Hi all

Anyone ever tried this? I have a small dent which happened at the dealer. They want to respray the whole panel and fill it. Im not happy with that and think it can be done as a paintless repair. But before I call in the pros thought I would see if this works first. The dent seems to be about the same as the one in the youtub movie below. Anyone else tried this, would it damage the paint in any way? I cant see it does but second opinions always help and you guys are great with your views.

YouTube - dent removal

 

let the pros do it !!! Paint less dent repair is great Ive usw them many a time !! Even the body shop I go to hires them for side jobs !!

 

I've also heard of using "dry ice" CO2 blocks to do this. Crush some in a cloth towel and apply to the dent, but the compressed gas looks to work as good or better. I'm not sure as to why they used the hair dryer first, the extreme cold is what does the work in making the metal contract and pull the dent out.

 

I've seen the videos Ive never done it myself I hear its BS. Try Dent Wizards or Dent Doctor. Most high end dealerships have some one that does their door dings, check with them.

 

I tried it didn't work for me.

 

From an engineering perspective, this is virtually impossible. The temperature difference between a hairdryer and compressed air is infinitesimal on the material scale of steel or aluminum.

MAYBE if your car had body panels made of recycled thermoplastic this might have a chance of working, but most likely not. Dry ice will also not work, as you are talking perhaps a hundred or so degress kelvin of actual temperature difference.

Modern paintless dent repair is cheap ($100 or less) and they use some very interesting tools nowadays, including AC induction heating devices to remove dents using HF RF skin-effect heating. The result is localized heating at up to 1000 degrees or more of heat.

 

Tried it on my daily beater (Pontiac Sunfire ,perfect for testing things that I don't want to do on the Crossfire), had several dents from people leaning on the car at work,etc. Did not work, tried four times on different panels and dents.

 

Your basically attempting to shrink the metal without harming the paint. What you can do (if your brave) is to heat around the outside of the area with high enough heat that you don't hurt the paint. Then you put the dry ice lightly in the center of ding. I'm no metallurgist. But if your careful you won't further damage things at least.

 

I've had some pretty good success with "Pops a Dent," an "As seen on TV" product. Just make sure you get the base points as close to the edge of the ding as practical as too wide a spread will actually create a bulge.

 

I had a dent on the door. I think my car was hit with a rock (those dang kids)!

Brought the car to a bodyshop when some lady rear ended me. They had a dent guy there that travels from dealerhsip to dealership. I rolled down my window took a quick walk around the building and came back in less than 5 minutes and the dent was gone. Just a tiny paint chip the size of a needle from where the rock hit. Used a touch up paint and can't even tell it was there. The guy didn't even charge me so I threw him a 20 dollar bill because I was so happy!

The dealership wanted to respray my whole door too. Don't do it. Just get a pro to pop out the ding. It literally takes 3 minutes and they won't do any damage.

 

I have a small dent in my door from those carefree mothers at the supermarket and would like to have it removed. Do they need the door card removed on the inside to do this, because if they do, I'd rather remove myself prior to the dent guys turning up?

 

they will not have to remove anything on the door they use heat and dry ice to get the ding to pop back out to its original shape , as long as the ding is not on a crease in the fender

 

This is what you guys are looking for. Paintless Dent Repair.
This is a business here in San Diego, but they explain the procedure thoroughly on their site:

San Diego Auto Paintles Dent Removal | Plastic Bumper | Key Scratch Repair | Orange County | Los Angeles

Look up your local equivalent. These guys are the pros.

 

At my dealerships we have always used paintless dent repair. As long as it is on a flat part of the vehicle & there isn't a crease you should be good to go. I have used Dent Wizard and a few others. Every time I have seen them do it there is a suction cup of some kind involved. Hopefully there isn't any paint damage & its just a depression. If it a small dent you can get them repaired for as little as $25. For such a small amount of money I wouldn't even take the chance of damaging my paint.

 

A suction cup? No way unless maybe you are talking about a big dent. The process is pretty fascinating to watch. They set up a grid like device that projects on to the dent. The dent makes the grid look out of focus. They use several tools that look like riding crops and the literally massage the dent out. When the dent is out the grid looks clear. he also used a plastic mallet to tap something that looked like a nail finisher/tap that is also made of plastic. he tapped around the dent very lightly with that gizmo. I watched my dent guy do a long dent in the door of my wife's car. Took him an hour but it perfect when he finished. I've never seen them use any suction cup devices. I believe there is a kit available on line with an instruction course. The kit is expensive.

 

No... they didn't remove anything. I rolled down the window so they could stick rods through the crack. Then they tap them around and message out the dent from the inside. Quick and easy... and very effective! They don't remove the door panels.

 

Thanks for all the responses guys and girls as always we can rely on the experience of others. The dealers said they would have to take the door apart and respray the whole panel and then blend into the from and back wings, thats half a respray for a 1 inch dent. I was not prepared to have that happen. They said the Paintless Dent removal procedures wont work on the door due to the crease at the top where the cross is in the detailing. But the dent is right in the middle. I thought that was just BS myself and you guys have confirmed it. I HATE MAIN DEALERS they just LOVE to rip us normal folk off!!!

Gonna see if i can manage to get a dent man out to have a look then.

Cheers all!

 

My car is black too... so every dent you see. I would find a dent removal guy. Even go over to his place if you have to. Most of these guys travel from dealership to dealership so they may even say to meet them at a close dealership. He may say I can't guarantee but tell him to do his best. He will make it look great and it will take him 5 min without pulling your car apart. And if you aren't happy with it, then you can go the bodyshop route (but I am pretty sure you will be happy). No need to pull off door panels and spray them. Go for the less invasive option first (that is my opinion). It is better for your sanity, saves you time by not leaving your car somewhere and less stress on your car

 

Last Spring we had a large hail storm pass thru Yukon. Luckily, I had moved the car towards home and only got some minor spots. The neighbor next to my dad is a PDR guy. I watched him do my car in dad's garage, some awesome work, I'll say. For the roof dent he used of all things - hot glue! With this special little gun and these "pop rivet" flat head pads. Heat the glue, stick in the pad, attach the gun and gently pull up the dent. Took a couple of times per dent, slow and easy, checking all the while. When he was done the only spots that were still dented were the black strips next to the side glass.