Dent removal

[jasper361]

I was wondering if anyone has any success in removing small shopping centre dents from their door panels, I have seen a few kits online for this type of thing but would appreciate any feedback on how good they are.

Cheers,
scott

[dean]

I reckon Les P K Ranger is into the line of work the....send him a pm and suss it out.

[Les PK Ranger]

..
Thanks Dean . . .
Yes Scott, the process is called PDR (paintless dent removal) and I wouldn't try it yourself, just get onto someone local who does it professionally.

The cheaper kits off ebay etc aren't too flash (quality wise), good PDR set is a couple of grand min, then you add and add to it as you progress, so much you can get, I'm up around $7 to $8 k worth now, but when you need to do a particular job we just have to have the right tool for the job.

Sometime glue / tabs are right for dents, but in the main pushing with rods is faster and more accurate.

You need a really good pdr light or it's a waste of time getting any sort of tools.
Reflection boards aren't bad, but with a proper light you can really see much clearer.

Sing out if you want any advice on your dings.
I'm actually coming up to Brissy on Saturday, will be there 3-1/2 weeks doing hail repairs (again), so if you fancy a little drive down to Loganlea way, let me know, can do you a good deal and take them out for you one day on a weekend.

[stumagoo]

As a panel beater I would say get a pdr guy in - its a real art form and the pro's are worth the money, a poor job looks often worse than the original damage and if the paint cracks then you are really up for repainting as well.

We get them in regularly for car yard work or small dents we have missed on a door etc when blending

[Natator]

I had a ding on my old NK on the bonnet I put a lot of effort trying to get rid of. I couldn't get behind it to push it out, I had to pull it in some way.

I tried a suction device off eBay, useless.

I next tried this system where you had a bracket that spanned the ding and you used a hot glue gun to glue a thing in the middle then screw it to pull up the ding. Useless.

I did have some success with ....

Heating the ding with a hairdryer, then spraying it with a can of compressed air, upside down. The rapid change in temp/pressure caused it to pop up nicely .... but it only reduced the ding my about 50% and repeating the process didn't make it any better. Check YouTube for videos on this, it is interesting at least.

With hindsight ......

If I had a very shallow, non creased, ding I might try the last method there, for the sake of $15 for the can of air. I wouldn't be confident it would work but I'd give it a go.

The other methods, I wouldn't even bother to try.

Anything more than a very shallow ding I'd be seeing a professional, and even then I'd most likely see one anyway for dings as it's not worth the hassle.

[Les PK Ranger]

Yes, after 3-1/2 years doing PDR, I'd say I've just about got the hang of it . . . it just takes a lot of work to get to a reasonable level, working your way up the skills level.
I was lucky, good opportunity to learn and progress fast without compromising anyones vehicle