We often get asked “What Kind of Dents Can Be Fixed?” Not every dent is the same and there are many variables when determining what can and cannot be fixed. Even down to each person may have their own standard for a repair.
Shallow Dents
These are typically the easiest to repair assuming we can get a tool to the backside to push the damage out. Even shallow dents in certain metals, lets say aluminum, high strength steel or stainless steel though create extra difficulties. Because these metals are stronger even though they may be physically thinner does not mean they are easy to remove dents from. Stronger metals make even a shallow impact point difficult to remove. This is especially true when we cannot push the damage out and have to use the glue pulling method.
A perfect example for this is kitchen appliances or washer and dryers. Most of todays appliances and the current trend is stainless steel. We have attempted to make repairs on these items and more often then not are NOT able to repair the damage to our satisfaction. That does not mean the customer is not extremely happy with the repair however. If a person can have a dent removed lets say 80 t o 90% that is fantastic for them. The reason being is their alternative for a repair might even be as extreme as replacing the appliance!
Deep Dents
There are many degrees of deep dents. What someone may consider deep we might consider not repairable. We even have a tool called a Dent Depth Gauge from Black Plague PDR to help measure the depth of dents to better estimate damage and know for sure prior to the repair how the damage will turn out. For our pricing structure we are talk tenths of millimeters for depth.
Our pricing guide prices out depths as so:
Shallow Depth <.25mm
Medium Depth: .26-.75mm
Deep Depth: .76+mm
We have repaired dents into the 2mm deep range, but also struggled repairing dents in the 1.0mm range. This is where access to the backside is extremely important. Not only for a dent repair tool but also specialized metal shrinking tools as well.
Here is our dent depth gauge being used to measure the depth of a dent (2mm+)
Glue Pull Dent Repair
When we cannot push damage out with a traditional tool we have to resort to the glue pulling method for repairs. Here we use specialized hot metal adhesives to glue a glue tab to the vehicles paint finish. Don’t worry this entire process is designed specifically for this and will not harm the vehicles factory finish. From there we let the glue try sometimes for only a few seconds. We then use specialized glue pulling devices to pull the damage out. From there we use a release agent to release the glue from the vehicle and it peels right off.
Traditional Methods
The best choice for us to repair dents is to be able to glue pull AND push damage out with a traditional tools. Even extreme damage we may start using the glue pull method to pull a bunch of the damage out. Once the damage has been pulled out we then can go in with a tool and do the final details to finish up a dent repair.
We always tell people 80% of the repair is ONLY 20% of the work. The last 20% of the repair IS 80% of the work. This is why you might see others do repairs and they look not quite finished, or much “better”. Say for instance you have a repair that takes a technician 4-5 hours. It might only take him a hour or so to “rough” the damage out or get it to 80%. The biggest battle is getting the minor waves, wiggles, low and high spots all flat.
Do you have questions about our dent removal process?
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!
Will my dented area rust after paintless dent repairs are performed?
We have been asked this question multiple times from customers of ours. First off, does the damaged area have any paint damage, broken paint, a scratch of some kinda or cracked paint? If the answer is NO to those questions that’s great news! That means your damage is a perfect candidate for Paintless Dent Repair and your damage will not have any paint issues and no rust issues down the road.
What if my damaged area DOES have some paint damage?
One thing to clear up is often damaged areas may have minor paint damage, anything from a smaller light scuff to maybe even cracked or a chip in the paint. Now the dented areas can often still be repaired and smoothed out BUT the paint damage may remain if its severe.
Can you fix my paint damage?
Depending on the severity of the damage, YES. If your paint damage consists of a minor scuff or scrape we will wet sand, buff and polish the area to remove the paint damage. This paint damage will not be noticable at all after our repairs are done and the paint will look as if nothing ever happend.
What if I have a crack, chip or deep scratch in my paint?
We can do things like apply some touch up paint to the paint damaged areas or do some wet standing, buffing and polishing to removed scuffs and scrapes, but if the paint damage can not be removed with buffing. The paint damage WILL remain. Some people are ok with having us do touch up paint, others are not, that is strictly up to you, the customer. Everyone’s needs are different for each repair and we are willing to work with you on your needs. The best way to describe how touch up paint will look after applied is it will look like a black button up shirt WITH a black button. The button(paint damage) will be visible, you will be able to see it to a certain degree and really looking for it. You yourself, know EXACTLY where it is, others like friends, family members or the general public may not pick out the damage unless it is specifically pointed out. This is the best case scenario, touch up paint is often best suited for solid colors, black and white being the best. Colors with a high metallic paint, pearl colors and specialized colors may not look the best when touch up paint is applied. We would be happy to discuss all of these items, your needs and our personal suggestions for your situation. We have even suggestion people with severe paint damage that we are NOT the best course of action for their damage, we can then happily get you fixed up with a recommended body shop in the area
Want to see what a repair looks like when the paint IS DAMAGED? Here is an example of a repair we did on a vehicle that had a minor crack in the paint prior to our repairs: CLICK HERE
What is corrosion protection?
Often times people do not know that there has to be some kind of protection sprayed onto the backside of there dented area after we repair it. If we have to use any types of dent repair tools we are taking sometimes sharp metal tipped tools and pushing on the backside of the dented area. This pushing can cause small scratches in the coatings on the back side of your damaged area. Now these are very minimal but something needs to be done to protect this area. After a repair is made with dent tools we apply a corrosion protection spray like a 3m Cavity Wax spray. This is a very runny liquid that will run into all of the areas it is sprayed in. This spray stays soft and gooey like honey for instance. This spray will not harden and crack like some other products on the market. Now with glue pulling for example no harm is caused to the backside of the panel because we are gluing glue tabs to the OUTSIDE of the panel and pulling the damage out, no pushing on the dent is done so there is no need for the application of cavity wax.
Here is a video of us explaining the use of 3M Cavity Wax spray when performing dent repairs.
Hopefully this clears up any questions you may have had about rust and paintless dent repair.
If you are still curious about the paintless dent repair process or maybe you have some more questions on our methods of preventing rusting, feel free to call, text or email us!
This is a repair we did on a Yamaha motorcycle. Traditionally in motorcycle dent removal the motorcycle gas tank sits on top of the motorcycle. The rider then has the gas tank between their legs. On this Yamaha model however,that is not the case. The gas tank actually rests under the seat on this bike. Where the tank would traditionally sit between the riders legs is actually just a metal cover that resembles a smaller gas tank but this is actually just covering the frame of the bike as well as the top of the engine assembly.
First thing we do in motorcycle dent removal is mount this engine cover to our motorcycle vice stand. This gives us a solid platform to mount the cover to so it will not move during the repair process. There is a lot of pressure and force that needs to be applied in order to push damage out of any item that has a dent in it and motorcycles are no exception. Once the cover is mounted we use all sorts of specialized tools some are even specifically made to work on motorcycles. Some of the biggest differences in a motorcycle specific tool and a traditional tool is the strength. While all dent removal tools are strong, motorcycles are extremely strong compared to a cars sheet metal. So the motorcycle specific tools are much more stout this allows us the apply force to the damaged areas and push them out and not have the tool bend in the process. A tool that bends means there is a waste of energy being applied to the repair and not all of the force from the technician is being applied to the repair making it more difficult resulting in a longer repair time as well creating more work for the technician.
In the end we use a combination of tools to get this damage out and make this engine cover dent free once again. The bike owner was thrilled with the results and happy to have a dent free motorcycle. He was especially happy since he was able to ride the bike to our shop, remove the cover and take off to work. Then later show up to pick it up and simply snap it back on the bike and go down the road once again.
Here we are walking you through the entire process on how we repair these door dings in this 2018 Audi Q5. This vehicle has only 8k miles on it! The customer originally brought it to us for the dent in the rear door. We gave her an estimate and scheduled the repair a couple weeks later. Later on the vehicle was brought to us for us to do the repair it had actually received another dent in the front door! We were able to do both of these repairs in an afternoon. The customer dropped the vehicle off before work and picked it up dent free after work.
In order to do these repairs we need to gain access to the backside of the damaged areas. We do this by first rolling down the windows of the damaged doors. We then install a stainless steel window guard between the window and the outer sheet metal of the door. This guard protects the window from any type of damage. It also allows us access to the damaged areas of the door without having to remove the door trim panel. We then install an inflatable window wedge in the door channel opening. We then pump it full of air to slowly and safely expand the window opening. From there we install our tools through the top of the window channel and are able to slowly work this metal out and make this dent slowly disappear.
Once the dents are then removed, we then take some extra steps to buff the minor scuffs in the paint from the impact that caused the dents. We then follow that with some rubbing compound and buffing followed by polishing the areas and a final wipe down to clean the panels off. The damage is now completely gone and undetectable, it’s like the damage had never even happened.
