Collisions Can Be The Cause Of Small Dents
Collisions are often the cause of small dents. We all know that accidents happen and that vehicles bump into each other sometimes. If you see a small dent on your bumper, door, fender, or another body panel on your vehicle, it could have been caused by another vehicle bumping into it.
Look closely at your dent. If you can see another colour of paint in your dent, there is a good chance that another vehicle has bumped into yours. Although this may be alarming, the other vehicles paint will normally rub off and so long as your paint has not cracked and the impact scratching is not too severe, these dents can be repaired with paintless dent repair.
Dry Ice Pop Out Method
Even dry ice can be used to release a dent from a car or truck. Just rubbing dry ice on the dent of your vehicle can cause it to pop out on its own. While you will need to wear hand protection when handling dry, you will be able to see results from this method fairly quickly. Apply the dry ice directly on the dent. Rub it all over the damaged area and wait to see if the dent pops out on its own. You can repeat the process until the dent is completely out or you can try using a hair dryer to heat the surface before you apply the dry ice. This will allow the plastic of the car to expand and contract with the heat of the hair dryer and the cold of the dry ice. Either method will help get a dent out of your vehicle with ease.
You Can Do It Yourself
However, if you’re willing to give it a try, in many cases you can fix your car’s dents quite effectively yourself using some not very expensive dent-removal tools.
But first, you must assess the damage to know what you’re dealing with. How bad is it? Where is it? Is the dent in a composite bumper/fascia, a sheetmetal fender or door, an aluminum hood or deck, or even a carbon-fiber panel? Is the paint scratched? How badly? The best methods and tools you can use will depend on those answers. And if in doubt, get a couple of quotes from a paintless dent-repair specialist or body shop to learn what they would charge, and why.
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Difference Between Car Dings And Dents
Contrary to the common belief of all dents being the same, they differ based on what caused the indentation and the extent of the damage caused.
The difference between a car ding and a car dent has got to do with the extent and size of the damage. The one where the diameter of the indentation on the cars body is not more than half an inch is the car ding, and the type with extensive damage is the car dent. Car dings are mostly a result of a trolleys scratch, rocks hitting the car body or careless door hits.
Irrespective of the reason following your car dents, it needs to get repaired. The car dent repair varies based on the cause of damage and its scale. While some dents tend to scratch and affect the original metal and paintwork, there are a few other types that are mere compressions on the metal body and can be fixed easily with a quick paintless car dent repair service. The other huge damage dent-kind need specialised tools and professional techniques for its complete repair.
Hail Damage Can Be Repaired With Paintless Dent Repair
During the rainy season, PDR technicians are usually kept pretty busy thanks to the many hail damage repairs that need to be made. Hail damage normally affects the horizontal body panels on a vehicle. When hail falls from the sky, it will commonly leave tiny dents on the hood, the roof, the trunk, the tops of the fenders, and quarter panels on your vehicle.
Bigger hailstones falling from the sky means that there are likely bigger dents in your vehicle. In some cases, the sides of your vehicle can even be damaged by hail as well if there are heavy winds during a hail storm. Strong blowing winds can cause the side of the vehicle facing the wind to be hail damaged and also require hail damage repair.
The main thing to consider with hail damage is the size and quantity of the dents that your vehicle has sustained in a hail storm. If the hailstones are large enough, they can actually create dents that are too big or too complex to be repaired by the paintless dent repair process.
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Swap Those Body Panels
If the damage if specific to a particular body panel, then the good news is that you can swap that particular body panel with a new or used one. Places like Pull a Part are becoming popular as you can easily get a used to panel with a matching color. Going second-hand way is best when it comes to the question of how to fix a dent in a car?
Door Dings Are A Common Cause Of Small Dents
Weve all done it before. Either you accidentally parked a bit too close to another vehicle, or they did at the grocery store. While youre trying to put your groceries away inside the cab of your vehicle or get inside, you accidentally bump the door of another vehicle. In most cases, vehicles have side trim and other things to protect the actual body panels from sustaining damage, In some cases, vehicles do not have them and end up with a nasty dent on the side.
Door dings have a pretty distinctive shape to them. Most doors have a round outer edge that comes into contact with a body panel on your vehicle and will impact your vehicle with a swinging motion. The result is a sort of egg or crescent-shaped dent that will also sometimes have a ridge or mild crease on the inside.
In terms of the repairability of door dings, the same rules apply as a small dent repair from a collision. There is often some impact scratching on the surface from the other door coming into contact with your vehicle and sometimes even a trace of other paint left behind. So long as the paint has not cracked, there isnt any severe creasing in the dent, and the area behind the dent can be accessed, door dings can be repaired with paintless dent repair.
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Most Doors Can Be Repaired With Pdr
Similar to hoods, most alloy and sheet metal doors on your vehicle can be repaired with the PDR process. Because most doors can either be easily removed from the vehicle or the door card, inner cover, or door skin can be removed, PDR technicians can easily access the area behind your doors to pop out dents and restore them to their original shape.
If your door has a small to medium-sized dent from a collision, a door ding, or something else coming into contact with it, the door can generally be repaired with the PDR process. As long as the paint is not cracked, doesnt have severe impact scratching, and the dent is not too complex, a PDR technician will be able to repair your door.
There are some instances where your door may not be able to be repaired with PDR. Some vehicles have plastic door skins and other things where dents may not pop out, like metal or alloy will. If this is the case, your vehicle will need to go to an auto body shop.
Other Things That Cause Small Dents In Vehicles
There are many other things that can cause small dents in your vehicle. Things like falling objects, like an apple falling from a tree or something dropped from a roof can cause dents on your vehicles horizontal body panes. Even incidents as mundane as a shopping cart in a mall parking lot bumping into your vehicle or a child riding their bike into your vehicle can cause small dents.
Regardless of what causes the dent in your vehicle, so long as the dent is not too severe, the paint is intact, and the area behind the body panel can be accessed by the PDR technician, the small dents in your vehicle can be repaired by the paintless dent repair process.
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Small Dents Caused By Sports Accidents
Another common cause of dents in vehicles is sporting accidents. Weve all seen it happen in the movies before, a kid hits a baseball out of the park, someones aim is off with a golf shot, and some kind of sports ball lands on a vehicle and damages it. In the spring and summer during sports season, this happens quite often.
Things like basketballs, baseballs, soccer balls, golf balls, and more can leave dents in your vehicle when they fly off course. Luckily, the dents caused by these sporting accidents are often minor and shallow round dents that can be repaired by the paintless dent repair process.
When sporting balls come into contact with your vehicle, they often just create a round rent with no impact scratching. In some extreme cases, golf balls can leave more severe dents, but it is unlikely. If your vehicles factory paint is not showing any signs of cracking at the area behind the dent can be accessed by a PDR technician, these small dents can often be removed, and your vehicle will look good as new!
Typically Front Fenders Can Be Repaired With Paintless Dent Repair
Because front fenders are generally easily removed, the area behind dents in them can be accessed and repaired with the PDR process. Fenders usually bolt onto a support or a piece of your vehicles frame making them simple to remove. Once removed, technicians can easily access the area behind them to pop out dents and restore them to their original shape.
If your fender has sustained a dent from a collision or something else coming into contact with it, if the paint is intact, it can probably be repaired with the PDR process. There are some instances where your fender may not be able to be repaired with PDR. Some dents in fenders on body lines end up being too sharp or complex in nature to be removed and for the fender to be restored to its original shape. In cases like these, the fender will need to be replaced, and your vehicle will have to be repaired with the traditional auto body repair process.
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Common Causes Of Small Dents That Can Be Repaired With Pdr
The wonderful thing about paintless dent repair is that it can repair a number of different small dents that have been caused by a variety of things. Its by far the quickest and most cost-effective form of small dent repair that exists. Some of you may be wondering what types of damage can be repaired with paintless dent repair and what some of the common causes of small dents may be. Almost every vehicle owner will return to their vehicle after parking it somewhere and notice some damage at some point in their lives. Weve created a helpful list of what could cause a dent in your vehicle for you to determine what happened!
How Does Metal Memory Affect The Paintless Dent Repair Process
One of the things that the paintless dent repair process relies on is Metal Memory. This basically means that the metal has a tendency to want to return to its original shape. Normally, this can be attained with PDR as long as the dent hasnt exceeded one of the limits we have mentioned above.
The problem with larger dents is that sometimes the metal can become stretched. This is normally what has happened if your paint has started to crack. In these cases, it will no longer want to return to its original shape as it has been given a new memory.
When a dent has a sharp ridge, creasing, or anything that looks like it could cause the metal to twist or tear, the metal has almost certainly been stretched. This is why these cases make it extremely difficult to repair with the PDR process. Panels like this often require body filler or replacement to make the panel appear as if it still retains its original shape.
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How Much Does It Cost To Fix A Dent In A Car
Did you come back from shopping to find a dent in your car? Or misjudge your space as you pulled into the garage? Whether its a small or large dent, it can be unsightly and reduce your resale value. You may ask, how much to fix a dent in a car? Or wonder if its possible to do it yourself . Your price and dent removal method depend on a few factors, so explore your options before deciding.
Common Car Dent Types
You might need to sort to repainting or even panel replacement to fix the huge, more profound and extensive dents on your car. It is important that you understand the cause of the dent to figure out the appropriate remedy.
While some car dent types might cause a scar on the exterior, the other type might imprint a wrong mark, beyond whats visible to the naked eye. The tricky dents are the ones which will dupe you with the face of a superficial scar when instead it runs a long way into the damage on the original car finish.
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How Killa Dent Removal Can Help
The technicians at Killa Dent Removal specialize in paintless dent removal techniques, offering a more affordable and effective solution to dent repair. We pride ourselves on quality service that you can trust.
Traditional repair methods utilize harsh chemicals that are bad for the environment, whereas PDR simply involves the use of a special set of tools to reshape the panels of your vehicle. This technique is not only eco-friendly, but it will save you time and money as well as preserving your vehicles original paint finish.
For a FREE estimate, contact us today! The paintless dent removal specialists at Killa Dent Removal will evaluate your car, providing fast and efficient high-quality repairs using PDR whenever possible.
Killa Dent Removal Tim Edwards
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How Do You Repair Dents Yourself
Depending on the kind of dents, there are certain home remedies which you can follow to remove car dent. There are many DIY kits available to repair car dents, you can try them if you want to, Also, simple tools such as plunger and boiling water can be used in the spot dents, where paint has not been damaged.
Many cheap dent pullers are also available in the market, they can also be sued to pull a dent out.
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The Three Different Types Of Dents We Can Repair
At Bumper Buddies, we see a wide range of cosmetic damage to car bumpers, fenders, and side panels. Whether its from a fender bender on the freeway or scratches on the side from taking a turn too tight, were intimately familiar with many different ways a cars exterior can get dinged, cracked, or otherwise blemished. Fortunately, whether youre driving around Redondo Beach, Anaheim, Laguna Niguel, or Riverside, Bumper Buddies has you covered when it comes to car bumper damage. The most common type of damage we see by far is dents, and if you want to keep your car looking good and running smoothly, its important to have dent repair performed as soon as possible. At Bumper Buddies, we can fix many kinds of dents, with these three being the most common.
How To Remove A Creased Car Dent
- Written by Chris Nickson on Sep 13, 2010To ensure our content is always up-to-date with current information, best practices, and professional advice, articles are routinely reviewed by industry experts with years of hands-on experience.Reviewed by
All car dents are unattractive. However, possibly the least-attractive blemish of all is a creased car dent, which looks like an oval indent on your vehicles bodywork. While you can use household objects, like a plunger, to fix smaller car dents, you will need to purchase a knockdown dent-removal tool or kit to fix a creased dent.
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Why Is It Important To Repair Crease Dents Early
- It could cost you less
The environment doesnt affect fresh dents immediately, and thus there will be no atmospheric damage to fix costing you less when you get it fixed.
- It could lead to rusting
If the crease or line dent has an opening, water might invade the space. This might get to the metal body and cause rusting problems in your vehicle.
- It will enable your safety
Dents are already a sore spot on the vehicle. If this area gets hit again by coincidence, it will damage the car and compromise your safety.
- It will maintain the value of your car
Regardless of how well your car is functioning, a dent on any car is likely to reduce its value. A car with many dents also gives its owner the image of someone who doesnt value themselves and so you should fix it as soon as possible.
- Use a professional to get it checked
You might think that you can fix a crease dent on your own, but all that will eventually do is exacerbate the problem. Crease dents are more complicated than normal dents, which is why you should opt to seek out a professional and ask them to fix them using Paintless Dent Repair.
