So today of all days I had an aacorn drop about 50ft. in the air and put a dent in my roof. Looks like a hail dent. I've found some stuff online for dents, but wanted to see if anyone on here has had to pop some dents out and what would you recomend?

 

one acronym....PDR: paintless dent removal. Basically they freeze the metal and heat it up rapidly and the dent pops back out like nothing happened, no painting no body work needed. Go search your local yellow pages or most dealerships have a PDR on call. The going rate is usually about $80 a panel.

 

Thanks for the info.....I'll look that up! I found Dent Wizard.....Any good?

 

Yeah i agree, thats the best way to do it!

 

Thanx again for the feedback guys!

 

There is a DIY on Metacafe for it with video and all, basically first you take a blow dryer and heat of the metal where the dent is then take one of those cans that blows dust of computers turn it upside down and shoot the same spot after it rapidly cools the dent should pop out and you whip the residue away with a towel no damage or anything, but if you search on metacafe you should be able to find it.
*Edit: here is the link Remove Car Dent With Airduster Video

 

I had the paintless dent removal done on an old Nissan Altima about 7 or 8 years ago. They took out a golf ball sized dent out of the hood - the repair was undetectable. Cost about $60 back then.

 

I used this method to try fixing a dent on my passenger door and it did not work. It did seem to reduce the size slightly. I am going to try the "dry ice" method next.

 

Sorry to hear about your car - when I took the Fit to the car show a couple of weekends ago - I parked under three huge trees. Perfect for when the sun got hot - then a bunch of birds flew into the trees and the acorns started falling like bullets. I moved my car as fast as I could while another guy was setting up beside me and swore that the acorns could not dent your car. I was like yeah sure!

Cat :x

 

I'm guessing paintless dent removal will not work on a body crease?

I've got a door ding right on the crease on the side of my passenger side front door.

 

I hope you were like yea ok there guy!...lol....It sux big time!

 

take it to a PDR guy.. they'll tell you what can/can't/might come out.

one issue with the fit (roof in particular) is the thin metal easily stretches, if the dent is too large it may not come out with PDR.

also depending on area PDR techniques may vary... the ones I've talked to use specialized tools to push/pull dents.. no mention of this heat/freeze thing.

ask the dealerships who they use for PDR if it's not inhouse, sometimes there may be one company doing most of the work in the area.. these guys may do hundreds of cars a week during hail season (experience counts)

 

i got a dent in my door, my dad knows a guy that's been doing this dent removal for years. he did have the specialized tools, so he got it out in pretty fast.

had he not done it for free (yay me) it probably would've been about $80. but totally worth it IMO because now you'd never know that door had been dented.

 

Thanx again for the input guys! It really helps....

 

one thing I know a lot of people used while I was in TX was dry ice. take a rag and then put dry ice on it and it shrinks the metal and literaly pops it out on its own. it was mainly used for the massive amounts of hail dents but might be a tad cheaper than the 80 the places are charging for it, but then again it doesnt come with the "I screwed this up" warrenty either. thought it would be worth a mention though

 

Do the hair dryer and dry ice things actually work? Can it really hurt anything? You're not really pushing and pulling on the metal. Maybe that's worth a shot before shelling out more money. I just dropped $432 yesterday to get nice sized scratches out of my rear bumper. I hate people this week.

 

i recommend you take it to a PDR tech. there should be one coming into
your dealer every week to do their used cars.

 

same here....dumb**** friends opening the door into stuff

anyone used the PDR either dry ice or the hairdryer and CO2 can method for this type of dent?

 

I bought a quantum dent, paint and rust five year protection plan for $625 with my car when I bought it, you should see if your local dealer has anything like it available.

12 dents/6 visits a year fixed for free (maximum), no rust or paint or glass environmental damage for five years or they fix that too. It sounds like alot but I hear PDR dent removal is about $50-85 per dent so it's a great value.

It's a worthwhile investment, especially if you ever park in a parking lot. I got two dents in my first month, they PDR-fixed them in 15 minutes.

 

you want buy one of those key board cleaners. blow some of the air out, turn the can upside down, and it blows out really cold air (almost like dry ice) and freezes whatever it touches...

then you can diy. freeze the dent, let it sit, and it should pop out. (you can use a hair dryer to assist)