Deer strike and dent removal

[Decolliber]

A deer ran into the side of my Carrera saturday night, leaving a small dent in the left rear fender. The "paintless dent removal" guys are cheap ($75), and I could fill in the paint cracks with touch up paint myself. Or should I take it to a professional body shop? Would the latter press out the dent or fill it in? Which is better? Do I need to be concerned about corrosion getting under the undercoating now?

In the spring and fall in Iowa, herds of deer gather by the sides of rural roads and wait for cars to come along, then run out in front of them. Better than car jackers on SoCal (or meeting sbswam talking into his camera), I suppose, but a constant hazard, especially at night.

[RickM]

If you cracked the primer and compromised the zinc coating (By stress) then corrosion has alread started. If the paint is cracked, as you indicate, you may want to have it taken care of by a reputable body shop. They should pull as much of the dent out as possible and use minimal amounts of filler. OR you can have the door skin replaced.

Couple of points: When "pulling" a dent they can use Vacuum (suction cup device), a dent puller which screws into holes drilled into the panel or a puller that attaches to copper studs that are resistance welded onto the panel.

A dent can be worked from the opposite side as well.

If it were me I'd have the panel taken care of completely.

Good luck

I've had several cars, including my present 911 massaged by a paintless dent guy here in Dallas and the results have been spectacular. I think it would be worth try. You can always go to a body shop if you don't like the results.