Have you ever left the store, gone out to your car and noticed a fresh dent or ding? This can be a frustrating experience as you may never know who or what was behind it. Dents and other blemishes leave a nagging imperfection on your car’s appearance, one that you’ll likely notice every time you go for a drive. You may choose to ignore it, but let’s face it – that blemish on your baby is always going to be there until you decide to fix it.
Fortunately, dent removal doesn’t need to be a long, painful, or even expensive process. After all, these days we’ve got paintless dent removal. Paintless dent removal is a simple and effective way to fix even extensive dents and dings. Marks on the surface of your car can be removed without any impact on your beautiful paint job. The best part of paintless dent repair? It is quick and affordable.
Let’s go through how paintless dent removal works, what you can use it for, and why it’s so effective.
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What Is Paintless Dent Repair And How Does It Work?
Paintless dent repair, or PDR, is a method of removing small dents from the body of the car when the surface of the paint is still in place. Unlike traditional bodywork, PDR does not use any body filler or paint. Instead, the process involves using picks and bumping hammers to slowly work out dings and dents without ever touching your paint.
Paintless dent repair often requires technicians to use several different strategies to get the car body back in proper shape. The goal of PDR is to push the indented metal back into shape, all while maintaining the original paint job, often without having to remove any panels at all.
The PDR technician starts by determining the best way to access the damaged area. This could involve going through a window opening, or removing inner panels or trim pieces. The technician then uses specialized tools to start at the dent’s outer edge and slowly work the metal and carefully back to its original position. The dent gradually gets worked smaller and smaller until it is no longer visible at all. Specialized lighting and tools are used to ensure that the finish of your car is dent free and looks good as new.
What Can Paintless Dent Repair Fix?
Paintless dent repair is primarily used for shallow dents caused by low force impacts. PDR can be used for some large dents, provided there is no paint damage.
Here are some of the instances where PDR is effective:
- Hail damage
- Minor collisions and fender benders
- Parking accidents
- Pebble and road debris damage
- Door dings
Paintless dent repair isn’t a viable option in all circumstances. For instance, it’s not suitable for any scrapes that compromise the surface of the paint.
Other examples of situations where PDR is not recommended include:
- Broken paint inside the dent.
- A dent has torn metal or sharp edges.
- The affected area has had previous bodywork.
- The indented metal is located very near the edge of a panel.
Benefits Of Choosing Paintless Dent Repair
While it looks easy, paintless dent repair is actually quite difficult and requires considerable skill to perform correctly. It is important to choose a reliable and experienced professional for the job.
When done properly, here are some of the benefits of choosing PDR:
- The repair is convenient: If the dents are small, PDR can be completed in just a few hours.
- Cost-effective: PDR costs much less than traditional bodywork as there is no need for body filler, sanding, or repainting.
- No color issues: Because there’s no painting involved, there is no risk of mismatching colors.
- Improved resale value: Vehicles that have their original paint job intact tend to command a higher price when it is time to sell and don’t require a hit to your Carfax report due to traditional bodywork.
How Much Does Paintless Dent Repair Cost?
The cost of paintless dent removal can vary quite a bit depending on several factors including:
- Size of the dent: Technicians use coins to measure the size of dents. The visible size of the dent helps determine the cost to fix it. The cost of dent removal is also influenced by the depth of the dent.
- Location of the dent: Which body panel and where on the panel the dent is will influence the cost of car dent repair. Dents closer to the edge of panels take longer to fix and will cost more.
- The level of damage: The overall number of vehicle body panels that need dent removal, along with how many dents are on each panel — will impact the total cost of repair.
If you are wondering if paintless dent removal is covered by insurance, yes it typically is if you have full coverage. This form of repair should be covered by your comprehensive insurance or by the policy of the at-fault party in a collision.
Where To Go For Paintless Dent Repair
Paintless dent repair is an art. It requires skilled professionals that know how each vehicle dent responds differently to tools and techniques. Attempting PDR on your vehicle without prior training is not going to turn out like a professional PDR job – trust us! If not careful, you can actually make things much worse and end up needing a body and paint repair as a result.
JM Dent Repair is an expert in PDR and has been helping customers restore their cars’ appearance and resale value for 9 years. Our technicians are so skilled you likely won’t be able to find where the original dent was.
If you have a dent or ding that needs fixing, we’re the team to call. Our PDR services are covered by most insurance and our prices are often 80% less than what you’ll find at a body shop. Contact JM Dent Repair today to get a quote on the best paintless dent repair in town!