Paintless Dent Repair??

[two_bit_score]

Does anyone have experience doing this?

How did you get interested in doing it?

What kind of results did you have and what supplies did you start off with?

I am thinking about taking this up as a hobby so if you have any advice please share.

 

[MossRoad]

We had a 2000 Impala that got caught in a hail storm. Every piece of sheet metal had dozens of dents except the 2 right-side doors. It did something like $4500 damage on a $4800 car and the insurance wouldn't total it. They sent it to paintless dent repair and I'll be darned if they didn't remove every single dent in the car with the exception of the fiberglass hood, which had to be replaced. A couple weeks later, all the paint on the trunk lid started popping off, so they had to replace and repaint that, so it ended up costing them more than the car was worth.

However, I was still impressed with the roof, all 4 fenders and the 2 driver's side doors. They held up until we sold the car many years later.

With that said, every time there is a hail storm, these paintless dent removal shops pop up for a while, then leave. I think they're mobile or something, or owned by the insurance companies. Don't know what the market for them would be. Good luck with the venture if you proceed. :thumbsup:

 

[Fuddy1952]

I have a 2014 Hyundai I bought new and watched as a seagull dropped an oyster shell onto roof when car was new, left a bad dent. I read where you could use a heat gun which I tried carefully and it worked! I still have car, can't see where it happened.

 

[two_bit_score]

We had a 2000 Impala that got caught in a hail storm. Every piece of sheet metal had dozens of dents except the 2 right-side doors. It did something like $4500 damage on a $4800 car and the insurance wouldn't total it. They sent it to paintless dent repair and I'll be darned if they didn't remove every single dent in the car with the exception of the fiberglass hood, which had to be replaced. A couple weeks later, all the paint on the trunk lid started popping off, so they had to replace and repaint that, so it ended up costing them more than the car was worth.

However, I was still impressed with the roof, all 4 fenders and the 2 driver's side doors. They held up until we sold the car many years later.

With that said, every time there is a hail storm, these paintless dent removal shops pop up for a while, then leave. I think they're mobile or something, or owned by the insurance companies. Don't know what the market for them would be. Good luck with the venture if you proceed. :thumbsup:

It’s just going to be a hobby. I don’t want to have to satisfy anybody but myself.

But those PDR hail guys stay busy. Then you have the regular guys who work mobile and have regular body shops and dealerships they work for. I’ve seen some of them work over the years and the good ones are usually good and stay very busy.

I don’t want to be busy I just want to be able to do that kind of work when I want to. Not as a job, just as a hobby.

 

[two_bit_score]

I have a 2014 Hyundai I bought new and watched as a seagull dropped an oyster shell onto roof when car was new, left a bad dent. I read where you could use a heat gun which I tried carefully and it worked! I still have car, can't see where it happened.

Yeah, heat will pop out a lot of dents on roofs, hoods and deck lids. Lot of old body men would talk about taking a grinder and lightly hitting the hail dents on a roof to raise them up without having to use filler. I never saw anyone do it but heard it enough that it seemed plausible to me.

I don’t want to get into painting and all of that but some of these PDR guys can do a lot picks and glue tabs. It’s just interesting.

 

[s219]

I have seen them work and it was impressive to watch. Saw a guy fix a dent that ran across a body crease, and it was impossible to detect when he was done.

 

[dodge man]

I watched a guy do a brand new car I bought that had a door ding. It’s magic is all I can say.

I had a coworkers husband who did it for a year. He invested quite a bit of time and effort in training and then bought a bunch of tools. It was a tough way to make a living unless you followed the hail storms around and were gone all the time. I got the idea it is not a hobby thing. I’m not saying it’s not possible I just think it a learned skill and a talent you lose if you don’t do it all the time.

 

[2LaneCruzer]

I watched a guy do a brand new car I bought that had a door ding. It’s magic is all I can say.

I had a coworkers husband who did it for a year. He invested quite a bit of time and effort in training and then bought a bunch of tools. It was a tough way to make a living unless you followed the hail storms around and were gone all the time. I got the idea it is not a hobby thing. I’m not saying it’s not possible I just think it a learned skill and a talent you lose if you don’t do it all the time.

And then there's Mother Nature. I managed to get a nice ding in Sharn Jean's new SUV, just above the windshield, courtesy of a rock thrown by an oilfield truck. I never told her about it, and she never noticed it, although it was there for some time. Last time I looked, it had popped out, and not even a scratch in the paint to show where it was. I just chalked it up to good old Oklahoma sunshine.

 

[Fuddy1952]

I watched a guy do a brand new car I bought that had a door ding. It’s magic is all I can say.

I had a coworkers husband who did it for a year. He invested quite a bit of time and effort in training and then bought a bunch of tools. It was a tough way to make a living unless you followed the hail storms around and were gone all the time. I got the idea it is not a hobby thing. I’m not saying it’s not possible I just think it a learned skill and a talent you lose if you don’t do it all the time.

A local dealership salesman I know told me the dent guy they use takes the car off on their lot so others can't see him at work. Apparently it is a real art.
I was taking a gamble getting my dent out, I didn't want to burn the paint. I had freeze spray there if it got too hot. It worked well, I was lucky.

 

[two_bit_score]

A local dealership salesman I know told me the dent guy they use takes the car off on their lot so others can't see him at work. Apparently it is a real art.
I was taking a gamble getting my dent out, I didn't want to burn the paint. I had freeze spray there if it got too hot. It worked well, I was lucky.

What were you using to heat it with?

 

[two_bit_score]

And then there's Mother Nature. I managed to get a nice ding in Sharn Jean's new SUV, just above the windshield, courtesy of a rock thrown by an oilfield truck. I never told her about it, and she never noticed it, although it was there for some time. Last time I looked, it had popped out, and not even a scratch in the paint to show where it was. I just chalked it up to good old Oklahoma sunshine.

A buzzard swooped down and hit the top of a car I was driving once. LOUD! I was sure it did some major damage but where it hit was right near the windshield pillar just above the windshield over the drivers side. So a pretty reinforced area of the roof. But it still put an egg sized dent on the roof.

By the end of summer that dent was gone. I attribute it strictly to heat from the sun during a very hot summer.

 

[two_bit_score]

I watched a guy do a brand new car I bought that had a door ding. It’s magic is all I can say.

I had a coworkers husband who did it for a year. He invested quite a bit of time and effort in training and then bought a bunch of tools. It was a tough way to make a living unless you followed the hail storms around and were gone all the time. I got the idea it is not a hobby thing. I’m not saying it’s not possible I just think it a learned skill and a talent you lose if you don’t do it all the time.

If they are experienced and good at it it’s amazing what they can do.

It seems to be like a lot of things as far as hobbies go. Runs the gamut from very inexpensive to almost a full time, professional-amateur effort.

I think it’s interesting and would be fun to be able to pull a dent out of a friends or relatives vehicle for them. Or, my own of course.

Some of the tools can be pretty expensive.

 

[buck12]

When my 09 F150 was new I dropped about a 3’ x 3’ piece of plywood on the hood and put a couple of pretty good dents in the hood. I also had door ding. I found a guy online that had a stall at a small tire shop. He made my new truck new again. 11 years later and the paint has not popped.

 

[Oaktree]

So how does this work? Is it just heat alone or is there other magic involved?
I've heard of PDR before, but never known anyone who did it, nor have I ever seen it done. I'd imagine it's restricted to fairly minor dents.

 

[rangerfredbob]

A guy from another forum I'm on just got a starter kit from Amazon.

I'm cheap and stubborn so I drive old beaters (newest vehicle I have is from 2000) and when a dent drives me nuts I just fix it to my abilities, I've used a little bit of everything from 2x4's to the cheap body hammer set from Harbor Freight to pry bars to brass drifts... The quality depends on the thought I put into it and whether the initial dent is creased or not. I have not tried the external glue dent pulling but I imagine it works fine, I've been tempted...

just a note, for a dent to drive me nuts it generally is creased and deep enough to draw attention, a minor ding is just character... I wanna get some of the dents out of my daily driver but I'm not going to go crazy, a couple were forced, one made it so the tailgate wouldn't open and another pushed on the tail light, and another made the door hit the fender...

 

[two_bit_score]

So how does this work? Is it just heat alone or is there other magic involved?
I've heard of PDR before, but never known anyone who did it, nor have I ever seen it done. I'd imagine it's restricted to fairly minor dents.

Oh you need to watch some videos on YouTube.

Runs from glue pulling very small dents all the way up to some major repair jobs with light boards and some pretty expensive tools.

It’s fascinating.

 

[two_bit_score]

A guy from another forum I'm on just got a starter kit from Amazon.

I'm cheap and stubborn so I drive old beaters (newest vehicle I have is from 2000) and when a dent drives me nuts I just fix it to my abilities, I've used a little bit of everything from 2x4's to the cheap body hammer set from Harbor Freight to pry bars to brass drifts... The quality depends on the thought I put into it and whether the initial dent is creased or not. I have not tried the external glue dent pulling but I imagine it works fine, I've been tempted...

just a note, for a dent to drive me nuts it generally is creased and deep enough to draw attention, a minor ding is just character... I wanna get some of the dents out of my daily driver but I'm not going to go crazy, a couple were forced, one made it so the tailgate wouldn't open and another pushed on the tail light, and another made the door hit the fender...

That’s what I’m talking about.

 

[rangerfredbob]

If you have dings on a vehicle and can get to the back side, you'd be surprised what you can get away with, start light with prying or hammering then work your way harder until it works. The trick is you have to reverse what caused the dent so just think that way.

The trick is to try things on something that doesn't matter, if you're really bored take some pry bars, hammers and 2x4's to the junkyard and see what works... I was kinda forced into doing my own body work when I rolled my '90 Ranger down a sand dune 1.5 times sideways, didn't want to total it so just fixed it up myself, all original sheet metal, pulled the roof skin, straightened the A pillars and pulled both fenders and got the dents out, there's some areas I couldn't get to so it's not perfect but it's good enough for me...

 

[dodge man]

They don’t normally use heat. They like to get behind it to work it out. They can also glue a something on the outside to get the dent out. The thing is you can’t just pull or push the dent out, the metal is stretched. When the guy did my car, the dealership paid for it since the ding was on it when I bought it. It was behind the drivers door. He said he could drill a hole in the door frame to get behind it or do it from the outside. He did it from the outside. I’m not joking when I say it seemed like magic, I watched him do it and don’t know how he did it. It took him maybe 20 minutes start to finish.

 

[Fuddy1952]

What were you using to heat it with?

I had never done it before but went to YouTube university. I picked a warm sunny day, washed car and you could really see the dent in sunlight. I used a heat gun, alternating high-low. If it seemed too hot I used a little freeze spray. As someone mentioned it's like the metal was stretched.
Starting at one end it began to push up. So I moved along until it was out. I was afraid I'd burn the paint so I was careful. When through I used cold water, then waxed it. It worked ok. That's been a few years, paint's fine.