It’s incredibly frustrating to see dents in your car. Imagine the expense you would need to get your car’s bodywork fixed. Body shops usually charge high because environmental regulations have compelled them to use more environment-friendly equipment costing hundreds of thousands of dollars. Put in the cost of paint, and you’ve got a real problem.
Thankfully, paintless dent repair has been invented to quickly and effectively remove dents in your car at a fraction of the cost.
Paintless Dent Repair
Paintless dent repair, which is also called paintless dent removal, is a repair method aimed at restoring a vehicle’s body to its original-like condition. The good thing about this method is that it is affordable and fast. This method is used to take away those dents, dings, hail damage and body creases.
The process generally involves four steps, including evaluation of damage, gaining entry to the damage, taking a closer look at the damage, and finally applying slow pressure to the damage.
How it Works
Dings and dents are annoying, especially to the perfectionist’s eye or a car enthusiast. Although it doesn’t affect a car’s safety, it can pose a problem to your vehicle. If budget is not an issue, you can always bring your vehicle to the spray booth and have its bodywork done.
Another affordable and faster option is paintless dent repair. A car dealer will usually offer this service on-site, or they can contact a local company to do the work. Auto body shops may also schedule you on-site for this method.
Here’s how PDR works.
- Evaluate the Damage
The first thing that a technician do is to evaluate the dent, ding or damage on the vehicle. In this step, the technician takes note of the following:
- Location of the dent
- Size of it
- Possible ways to access the dent
After checking these things, a technician then decides if the dent can be adequately repaired using PDR. Once the technician chooses to continue with the procedure, they will prepare the area to fix.
- Access the Damage
Most of the time, damage can be accessed through the back side of the dent. This would mean carefully taking off the tail lights, body panels, and in some cases, interior panels. For PDR to be done, there must be a way to get into the dent.
After getting into the dent, the technician proceeds with the repair. The next steps involve the expertise and precision of the technicians who are trained to do the procedure.
- Take a Closer Look
The shop will usually have a particular light board to help their technicians take a closer look at the dent from their point of view. The board shows the dent’s shadow, which helps tell the technician where to place their tools precisely. The technician puts their tool at the backside of the dent and massages their way towards getting the surface into its original condition.
- Apply Slow Pressure
The technician then uses special tools to massage the surface into the original position using slow pressure. This step can vary in duration depending on the extent of the damage. But generally, the process is finished within the same day. After repairing the damaged surfaces, the technician then puts back the body panels, lights, or interior panels.
Paintless Dent Repair Vs. Traditional Repair
The traditional repair method requires filling the dents in the vehicle with body filler or paint. This paint or filler is then matched to everything in the car’s exterior. Although this process will really make the car look brand new, it doesn’t tackle the actual problem sustainably and permanently. The traditional method of repairing dents is expensive, time-consuming, and can hugely affect the car’s resale value.
On the other hand, the PDR method doesn’t need sanding, fillers, and paint. Consumers are increasingly considering PDR to be an inexpensive and effective solution to remove these distracting dents. Paintless dent repair, in short, gives you more value for more money than the conventional dent repair method while maintaining the condition of your car’s exterior. Most importantly, PDR avoids the use of paints, which can be harmful to nature.
Closing Thoughts
Car owners dread dents, not only because of its appearance and effect on the car’s value but also the expense associated with traditional dent repair methods. While a little dent may not cause much trouble, it can surprisingly affect the car’s longevity by inviting rust to form under a crack. Fortunately, paintless dent repair is a quick and affordable alternative to this problem.
