Dent Repair in Sioux Falls – Jeep Body Line Crease Dent Removal
Today we are remove a super sharp body line dent. Be sure to check out the repair video below! This damage was located in the drivers upper body line of this 2020 Jeep Cherokee. One big obstacle for this repair was the access to the backside of the damaged area. To access the back side of this dented area we have to go through the upper part of the door where the window channel is. This window in the drivers door is made up of Laminated Safety Glass this creates an issue because we cannot apply pressure to this glass because there is a high chance of the glass breaking upon applying pressure. Because of this glass being sensitive to pressure we then remove the door glass to access this damage. Does your vehicle have this type of glass and is this a factor for your repair?
First Things First – Computer Diagnostic Scanning:
First we start off by running a Pre diagnostic computer scan to set a baseline for the repair for any existing trouble codes the vehicle might have had prior to any work being done. Learn more about computer scanning here:
Once the computer system is checked we then can start the disassembly process, we first remove the door panel. From there we can access the glass track system and disconnect the glass from the window regulator, this then allows us the safely remove the door glass. From there we can then can apply a heat gun to the damaged area to warm the area up to insure the paint is safe when pushing this damage out. We keep the damaged area between 160-180 degrees fahrenheit. This makes not only the paint soft and allows the paint to move with he metal but also makes the paint not want to split or crack during the repair, this is the most important step of a repair like this, having the metal and painted area hot while repairing insures no paint damage. If we were to just try pushing the damaged area out it would for sure split making the repair ruined.
Tensions Are Rising
Once the damaged area is heated up we apply a Keco Lateral tension tool setup to the area. In a sharp impact like this when the metal is pushed in it can pull the surrounding metal inwards, so to reverse this we have the pull the metal back apart WHILE pushing the damaged area up. A repair like this is what sets the men apart from the boys, this is a type of repair many would mess up for not knowing these types of things or making this repair just an improvement not a full repair like shown. Once the damaged area is flattened back out we can start putting the vehicle back together, first reinstalling the door glass, then attaching it back to the track system and insuring it rolls up and down like it should, then we can reinstall the door panel. After everything is back together we then run another computer diagnostic scan called a Post Scan. This scans the computer system for any codes that might have popped up while doing the repairs, like disconnecting the door panel, door module or other electrical components, even disconnecting the battery prior to doing anything can set multiple codes so it is very important this step is done. Once the system is check out and cleared of any new codes it is good to go down the road once again safely.
Repair Overview
Hopefully this gives you a better understanding of the paintless dent repair process, dents do not just pop out or get removed by a few pushes especially damage like this and having the right technician and tools to do the job is a key ingredient to a successful repair.
Today we are removing some damage in a 2018 Ford Edge using paintless dent repair. This damage is in the right rear door and is very extreme damage. The damage is on a body line and very deep and has a bunch of displaced metal all around the area. In order to remove this damage we had to use a heat gun and apply a constant 160-180 degrees when pushing out the last little bit of this damage.
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Here we use paintless dent removal to remove this deep body line dent in 2019 Ram 1500 Warlock right side fender. All of this damage was removed using the paintless dent repair method. With this method of repair we us specialized tools to slowly push the damage out. We started this repair off by using a tool called a Dent Dial, the model number was the 35L. We attached a soft rubber ball style tip to the end of this tool to start the first pushes. From there we switched to an interchangeable tip tool from ultra dent tools. On this tool we went with a slightly smaller tip called a R4 which indicates the size then added a red cherry cap to it to soften the pushes. From there we progressively move to a smaller and sharper tip to do the final detail work on this dent.
It’s Hot In Here!
In this repair, because of the extreme depth, we had to use heat. So what we do is setup a heat gun to constantly apply anywhere from 160-180 degrees to this damage area the entire time we are pushing this dent out. If we do not go about doing this you run the risk of the paint being damage from the extreme pushes needed to push this damage out. Heat is the number one key in this repair. Without it the paint would almost certainly be damaged with the extreme pushes we had to make to get this damaged area back out.
Do you have damage like this in your vehicle?
Have a question about your damage and wondering if it is a candidate for the paintless dent repair method?
See this new tool addition to our paintless dent removal arsenal. This new dent removal tool is actually something we use in conjunction with our regular paintless Dent Removal tools to created added leverage. This tool will allow us to make stronger pushes with using less force. This saves the technician from added strain when doing paintless dent repair. We are also working on a big door dent in this Ford Ranger Pickup. This damage is on the drivers side door near the door handle of this vehicle and in a double body line. We also can repair dents in old vehicles like this Mercury Cougar hood! This Cougar hood doesn’t even have paint on it and will need to be repainted when we are done but the customer wanted to not have any body fillers in his hood. So he choose us to straighten the metal for him!
Can Dents in Body Lines be Repaired using Paintless Dent Repair?
We get these types of questions all of the time. The short answer is Yes. Many factors come into play when determining if a dent can be repaired or not. These same factors all apply to body line damage. For instance if there is severe paint damage to the dent, sometimes paintless dent repair is not the best option. But that is not always true, some customers are ok with minor paint damage and they are happy to touch the panel up after the metal is repaired. We did another post about this recently talking about paint damage and dent repair, you can see that article here.
This repair had no type of paint damage and would be considered a medium sized depth for a dent. The access to this dent with paintless dent repair tools was pretty straight forward. Access through the upper window channel was all we needed in order to repair this damage. No removal of any parts on this vehicle was necessary in this repair making it easier for us to repair and a quicker repair.
