Panel beater hammering out a car door panel with a dolly and hammer at Stow Smash Repairs

Panel beating and body restoration on the North Shore.

Metal worked by hand since 1965. Damage restored properly.

Panel Beating

Stow Smash Repairs is a panel beating workshop in Artarmon, shaping metal since 1965. We repair dented guards, crushed quarters, rusted sills and tired classic bodies across the North Shore. Where the steel is sound, we beat, file and shrink it back to shape. Where it isn’t, we say so and quote the replacement. Factory panels, factory fit.

Repaired bumper refitted and colour matched at Stow Smash Repairs

How We Do It

  1. Step 01

    Read the metal.

    We check whether the steel is straight enough to work and free of rust. That call decides repair or replace, and we make it in front of you.

    Panel metal assessment by checking panel flex at Stow Smash Repairs
  2. Step 02

    Strip to bare where it matters.

    Filler and paint hide sins. If we suspect an old repair the panel comes back to metal before we quote the fix.

    Panel stripped back to bare steel at Stow Smash Repairs
  3. Step 03

    Shape it.

    The panel goes back to its pressing shape, not to a skin of filler over a hollow.

    Panel beating metal work using a file at Stow Smash Repairs
  4. Step 04

    Check the fit.

    Gaps and swage lines are the truth test. If the lines don’t run, the job isn’t done. Structural work gets measured on the Car-O-Liner and Global Jig.

    Chassis pulling clamp on the Car-O-Liner alignment bench at Stow Smash Repairs
  5. Step 05

    Hand over to paint.

    Bare, straight metal goes to our booth for priming and colour matching. Same building, same standard.

    Freshly primed panel ready for paint booth at Stow Smash Repairs

Common Jobs

Guards usually unbolt, so a badly hit one is often replaced. A quarter panel is welded structure, so we repair it in place wherever the metal allows. That keeps your factory seams and factory rust protection.

Often, yes. Plastic welding repairs a split cover for less than a new one, and we refinish it in the booth. Torn mounting tabs and crushed clips change the maths. We tell you which side of the line yours sits.

Roof skins are large, shallow curves, so they show every ripple. Small creases can sometimes be worked or pulled. A properly kinked roof skin usually means replacement, because a wavy repair is visible from the street.

Uneven gaps mean the last shop hung panels on a structure that was never pulled straight. We measure first, then fix the cause, not the symptom. Fixing bad repairs is a steady part of our week.

What It Costs

Panel beating cost per panel.
A shallow dent in an open section of a door costs less than a crease over a body line. Access matters as much as size.

Common Questions

Should the panel be repaired or replaced?
If the metal is straight enough to work and rust-free, repairing keeps your factory panel and factory fit. Replacement is for torn, stretched or rusted-through steel. We tell you which yours is, not which pays better.
Rust is bubbling under the paint. Can it just be repainted?
Bubbling means the rust is under the paint, not on it. Grinding and repainting over it buys a year at best. It needs cutting back to clean metal or it comes back.

Where to next

  1. 01

    Every panel we shape is painted in the same building. Spray Painting →

Mercedes-AMG wheel and brake caliper detail at Stow Smash Repairs workshop

Send photos. Get a real quote.

No callback loop, no drive across town. Photograph the damage and we quote from that, or we’ll come to you at home or work.

Photos in, honest number back the same day.

Find Us

35 Hotham Parade
Artarmon NSW 2064

Opening Hours

Mon – Fri
7:00 am – 4:30 pm
Saturday
By appointment only
Sunday
Closed
Call (02) 9439 8572