Today, we take on a dented Subaru bumper that seemed to have backed into something. This was a typical PDR (Paintless Dent Repair) job for us, however, when the owner took the car to a body shop to get a quote, they were given an $800-$900 estimate.
The Damage
A closer look at the damaged area, we found that there was a little bit of paint damage and scuffing around the dent. Nothing about the repair was too extreme, which was a blessing for both us, and the customer. In fact, the customer brought along some Subaru touch-up paint for their car so that we didn’t have to look for the perfect matching shade.
Perfect Situation
When it comes to PDR, bumpers are not really the ideal part to repair because they normally have broken plastic or severe spider paint cracks. Nevertheless, as I mentioned earlier, this repair was exactly what PDR is about with regards to very few touch-up spots. And a bonus for us was that the car was a black one so the touch-up paint that we used wouldn’t really stand out, unless you go looking for it.
Paint Touch Up
The customer wasn’t too concerned about the touch-up paint job as we were able to quote the repair at just a fraction of what was being asked for by the body shop they visited. Now, the difference here is that a body shop will actually disassemble, repair, and repaint the entire bumper and what we do is pull the dent out and touch-up the area without covering the original paint job. The vehicle is a 2012 Subaru Legacy with a good amount of wear and tear across the body but the owner is satisfied with its performance and doesn’t really want to spend a lot on repairs.
If you have any repair work that you would like us to take a look at or have any questions, contact us at 605-250-1023or visit our website at Start The Process Now!
What camera gear do we use to shoot our regular videos? Check out what we all use and what we use each specific camera system for.
Live Videos
Now this video is shot on my Samsung Note 10 Plus. This phone has a fantastic camera for not only pictures but also takes great quality video as well. We do a combination of Live videos but daily we are shooting them on our Instagram page. Be sure to follow us on IG.
Since this video was shot we have even upgraded and purchased a new cell phone stabilizer. This tool is the DJI Osmo 4. This device allows us to have it hold our phone and stabilizes the footage. This makes it much more smooth, so no more wobbly footage shot from us just holding our cell phone. Also you won’t have any of the audio issues, like before. Specifically with us moving our hand around on the microphone area and causing all of the annoying noises and muffling. If you are interested in getting any of the items mentioned in this article we have links below!
Non Live Videos
The rest of our non Live videos will now be shot on the Canon EOS R. This camera is fitted with the RF 15-35mm L series Lens. This camera is defiantly overkill to some for what we are trying to show, but we believe in having the best tools to do the best possible job and this only helps. Its built in lens image stabilizing helps with shooting footage on vehicles when we have to use the camera in our hands. As of now we do not currently own a stabilizer that will fit this camera system. We do have one but it works great on our other smaller Cannon m50 camera. The m50 is a great camera for people wanting to up their video game in our opinions but not needed by any means. Most people in our industry strictly use their phone cameras and it defiantly can make things much more simple.
With our technician Jack always loving to nerd out the way he does this was not enough and he opted to upgrade our systems to provide better content. With upgrading equipment also comes upgrading software and the time spent in the editing department though.
Hyper lapse and Time lapse Videos
If you’re not familiar with these video styles, what this is is basically a sped up version of videos where you see us working super fast. Nothing is in slow motion its all super sped up footage. A time lapse is basically individual photos taken to make a sped up video clip. A hyper lapse is something Go Pro’s can do to make the footage basically flow together better than a time lapse. For this footage style we use the Go Pro Hero 7 Black. Now our phone cameras, canon cameras will do time lapse footage but we prefer the hyper lapse look so we tend to stick with that. Plus the go pro being as small as it is and super simple. Simply turn it on and hit record. It really streamlines this process and works best for us for this.
Audio
For microphones we heavily favor the Rode mic series. Most of the time we use the Rode Wireless Go Mic on our Cannon EOS R. For other styles of shooting where a microphone on just one person isn’t enough we use the Rode NTG shotgun style microphone. This microphone allows us to pick up multiple people and sounds. This is best for interviews and some vehicle walk arounds.
This video was originally shot LIVE on our Instagram page on 9-9-2020, be sure to follow us there to see more content: https://www.instagram.com/siouxfallsdentrepair
When you contact us via our website and get to our hail page, this is what you will be now seeing. We are insurance approved and have worked with them all. Just simply read over our information on the page and let us know what you think.
Need A Repair?
If you are in need of damage to be repaired, please go on our page and fill out our form. This form will then follow up with you via text message and email. This is great because it will contact you within one minute of this form being submitted. This works all times of the day, and allows us to continue the process even if we are out of the shop for the day. It makes the process so much better for everyone and gets of all the info we need to help process everything and get this going faster!
Shoutout Time
We could not have done this without the help of Dave Streen at DentRepair.com and Linh Tang with Beyond Ideas. They both have helped us so much in the web process with getting this all setup. Thanks guys!
This video was originally shot LIVE on our Instagram page on 10-16-2020, be sure to follow us there to see more content: https://www.instagram.com/sioux_falls_dent_repair
See one of the tools we use to help us inspect vehicles for damage. It also makes for a faster inspection. This tool is the Wedge Light from Edgy Tools. This tool allows us to wedge the door upper channel open and then turn the light on and shine it into the door cavity from the top window opening.
How Does This Help
This tool helps speed up the estimating process so we can see where the damage is located in relation to the internal bracing and sound deadener in the door assembly. Prior to this tool we would have to use a separate wedge and spread the door open then use a smaller flash light and shine it in the door opening. Doing this worked ok, but the wedge light illuminates the entire door in one shot. So now we only need one tool instead of 2. Also the wedge light has an amazing battery and is rechargeable through a USB port. We pulled this out of the box when new and used it for over 9 months without recharging! Now that is awesome!
This video was originally shot LIVE on our Instagram page on 9-8-2020, be sure to follow us there to see more content: https://www.instagram.com/sioux_falls_dent_repair
Have questions about dent repairs, tools or would you like to schedule a repair?
When we are not removing dents on vehicles we are working on the backend part of our business. This evening we will be getting a hail damage web page all setup and integrating our CRM system into it through a form builder. Once this system is done it allows us to automatically follow up with customers after they have submitted their info on our website. This system can email, text, call, leave a voicemail and much more. It’s a really great system to use.
It’s still in progress now at the time of this release but check it out:
This video was originally shot LIVE on our Instagram page on 10-15-2020, be sure to follow us there to see more content: https://www.instagram.com/sioux_falls_dent_repair
Even Detailers approve of PDR for their repair methods of repairs of dents.
Check out the 2016 WRX that we will be doing some repairs on soon. This vehicle was brought to us by the owner of Superior Detail in Tea, SD. The owner, Ryan, bought the vehicle with this damage in it and was wanting us to go over the entire vehicle and fix all of the damage we could find. He is very particular on his vehicles as we are and we were happy to work with him on his vehicle!
This video was originally shot LIVE on our Instagram page on 9-7-2020, be sure to follow us there to see more content: https://www.instagram.com/sioux_falls_dent_repair
