Have you ever wondered how we repair damage if we cannot get to the back side of the panel to push the damage out?
Well today we are going to answer that question for you.
For damage we cannot push out we have to resort to the glue pulling method of paintless dent removal. With this method we use a specialized glue in a glue gun, this glue gun is specifically made for paintless dent removal. We then apply this glue to a paintless dent removal glue tab, then glue this tab to the vehicle. We then use either a slider hammer or a mini lifter to pull the damage out. After a pull is made we then apply a release agent to remove the glue from the vehicle. From here we then repeat this process many times in order to pull the damage out. In is a very repetitive process but it is necessary to remove dents with no access.
You can see this entire process in this video we made a while back:
Today we are repairing this damage in a 2013 Cadillac ATS left side quarter panel. This damage impacted so deep it actually pushed the exterior sheet metal into the inner wheel house structure. This severe impact caused the exterior metal to to actually bend outwards and crack the paint on the edge of the panel.
Now with there being paint damage a person has two options: – Repaint the entire panel – Use touch up paint to touch the area up
This is a choice ultimately only the customer can make.
To give you a little more detail about these choices first off lets start off by choosing repaint the panel.
Repainting the Panel:
The entire panel requires repainting. Everything installed on the panel like tail lights and a bumper, would need to be removed. Other panels may require more items. Items such as door handles, trim, mirrors, glass, moldings and lights.
If this paint damage is near any other panels typically anything under 18 inches, the body shop will have to fade or blend, this is the industry term, the color into the other panel.
What if the paint is a specialized color like a pearl coat or tri coat, like this vehicle was?
That distance spreads much further for blending the paint. For this vehicle the left rear door, left quater panel and rear bumper would all need to be repainted. A minor scratch in one panel, say a door for example, could mean the ENTIRE side of the vehicle being repainted to get a correct color match!
Touch up the damage:
Now for touch up, it is exactly that. We or the customer are “touching up” the specific area with paint damage. How we explain touch up paint to a customer is like this:
Imagine a black shirt with a black button on it. Now the button blends in pretty well but it is still visible. This explains how a paint touch up might look when completed. Solid colors such as a straight black is the best candidate for touch up repairs. Other colors like pearl coats, quad coats and other unique colors like this, are sometimes not the best choice for touch up. At a minimum a small coat of a clear coat should always be applied over a small crack or chip to at least seal it from the outside elements.
This customer was actually referred to us from another body shop in Tea, South Dakota. The customer was a friend of theirs and the Body Shop knew that this repair would get extremely costly for the customer because of the pearl white tri coat stage paint finish. The customer did the paint touch up themselves and live with any possible color mismatch, they just wanted the dents to be repaired and we were happy to provide this service for them!
If you have a new vehicle chances are your vehicle features many of these systems. We recently attended an ADAS Calibration presentation put on by Autopart International. In order to work on today’s vehicles, you will also need to know what kind of systems the vehicle has and how to work with them. Most importantly how to make sure they are back to working order and calibrated AFTER repairs are done.
If these systems are not calibrated correctly they will misread what they interpreting and could CAUSE accidents. To insure the safety of the consumer, their vehicle and others on the roadways, this is extremely important step to make sure your car is taken to a reputable repair shop. Many systems when out of calibration will often NOT show any type of dash warning light, but with a vehicle diagnostic tool this will tell you if there is a fault in the system.
Where Was This Event At?
We attended this presentation in Rochester, NY at The Dent Guy’s Paintless Dent Repair shop. Here this class was geared towards the use of these systems in the Paintless Dent Repair industry. Many times in the Paintless Dent Repair Industry we are not dealing with major collisions like a typical body shop. The most common use of paintless dent repair would be with hail damage repair followed by minor door dings and minor collision repairs.
In order to gain access the dented areas, items must normally be taken apart in order to push these areas out with specialized tools. Taking items apart that feature any of these advanced systems are NOT as simply as unbolt and remove and reinstall. Items such as headlights, tail lights and headliners often need to removed to complete repairs. That is just part of this process, after everything is put back together and the repair is made, these new systems need to be recalibrated to insure they are in proper specs by the original manufacture.
In this presentation we get a live demonstration of this calibration process, from setting up the measuring system and centering it with the vehicle, to setting the specifications used for this manufacture. Then we see what is all needed to actually calibrate a forward camera on this Toyota.
Pictures featured are from: https://www.shutterstock.com/search/driver+assistance+system
If you have questions on your vehicles systems. Maybe you need a repair done? Give us a call!
Dents do not just “pop” out, they are pushed out with multiple precision pushes in order to return the metal back to its original shape. This is a 2012 Ford F-350 Roof. We are using a twin tipped hail rod made from Carbon Tech.
This rod is made up of carbon fiber and aluminum. With this hail rod being so light weight and strong it allows us to have faster repairs with less strain on the technician, allowing them to work more efficiently. Having the best tools allows us to make the best repairs!
Today we are working on this all aluminum 2017 Ford F-250 Tailgate. One unknown fact to most people is aluminumisrepairable using paintless dent repair. One thing most people don’t know is that it is much HARDER to not only repair but to also dent as well. When compared to the same dent in steel vs aluminum the damage will be extremely different from the same impact.
In order to gain access to this damage we pulled the top tailgate cap off. This is the upper black trim pad on the top of the tailgate. We also had to pull the inner tailgate trim piece for access as well. After these items are out of the way we then have very good access to push this damage out with our tools.
Can damage in body lines be fixed using the Paintless Dent Repair method?
The answer to that question is, Yes.
Today we are working on this 2017 Chevy Camaro. There are multiple extra special steps we have to take when repairing body line damage. So just because one technician or company says it cannot be done is not necessarily always the case. The damage here is an example of extreme damage on a body line. Here is what the damage looks like under a paintless dent repair light.
Here is some footage mid way through the repair. As you can see we’ve got the body line generally back up into its original spot here. We’ve got a bunch of crown work. It’s a very slow process but we are getting it out. Now for access we are actually fortunate enough to where there is a factory access hole here. We removed a small cover and gain all of the access we need with our tools to push this damage out.
The Grand Finale
We were able to get that body line back out to its original shape without damaging the paint. Luckily this car had absolutely awesome access for where this damage was with the big factory hole we showed you earlier. The majority of this damage, was actually removed by glue pulling. For this we are actually gluing a tab onto the vehicle and pulling the damage out.
Here is a look at the finished results with a paintless dent repair light, it shows a little bit more detail. You can see we were able to get all of that damage out very nicely. Stay tuned in just a second here we’ve got the customers reaction to the repair.
“So this is my Camaro I brought into Jack, had a horrible dent in the rear quarter. This is actually the third car I’ve had Jack fix for me. A lot of people said that there was no way anyone could even get this out, I’d have to go to a body shop to get repainted, I didn’t want to do that. Jack of course he is a magician with this stuff, he got it out and you cannot even tell at all that there was ever a dent there whatsoever. The other two cars I had, same thing, I brought them here and they look like they had just rolled off the showroom floor. I would highly recommend Jack, I would never take my car anywhere else but him if I have a dent in it. He’s great at what he does and I highly recommend him.”
If you’ve got damage in your vehicle give us a call CLICK HERE to call
