Attempt paintless dent repair or just leave it?

[PatrickS]

Other dings are minor, this one is the most noticeable and in a tough area. Sorry in advance for the poor pictures, its raining hard today and the garage lighting isn't the best for this.



There's a paintless repair shop close to my house who said they can apply an epoxy-like glue that he then uses a suction cup type hand tool to pull these out. I have no prior experience employing a paintless repair. I was thinking this one might require the headliner removal and a press from inside?
It doesn't beat me up to leave it as its a driver and not a queen, and I'd rather it works than do it wrong. Any concerns to the paint or potential future corrosion by trying to fix it or leave it? Honestly I am on the fence about trying to do anything about it and would appreciate hearing experiences and opinions. Thanks in advance.

[Bob Kontak]

Originally Posted by PatrickS

Any concerns to the paint or potential future corrosion by trying to fix it or leave it?

I would have no concerns about the paint being damaged. I would ask the guy to be brutally honest about his assessment of how it should turn out. Old Porsche metal is thicker than new Honda metal. Ask him if that makes a difference.

I have had nothing but good luck with good paintless repair peeps.

[timmy2]

Original paint is normally ok with the glue method. A repainted car may have problems according to the instructions on a paintless dent tool I have.

[wolds]

During one of our clubs Trickle Charge Saturdays over the winter we went to a detail shop and watched a demonstration of this paint-less technique. The tech used hot melt to glue the pull fixture onto the car. He had many years of experience and a tool box full of scratch built tools. I can tell you from personal experience that if you find the right tech the results will be good. I had several dents in my black SC that I had removed and even I can't spot them any more.

[Quicksilver]

Paintless dent removal is as good as they guy doing it. If you find a real wizard they can do miracles. The guy I use in Huntington Beach is so anal that he remarked that it is easier to do a color sanded car because he doesn't end up correcting for the orange peel in the paint!
He says that a lot of the difference in your average PDR shop and a high end shop is that the good shops know how to take the car apart to access difficult areas and the really good guys know everything about the properties of paint so they know exactly how far they can work something before it gets into the "danger zone".

From the picture you have that looks like a really easy one.

Just remember: Half the people working in any industry are in the bottom 50% in skill...

[sugarwood]

I think PDR is pretty widely accepted now.
Are you interested in trying to DIY?
You're not going to make it worse.

[PatrickS]

Thanks All, its much appreciated.
Your feedback sounds positive providing a very competent shop/person does it.

sugarwood, I am not adverse to doing it myself. A couple of things make me pause, finding an easy option to practice before I go for it on the 911, and I tend over think things that are new to me. From what I have gathered, once you start you need to move fairly quickly. But at least you say I wouldnt make it worst ha

[Bob Kontak]

Originally Posted by PatrickS

But at least you say I wouldnt make it worst ha

I think you should not touch it. You pull it out with an "advertised on tv" tool (which I have done with results, but 70% results) and you wonk the metal a second time. Does that make it worse?

You don't know how to do it and neither did I.

[David 23]

Originally Posted by Quicksilver

Paintless dent removal is as good as they guy doing it. If you find a real wizard they can do miracles. The guy I use in Huntington Beach is so anal that he remarked that it is easier to do a color sanded car because he doesn't end up correcting for the orange peel in the paint!
He says that a lot of the difference in your average PDR shop and a high end shop is that the good shops know how to take the car apart to access difficult areas and the really good guys know everything about the properties of paint so they know exactly how far they can work something before it gets into the "danger zone".

Could you PM me the name and contact of your HB guy?

[PatrickS]

Originally Posted by Bob Kontak

I think you should not touch it. You pull it out with an "advertised on tv" tool (which I have done with results, but 70% results) and you wonk the metal a second time. Does that make it worse?

You don't know how to do it and neither did I.

Agreed, me want no wonky.

[mepstein]

We have a very good PDR guy who does work on our shop cars. Works miracles on some. If you find a guy with a good rep, use him.

[Drisump]

I have used a fellow locally and his skills are quite remarkable. A local high end dealership has him tweak up their new cars from Maranello....amongst a host of others. Cheers

[ClickClickBoom]

Originally Posted by PatrickS

Thanks All, its much appreciated.
Your feedback sounds positive providing a very competent shop/person does it.

sugarwood, I am not adverse to doing it myself. A couple of things make me pause, finding an easy option to practice before I go for it on the 911, and I tend over think things that are new to me. From what I have gathered, once you start you need to move fairly quickly. But at least you say I wouldnt make it worst ha

Don't kid yourself, curved metal needs to have a skilled metal worker doing the magic. You can indeed make it worse if you don't know what you are doing.
Eric

[T77911S]

i bought one of the dentless kits.
there is a thread I think in off topic about them
I did practice before doing the 930.
it does take patients and a bit of kill.
the big thing I found it you cant really tell how much it has pulled it out until you remove the tab and check it. so you have to start out with very subtle pulls then check it to see if you did anything. that way you don't over pull it. if you over pull it I think it actually looks worse and even though you have tools to knock it back down its still not easy. so start with very very light pulls because some dents will pull out easier than others.

I had a few very small "impressions" on the 930. you always get them on the front hood by the badge and on the rear deck lid because people don't know how to properly close them.
I removed the one on the front. I also removed one on the side where a screwdriver flew up and hit the side when it got ran over.
I still have one on top of the fender behind the headlight. I have pulled it quite a bit but it has not budged. I left it alone before I did more damage.

some times the glue is hard to get off.

make sure you don't use a tab bigger than the dent as it tends to pull metal that does not need to be pulled.

I am getting the passenger side door of my BMW repainted so I had some dents to test it on.
I had one very small but kind of deep dent, almost like a BB gun shot it. I could not get the tabs to stay because the dent was too deep and too small.

I spent about
$70 for the kit. worth it just to pull the one or 2 dents on the 930.

only use it for small low impression dents is my suggestion.
I pulled the big one on the BMW but the metal is stretched. it actually looks worse now than when it was just a big dent, but I am planning on a shop doing it.

its a matter of "testing" the dent to figure out how hard to pull.

I had one on my mazda truck it would not pull. perhaps the metal is thicker. IDK. it only messed up the paint on my old mazda.

don't know what the shops charge to do it.

[Cairo94507]

If we knew where the OP was located we could really dial this in for him. Alas, I have no idea where in the world he is. I have a great guy I have used on my cars but he is, of course, where I am located, as you can see by my member posting info, the San Ramon Valley in CA.

[Sunroof]

I have a small dime size dent in my passenger door. When I went to one of these repair shops that use the rods for repair, I was told that the metal in my 1973.5T "was too thick" and the dent would have to be filled in!

[T77911S]

i think it also depends on how deep it is.
perhaps that is why I could not get the one out on the top of my fender plus I think because of the location may not help. it is on the curved part and that may add to the resistance of the metal to move.
I would goto another shop.

yea, I don't see why people don't list their location. if I saw that someone was close I would help in person. same with listing their car. gets a bit frustrating having to ask the year.

the kit I have came with 2 different pullers. one you squeeze and one has a screw that pulls out.
I was also able to make a small slide hammer that I already have work with it too.

[mikl911]

I agree with Quick silver, I'm sure it depends on who is doing it. I had a great experience with my 78 SC saved me $17000. My car had dents everywhere from the previous owner and you can't see any of them and all of mine were worse than yours. Ask for references and go for it.

[NYNick]

I was scared to death to have this done to my baby. My body shop had a guy who did all his work. We met at the shop, but I couldn't bring myself to watch. Tap tap tap, bing bang bang 40 minutes later it was done.

But I couldn't watch him do it. : )

[86 ssinit]

Im with let the pros do it. I have a guy who cleaned up my car in about an hour and a half for $200. Took out around 10 dings. Had a dent in the vent under the windshield that he said would be hard to fix I said leave it don't worry about that one. Think I insulted him!! He said matter of factly I have tools for that. He did and he got it out. Had him back to do my sons car and door dings on the dds.