, do you try to get the shape back exactly to its original shape or get it as close as possible and just concentrate on making it concentric and balanced even though it may not match exactly to the original part?? IOW so it looks pleasing to the eye so to speak.
Thanks
Scott

Valances are very forgiving to work with and by going slow you can get them back very close to their original form. I was able to massage the dings out of both of mine (70 dart) with good results. All I used was a pick hammer and a dolly on the backside. I am not able to feel if the part is perfectly straight with my hand so I cheat by coloring the metal with a majic marker and then lightly drag a wide fine tooth file across the surface to reveal the high and low spots.

I find working dents out of curved parts to be suprisingly easy, it's the dead flat surfaces, like in the middle of a door, that are the hardest to fix, for me at least.

I agree with Neil,it's easier to work out dings on curved areas, I usually use shrinking disk to smooth out any waves, the only other advice I can give you is try having the valance bolted on the car, that way it will still keep it's shape and fitment, beating on it on a table or stand can distort the perimeter and you will have hard time fitting it back on the car,just my

I too have found it easier to work a curved surface. The way I see it, Flat is flat and when it isn't, you can easily see flaws. A curve can be less than original or more than, but as long as it is fairly close, it can appear stock. Think of the bodysides of any 70-81 Camaro or Firebird.

Thanks for the input. You guys have confirmed what I was guessing. Makes sense too to fix as much on the car as possible. I will need to fix some of the mounting flange on the rear first since it was torn loose on one side. I had a 56 D truck that got hit on one fender. I wanted to take it off to fix but my dad talked me out of it and helped me fix it on the truck. But this will be my first real attempt by my self on this large of scale. Hope he's watching
Thanks again,
Scott

While you could do the bodywork of the valence on the car, it might be easier with it off IMO.

Recently, I did mine. There were some high spots when it bottomed out sometime in it's past. I just kept working it and now it looks like it'll pass for paintwork now.

I will be chopping into and welding on my rear valance anyway as I'm adding dual exhaust and pulling bumpers inboard. So I know on that one, Just getting it to look "good" will be the key issue. Toyed with getting a second one to do R&D on