Here we have our lead technician, Jack Bucknell with us at Sioux Falls Dent Repair, Showing you some damage we repaired in this 2012 Buick Verano. This damage is quite extreme for paintless dent repair but with the right tools and enough patience this damage can be worked out and removed using the Paintless Dent Repair method.
Accessing The Damage
We start off this repair by taking the vehicle apart to gain access to the backside. First accessing the trunk area then removing multiple components. We first take out the spare tire cover along with some interior trim panels. Then we remove the tail light assembly follows by lowering the bumper cover on the left hand side. We have to lower the bumper down in order to gain access to the bottom edge so that we can better work the edge of the damage out.
Tools Used
Multiple tools ranging from Ultra dent tools, Dent Craft tools, Dent Dials all for pushing. We then use knockdowns from VIP, Edgy Tools and more. For our hammer selections we are using the Daniel Gromm 144 from Carbon Tech PDR Tools, we also use the Shane Jacks Signature Series Jackhammer fit with tips from Edgy tools, specifically using the Knockers tip in multiple sizes.
Things Are Heating Up
Some technicians as well as ourselves also use a Map gas or propane torch as well for heat, but with this damage requiring a constant heat, plus we are in a shop environment so we have power to run a heat gun, this is the best course of action. Also the Get a Grip arm with a heat gun was an absolute must for this repair.
Finish Time
Time to put the vehicle back together for the customer. Then we test all of the components manually to make sure they all work. A Pre Diagnostic computer scan is than ran on the vehicle. This insures all of the vehicle components are working after the repairs are made and everything is put back together correctly and that the computer systems are communicating correctly.
This repair was made in just ONE DAY. We started on this repair in the morning and finished in the afternoon. The customer was only without their vehicle for a day for this repair making it quick and simple for them. No need to go to a body shop for this type of damage. No hassles of having body work, repainting, bondo and then later sand scratches showing up or color miss matches like with a body shop. This damage does not register on a Carfax History Report when choosing Paintless Dent Repair and will not devalue your vehicle like a body shop repair will. There will no be indication there was ever damage to your vehicle with this type of repair method.
Do you have more questions or need a repair done on your own vehicle?
The 2020 Dent Olympics Training is the first seminar of its kind, this event was hosted by DentRepair.com
This is a Yearly Dent Repair Competition. It has been going on since the early 2000’s and is held yearly at the Mobile Tech Expo (MTE) and for the past few years has been in Orlando Florida sometime in January.
This event featured world know technician Žan Vidic. He has won multiple awards for multiple past competitions. He even went on to win not only the 2020 Dent Olympics but also the first ever Dent Olympics Tag Team event! What an honor it was to be taught by one of the best technicians in the world! Dave Streen was also presenting to give his theories for the repair, Dave is a 20 year technician and has worked all over the world repairing vehicles with Paintless Dent Repair. He also owns Edgytools.com
Both Žan and Dave competed in the IASRE Dent Repair Competition in Japan in 2019, we plan to attend this event with both of these technicians in 2020! JAPAN HERE WE COME!
The Training
This event started off with some class room discussion and theories. This was very basic and to get your head in the right mindset.
Time To Go To Work
We then started with a dent in this vehicle and had to repair it “our way” in 45 minutes with no help just like in the competition. This set a baseline for the technician to see where they were at and how they could improve.
We were then assessed on our damage repair. From there we had a round table type of discussion on everything about our specific repairs. Every technicians repair was evaluated. Everyone in the room learned something from everyone’s repair. It was a fantastic and very eye opening experience for everyone, INCLUDING the trainers!
After everyone was evaluated it was time to see Zan himself go to work. We all discussed about the process and watched a live dent repair done by the multiple championship winner himself! Everyone was mind blown at not only how fast he is but also his technique. I know everyone learned something by watching him work his methods!
Paintless Dent Removal- Dent Olympics Training
Round 2 FIGHT!
With this new knowledge we then all repaired one of the same dents again. This time we were put on the opposite side of the vehicle, just to change things up. The results were astonishing, the speed, precision, and final results speak for themselves. Now armed with this new knowledge, a different selection of tools used the results were amazing! We couldn’t believe the difference this class made to our repair styles and techniques.
Paintless Dent Repair – Dent Olympics Training
Sioux Falls Dent Repair – Training
Paintless Dent Removal- Dent Olympics Training
Sioux Falls Dent Repair – Training
Dent Repair – Sioux Falls Dent Repair
If you are a serious technician about Paintless Dent Repair, we would STRONGLY recommend you attend next years seminar.
You will not only learn a ton of new knowledge but you will also get to put those new skills and knowledge to the test INSTANTLY!
A huge thanks to DentRepair.com, Dave Streen and Zan Vidic for putting this seminar on! Also to Kevin Andrews for his additional help and training during the seminar.
Also a big thanks goes out to the TDN Group and Inventure Tools for letting us train at their facility!
Did you know that drilling a hole in your vehicles door to repair a dent can affect the safety of your vehicle?
Paintless Dent Repair and the need for drilling holes to access dents is often, unfortunately a common thought.
We often get asked by customers: “Can you just drill a hole and do paintless dent repair?”
In this video we have our technician Jack explaining why in today’s vehicles drilling holes for paintless dent repair is just not an option.
What dents are we removing?
We are removing some door dents in this 2016 Lincoln MKX Door. This damage is pretty typical for a door style dent. Often times around the handle area and ranging from middle to lower areas in the door shell.
How do we gain access to remove this damage?
In order for us to work on this damage and gain access to the backside we cannot use our traditional methods.
What is our traditional method?
We would be to roll the window down and install a plastic or metal window guard and go down the window channel. From there we would use our tools to massage the damage out. Now with this vehicle having the type of glass it does, we cannot do that.
If you want to learn more about the glass in this vehicle you can check out our whole video and read our description of that,Just Click Here
What is involved in drilling a hole for access?
Certain companies or technicians would get around this access issue with just drilling a hole in the side of the door and going in through that way for access. That way they don’t have to take anything apart and have no worries with damaging the glass.
Now from here there are many ways a technician can go.
-Some would simply just plug the whole with a generic plug and call it a day(the worst way). Sometimes they don’t even plug the hole at all!
-Some would use touch up paint to coat the spot that was just drilled. Remember it is now bare metal where the panel was drilled and could create a spot for corrosion(rust) to occur. Then apply a generic plug to this area.
-Some would spray cavity wax down the door so that it will then coat the metal filings in the bottom of the door. Remember these are BARE metal filings from drilling that will be exposed to water and rust eventually, this rust can then spread to your door and rust out your door!
They then would use touch up paint on the whole and plug it. They might even take it a step further and use some type of adhesive to coat the plug when installed to better seal this opening.
The Loophole Option
Some will even say they don’t drill. Sounds good right?
From there the company would use a punch, yes an actual metal punch to PUNCH a hole in the panel. I’m not making this up. This is a “loophole” some technicians use to get around this known issue and fear of drilling a hole, some do this because they have a cooperate policy or a no drill policy with the car lot. I’ve seen it many times and it is extremely concerning. It can be amazing being in the auto industry and some of the things you see, not only from small independent shops but even in dealerships. It’s insane, anyways moving on.
Why is drilling a hole bad?
We are specifically talking about a hole in a door in this example. The reason this is a bad repair method is because of one thing, air pressure sensors and air bag sensors. Manufactures often have at least one and most of the time both of these sensors in the door. Both the air bag door sensor and the door pressure sensor detect if there is an impact. If your door has an extra hole in it that was not there from the factory it can throw off the timing and sensitivity of these sensors. Some people would argue it’s just a hole, its not a big deal, ect. We we would like to counter that and state that vehicles are built a specific way for special reasons.
There is a reason the manufacture built the vehicle a certain way and with certain components in special places. They spend millions if not billions of dollars building their own vehicles, if they did it this way there is a reason, the last thing you would want to do is do anything the compromise the safety of a vehicle for your customer.
Learn More By Watching This Video!
Here are some actual holes in vehicles
One thing that makes these pictures even worse is the fact of the dented areas that the tech drilled a hole for are often not even fixed properly. The damaged areas are often pimpled up with high spots, cracked paint and low spots. On top of that now your vehicle has a hole or sometimes multiple holes in it, ruining the structural integrity of the panel.
This is an extreme example, but shows just what some technicians will do to try and access a dent, this is an extremely unprofessional and probably a new technician.
Some holes drilled into a Quarter panel area on a vehicle.
Here is another example of a poor repair. This technician did nothing to cover the bare metal after a hole was drilled.
Do you have more questions or need a repair done on your own vehicle?
This is a very good example of big paintless dent removal, Today we have Jack Bucknell with Sioux Falls Dent Repair working on this 2016 Chevy Equinox Right Front Door. This is some extreme damage to to repair using the paintless dent repair method. Unfortunately the customer was not sure what exactly caused this damage.
The Dent Removal Process
We started off this repair using some cold glue from Glexo. We then continued with our traditional hot glue pulling methods. Using Cam Auto glue dispensed with our Elimadent Glue gun, will evenly distribute this glue to our Black Plague Black Ice Oval Glue Tab. We then place the Tab on the dented area and use a leverage bar from Keco. This leverage bar is refereed to as the K bar from Keco Glue Pull Products. Using this bar, this allows us to slowly and very strongly pull on this damage. This bar allows us to make a very controlled pull with the glue to pull this damage out, verses a slide hammer. After me made some great progress with glue we then have to start the removal process. We eventually end up removing the door panel and door glass to gain access to the back side of this of this damaged area.
Why Did You Have To Remove The Glass Assembly?
This vehicle features laminated saftey glass in the front doors. There are many reasons we need to remove this style of glass for this repair. We have another article that touches on all of these questions and concerts.
After we have full access to the backside of the damaged areas, we can now push the damage out. We then use a series of tools to push the damage out as well as knocking down some of the high areas especially in the lower areas. We use many different styles of tools from many different tool manufactures to achive this type of final results. Some of the tools include Dent Craft, A1 PDR Tools, Ultra Dent Tools and Stanliner tools from Lithuania! Many of the knockdowns and hammer heads used are from Edgy Tools.
Closing Time
After we have the vehicle all put back together we have to run a Post Repair Diagnostic Scan. This is when we hook up a diagnostic computer scan tool to do a full system scan on the vehicle. The good old days of just taking a vehicle apart, putting it back together and just making sure the window rolls up and down are now gone. Many vehicle manufactures, including this one, REQUIRE a diagnostic scan to be done Pre, before any work is performed. As well as after any work is done. We have a great article outlining more about this whole entire process that you can view:
Learn more about each vehicle manufactures requirements on scanning here:
Almost all of our repairs can be completed within one day. Some of our customers arrange with us to drop their vehicles off the night before for their own convenience. This allows the vehicle to sit in our climate controlled shop throughout the night. In the winter this is especially important, the vehicles metals are all warm, as well as any snow or water is dried off of the vehicle allowing us the start the repair process right away. No need to clean the vehicle off of dirt, snow and rain.
How Long Does It Take To Remove A Small Dent From My Vehicle?
Most smaller dents, say for instance a door ding can be completed within an hour. Some customers will wait and watch us actually perform their repairs in front of their own eyes. Often times customers have no idea how damage is repaired and we are happy to discuss with them while we do the repairs. Anything from tool selection and why we choose those specific tools, to how we gain access and watching us remove simple items such as trim panels, door panels, tail lights, head lights and bumpers. Most that are willing to watch find it very intriguing.
How Long Does It Take To Remove A Big Dent From My Vehicle?
Bigger damage is still often repaired within one day. Often times depending on the damage, why try and schedule the customer to drop their vehicle off the night before repairs. This as stated above allows the vehicle to be dried off and clear of dirt, water and snow when we start the repairs. Often times we will start the repair process that night they drop their vehicle off just to get a good head start. We are more than willing to work around peoples schedule to accommodate them and their needs.
How Long Do Hail Damage Repairs On A Vehicle Take?
There are many factors that come into play when giving a time frame for hail damage repairs. Often times insurance companies get involved and are the biggest factor for the turn around time. When parts are damaged they need to be ordered and most times are available and sent to our shop withing 1 to 3 business days, parts on back order are all on a case by case basis. All work and parts (some exclusions apply) are not started or ordered until AFTER the final insurance approval.
After we have the final approval from your insurance company we will start the repairs and order all of the necessary parts required for your repairs. The severity of the vehicles damage will greatly affect the time that is needed to repair your vehicle, lighter damaged vehicles can take just a day or 2. Bigger damaged vehicles may take 3-5 days.
Most hail damage claims start to finish, including the time needed to work with your insurance company can be completed in just one week. We often have customers schedule with us to drop their vehicle off Monday morning and make arrangements with their vehicle rental if they have one. Most repairs are then completed by that Friday, allowing the customers to have their vehicle for the weekend!
Do you want to learn more about the hail damage repair process and time frames? Learn More Here!
Do you have more questions about your repair time frame?
