Your car can be considered a significant investment. You’ve spent a considerable amount of money buying the ride you have now. As such, you’ll do your best to take care of and protect it against any damage. However, unfortunate incidents might happen to your car, resulting in unattractive dents. This issue is usually caused by inclement weather, tight spaces, falling objects, and even car doors.
Unfortunately, dealing with car dents can be frustrating because they make your vehicle look beat up. In that case, you might consider doing a paintless dent repair (PDR). As the term suggests, it refers to the process of removing dents from vehicles without the need for paint. It utilizes special tools and equipment to reduce a dent until it completely disappears from your car’s body. However, you must know that doing PDR can be complicated if you don’t have the skill and basic understanding of how it’s done.
Although professionals usually handle paintless dent repair Colorado Springs or in your area, below are the four tips for doing paintless dent repairs on your own:
Evaluate The Extent Of The Damage
Before doing paintless dent repairs, it’s essential to identify first the extent of your car’s damage. Generally, most dents can be fixed with paintless dent repairs. However, there are certain instances in which this specialized autobody repair might not be possible. Because of this, it’s crucial to get familiar with these situations to know whether you can repair your particular car dent with PDR.
The following are some types of dents that paintless dent repairs can’t fix:
- Dents near the edges: PDR isn’t doable with this type of dent because to get it done, you have to access the back portion of the dent. Unfortunately, it’s impossible to do so.
- Deep dents: If the dent is too deep in the sense that the metal can’t be bent without requiring repainting, then PDR isn’t an option. Deep dents usually occur during car accidents and other situations that produce a strong impact.
- Older vehicles: If you have a dent on your classic car, a paintless dent repair won’t fix the problem. This is because the paint quality on these cars’ bodies can’t endure this specialized autobody repair strain.
Knowing whether a PDR can fix your car dent can help you prepare for the process more effectively. But, if you believe your vehicle’s dent can still be addressed through PDR with professional help, you can easily contact an autobody repair company that offers Colorado Springs paintless dent repair or wherever you may be located. This way, you exhaust all possible pocket-friendly options before delving into costlier repair procedures.
Get To Know The Common Dent Removal Techniques
Now that you know that PDR can be a great way to fix your vehicle dents, the next thing to do is to familiarize the standard removal techniques, including the use of metal rods to work on the panel and the use of a pulling method.
Typically, the dent removal technique begins by accessing the underside of the dent from below the panel to massage it out and push it back to its original shape. If the underside can’t be accessed, the next method will be used. You need to pull out the dent using a specialist glue and leave the car’s paint to look as good as new.
Try DIY Repair Tricks
Aside from the common techniques, removing car dents can also be done by some DIY tricks. You don’t need to use special tools to perform the job effectively with these tricks. Two of the most popular DIY paintless dent repair tricks you can do include:
- Boiling Water Trick
This trick uses boiling water to make certain car areas more flexible, like the bumper and side panels. To get started with this trick, make sure to boil water, pour it onto the dent at the right temperature, and push the area out behind the dent.
Make sure to do this trick quickly for a more favorable outcome. However, you should be careful in doing the boiling water trick to avoid burns.
- Plunger Trick
If you’re dealing with minor dents, this trick can be an excellent option. It involves using a rubber cup plunger or those used for sinks to push and pull the dent out. All you need to do is apply water to the plunger and the dented area and position the opening of the plunge around the circumference of the dent to do the pushing and pulling until the dent disappears.
- Practice
As mentioned, a paintless dent repair is a specialized autobody repair. This means it requires skills and proper knowledge to get this job done right. Hence, if you’re doing PDR for the first time, it’s essential to practice first to avoid mistakes. That way, you’ll get a better grasp of the tools you’ll use and the amount of pressure needed to remove the car dent.
You can use a clean panel to familiarize yourself with the repair process to practice. Doing so can give you a better confidence level before starting the actual repair process.
Bottom Line
Doing a paintless dent repair doesn’t need to be challenging. By keeping the tips mentioned above in mind, you can remove the dents on your vehicle without damaging its body paint. However, if you want to have peace of mind, you can also consider bringing your car to the professionals to ensure a more desirable result.
