Automotive hail repair? The first step to performing a dent repair without using paint involves assessing the dent itself and determining if a paintless dent repair is even possible. According to most experts, 80 to 90 percent of dents can be repaired using PDR techniques. However, there are a certain percentage of dents that are impossible to repair without following it up with a paint job. The following types of dents usually fall into this “non-PDR” category: Very deep dents – Even very large dents can be repaired using PDR if the dent is fairly shallow. However, if a dent of any size is pushed in too far, the metal can’t be bent back into place without damaging the paint and requiring repainting.
First let’s begin with some car paint care recommendations: Undercoating: Although waxing the car and polishing it produces good results, you need to protect the car from long term damage by undercoating and rust-proofing it. When the car metal is oxidized, rust sets in and destroys the surface of the car. To avoid this, you should consider rust-proofing the vehicle, particularly if you reside in a state where the humidity is high.
First, you have to pick a proper tool kit. And that’s not easy for a user who has little clue what’s going on. Some of them are cheap — low prices should raise red flags. Others are so expensive (three-figures or more) that they’re probably right up there with the cost of a decent professional repair (although, to be fair, if you buy the kit you can perform multiple repairs). Many of the high-end, expensive tools are intended to be used along the inside of the panel, much like a pro would do. (Gaining access to the inside of body panels can be a chore, though, and often involves careful removal of multiple interior trim pieces.) Alternatives (which tend to be the less expensive kits) flaunt the conventional wisdom that small dents should be massaged back out from behind the painted surface. These options instruct the user to glue a tool to the dented surface and then twist or pull on the tool to pop it out. True, you can go buy the same tools as a pro, but it takes a lot of skill and experience to use them properly.
Hailstorm damage is a car owner’s worst nightmare and can easily be avoided with a few cautionary steps: try to park your car in a shaded or covered area, especially during seasons when hailstorms are prevalent. If you’re going to be going out of town for an extended amount of time, make sure that your car is parked in an enclosed area and, if possible, have someone check on it once in a while. Open spaces will leave your car helpless against the wrath of this natural phenomenon.
For small dents on your car hood, a car dent repair kit may be a simple and inexpensive solution. You can easily find these kits at any local auto supply store and they are very user-friendly. Each kit often includes a knockdown tool, a glue gun and many stems for different sized dents. You may be surprised at the way the kit works and the professional result it makes. But we do recommend this kid for small dents only. For deep, large dents, it is better if you take your car to garage as the repair kit can not fix them and even cause more damage.
Don’t underestimate the necessary step of decontamination prior to application of your chosen wax. If you fail to do this step, you will get disappointing results regardless of the type of wax you have chosen. And yes…even that brand new car straight off the dealer lot will in have some form of pollutants already on the car paint from its travel from the factory to the car dealership. Clear coat is the top layer of your cars paint. It acts as a protective layer to filter out UV rays. But your clear coat is what you are trying to take care of with the above requirements. People get confused about clear coat vs. car paint. Virtually every car today is finished with a clear coat as the top layer. Think of it as car paint with no color added to it.
We recommend going to a professional repair service to avoid a lot of extra costs. Meet EvidentPDR in Colorado. Ben Lincoln has been working on cars since childhood and found a passion for Dent Repair at an early age of 15. Not many find their calling in life so quickly, let alone in the dent repair industry. After identifying his passion, he harnessed his talents and became the 256th person to become VALE Master Craftsman certified in the world (there are only ~600 as of July 2018). During the last 12 years he has assembled a veteran team to share his vision: To deliver the best workmanship, relentlessly focusing on customer service, and going above and beyond expectations to make sure every customer is proud to do business with Evident PDR! See extra info on Automotive hail repair Colorado Springs.
Instead, save yourself some of that hard-earned money and do it yourself. There are plenty of ways to get a small dent or ding out of a vehicle at home without ruining your paint, and you don’t need to be a gearhead to do it. However, not all of these tricks will work on your particular automobile; your mileage may vary depending on where the dent is and what your body panel, hood, or bumper is made of (aluminum, carbon fiber, plastic, fiberglass, steel, etc.). For instance, aluminum has little memory properties, so paintless dent removal is much more difficult.