Does Paintless Dent Repair work

harryhchen · 03-24-2013, 04:45 PM

The other day I noticed a big dent on my front fender! I did know when it happened or how. It feels that somebody hit the car with a heavy but soft bag. Sad;-(

I contact a Paintless Dent Repair place (diablodents.com). They will charge me $375 to get it fixed. Does anybody have experience with those kind repair. Does it really work? Does the price sound right for the repair? Thanks.

Harry

Nostril Cheese · 03-24-2013, 04:52 PM

That looks a bit beyond the capability of the painless dent guys. Did they give you a visual estimate?

drmatera · 03-24-2013, 05:26 PM

I watched a paintless dent repair place fix an F250 4 door that had hail damage that you wouldn't believe. 2 days later you couldn't tell it ever had a ding. But I agree they usually deal with dings not dents.

Mike80911 · Mike80911's Garage

I just had a few small dents fixed in my Cayenne and they turnd out great you would never know there was a dent there. My wife has a brand new BMW and I put a dent in it the other day right on the lip of the rear quarter. He got that one out and it looks great. The only thing I was not to crazy about he hads to drill a hole in the door jamb to get the tool in there. But it does work and it is cool to watch as he moves the tool the dent slowly disappears.

BR_ · BR_'s Garage

I'm not familiar with their pricing structure, but that seems a bit high to me. If they can fix it, I assume it's not much more than getting inside that wheelwell which seems like easy access. I'd get a second quote to be sure.

I've always wanted to try the compressed air method, your dent seems like a good candidate. Might be worth giving it a shot as I don't think you can hurt it by trying!

Here is just one of the many examples on the web:

Compressed Air Dent Removal - YouTube

the only trick is to get a can with the right kind of chemical, do a little reading and you'll find what I mean.

Alphaboy1 · 03-24-2013, 07:08 PM

They should be able to fix that. I had 2 dents in my Porsche on the door and fender and can't even tell. They should be able to get to that from the inside.

steveng1993 · 03-24-2013, 07:43 PM

I kind of agree with alphaboy.
You may be could even DIY it, I would think all you would need to do is remove the fender liner and then get some kind of rubber mallet on it from the inside. I would think it might just pop out.
Or you might be able to get a suction cup on it and pull it.

One time I was buying a used VW passat from a dealer and it had damage on it right behind the rear door, it was minor, but 10x worse looking then your dent. The car was such a good deal I wasn't going to let it go over that, the place said they could get their guys to take care of it for I think like $500, I can't recall how much it was though. I agreed and am pretty sure that dent wizard came to the parking lot and fixed it. It looked like new. I had that car for about 8 years or so and never even noticed anything that it was painted or repaired there in that spot.

stealthn · 03-24-2013, 09:42 PM

Had it done twice in the 911, awesome work but you have to find the right guy(s). I asked around at a couple of performance shops got a real good recommendation. That price is too high, mine were $50 each , first one size of quarter took 10 minutes, other was more of a crease and took 20-30 minutes.

Good luck

harryhchen · 03-24-2013, 10:47 PM

Thanks for your inputs. I think I will give Compressed Air method a try. My dent does seem to be a "better" dent for it.
I will get this compressed air bottle:
Endust 10 Oz Air Duster with Bitterant - Walmart.com

I will report back the result. Thanks.

harry

van914 · van914's Garage

Harry,
I had a similar dent on the rear of my car. I went to the dealer and the Dent Wizard they use made the repair. You would be hard pressed to find it now. Well worth the cost to me.
Good luck,
Van914

BYprodriver · BYprodriver's Garage

It's all about the labor time. That looks pretty easy so they need to see it & you should offer $100.

alwazlookn4a911 · alwazlookn4a911's Garage

If you remove the fender liner and headlamp a PDR guy should be able to get that out for a reasonable price.
If you try it yourself you're probably not going to like what happens and then the PDR guy won't be able to fix it.
Watch the PDR guy and try it yourself next time.

harryhchen · 03-25-2013, 08:33 PM

I tried Compressed Air method. It did not work. I did this twice: blew hot air for 2 minutes and then sprayed compressed air for two minutes at the center of dent. No damage was done either:-)

I get a feeling that our cars have thicker steel than other cars so it did not pop easily.

harry

harryhchen · 03-27-2013, 08:30 PM

Updates:

I offered $250 to the first guy to fix the dent. He refused. So I called the second guy. His quote is $250. It is fixed now! The beauty gets her pretty face back. Thanks for all your inputs.
I

tomk · 03-28-2013, 04:13 AM

i used to do a fair amount of paint and body work on my own projects and when i saw the picture of the dent I figured no way could this be fixed without hammers, filler and paint. Very impressive

stealthn · 03-28-2013, 06:20 AM

Worth every penny

Nice job

BR_ · BR_'s Garage

Thanks for reporting back, it looks great! Did you get to watch? I'm curious how long it took and if it came out as one big "pop" or many steps along the way.

harryhchen · 03-28-2013, 12:54 PM

I did not get to watch how he did it since I was at work and left the car on the driveway.

My wife was there when he almost finished the job. According to her, he did not remove the lining. He, instead, push a tool in between the fender and lining. The total time is more than 1 hour but less than 2.