Late 2008 Macbook Air Hinge Problem

Question

Hi guys, I bought a used Macbook Air a few months ago, I absolutely love it. However the hinge has been getting kinda loose, to the point where the screen will start to fall backwards if the laptop is moved at all. I am told Apple replaces the hinges for out of warranty Macbook Airs, but this one has dents in the corners from previous owners, although it is in good condition overall. The Apple store is very far from me, is it still worth my time to bring it in or is that automatically considered user damage?
Thanks!
RIP STEVE!

Answer 1

Maybe, but not conclusively. Try it again, but for security I would make a backup if you don't already have one.
If the drive cannot be repaired this way, then you should erase the drive and reinstall OS X:
Install or Reinstall Lion/Mountain Lion from Scratch
Be sure you backup your files to an external drive or second internal drive because the following procedure will remove everything from the hard drive.
Boot to the Recovery HD:
Restart the computer and after the chime press and hold down the COMMAND and R keys until the menu screen appears. Alternatively, restart the computer and after the chime press and hold down the OPTION key until the boot manager screen appears. Select the Recovery HD and click on the downward pointing arrow button.
Erase the hard drive:
  1. Select Disk Utility from the main menu and click on the Continue button.
  2. After DU loads select your startup volume (usually Macintosh HD) from the left side list. Click on
      the Erase tab in the DU main window.
  3. Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled.) Optionally, click on the Security button and set the Zero
        Data option to one-pass. Click on the Erase button and wait until the process has completed.
  4. Quit DU and return to the main menu.
Reinstall Lion: Select Reinstall Lion/Mountain Lion and click on the Install button.
Note: You will need an active Internet connection. I suggest using Ethernet if possible because it is three times faster than wireless.
If this doesn't work then the drive should be replaced.