Today, we are working on a ding on the front right hand-side door of a 2017 Mazda CX5 car. Even though there is just one visible dent in the door, under the dent repair lights, we can see that there are a couple of micro dents as well that need to be taken care of.
In a traditional PDR case, we would roll the window down and install a window guard before running a tool down the side of the car and pulling out the dent. However, this car has laminated safety glass and we don’t usually put a lot of pressure on this type of glass. Why does this glass type change our repair technique? Find out Here
In this case, there are two ways to get to the dents. Either we can find another access point to get to the dents or we remove the glass completely. Luckily for us, this Mazda comes with a factory access hole in the handle and this allows us to get a tool into the door and fix the dents.
As you can see, the door jammer we are using is from Anson PDR and keeps the door from moving while we complete the repairs. We can use a factory ratchet handle from PDR Finesse to slowly push the dents out from the inside of the door. The owner of the Mazda actually came to us for their 2017 Hyundai car and they will be bringing that in once we are done with this job.
For any questions or queries, feel free to call or text us at:
Lets show you some of the door ding dent removal tools we use. These are some of the most common tools we use everyday.
Dent Inspection
First off we need to inspect the damage. We use our paintless dent repair light system to properly see the damage and assess how bad the damage is. From there we need to inspect access to the backside for us to make the proper repairs.
Selecting A Tool
After we have assessed where the dent damage is when then roll the window down for that door. From there we install a window guard and wedge light to see into the door assembly. Doing this allows us to see the backside of the damaged are and figure out if the damage is behind a brace or not. If the damage is behind a brace we will then you certain brace style tools to remove the damage. If the area is in a wide open spot then we will use a more traditional door tool. If the area is fully enclosed with no access to the backside we will then have to use glue pulling to pull the damage out. Knowing these three things greatly changes the repair method.
From there we use the appropriate tool to remove the damage to the door.
This video was originally shot LIVE on our Instagram page on 10-14-2020, be sure to follow us there to see more content: https://www.instagram.com/sioux_falls_dent_repair
We are going look at this door ding dent and do a pricing breakdown for you today. This vehicle is a 2017 Chrysler 300s. This vehicle has a door ding in the right rear door and was a referral from Superior Detail, a local detailing shop. We start off by showing you how we gain access to this damage. From there we then show how we go about pricing this damage in this door for paintless dent repair.
We first setup our Paintless Dent Repair (PDR) light system so we can see a proper reflection of the damage. From there we then use our price guide that has a built in ruler to measure the damage. From there we have a base line to start the estimate.
Depth of the Dent
We then do a visual inspection of the depth of the dent. We even have a dent depth gauge that we can measure the depth in millimeters. It may not sound like a lot but a dent that is a over .25mm deep is medium depth.
Shallow Depth< .25mm
Medium Depth: .26 – .75mm
Deep Depth: : >.76mm
Apply Factors
There are many factors in a dent repair for pricing:
Metal makeup: steel, aluminum, high strength steel, ultra high strength steel
Glue Pulling: Do we need to glue pull this area because there is no access to the backside
Obstructed damage: is there a brace or internal structure in the way of the dent that we need to work around
Body line or contour line dent: this damage is much more harder to remove
Crease dents: some creases are so sharp that they cannot be removed 100% but a significant improvement can be made, this is all determined at the estimate time prior to repair.
Edge of panel: these areas are often very tight and require specialized edge tools to repair.
Special paint finish: this includes clear film, viynal wraps, stickers or decals. These items effect the sight of the repair and can make it more difficult.
Sound Deadener: these types of sound deadener pads, glues or compounds vary from manufacture so each repair method is different.
These are just some of the major factors in pricing out paintless dent repair.
This is very subjective to each person, are small dents worth fixing? First off which one of these people best describes you and your vehicle?
A Mode of Transportation
Some see a vehicle as disposable and will get rid of their vehicle in just a few short years. It is just a way of transportation. We get it, everyone has priorities in life. A vehicle is important just not so much cosmetically. To some if a vehicle starts up, runs, drives, has air conditioning and heat, that is all they want and need. A small dent or ding is so low on the priority list it is the LAST thing on their mind.
Detailed and OCD
On the other hand, some people place a lot of value in the condition of their vehicle. They may have a high case of OCD, have a very clean and well kept vehicle. This type of detail often extends to other parts of their lives. A very clean house, well maintained yard. Do you often dress more on the side of a business professional, wearing button up shirts, polos, slacks or a suit. Or maybe a dresses and heals are more your style. Now we hate to stereo type but it gives a good visual for a reader and to help explain. We have seen people in both styles drive many different style vehicles.
This person may often have their vehicle regularly washed, and I’m not talking about running it through a basic gas station car wash. I’m talking they take their vehicle to a professional detailer who goes though every nook and cranny of their vehicle to make it spotless. After the insides are deep cleaned the outside is then washed, buffed, polished and they may even have a ceramic coating applied. To put this simply, this is the same theory as wax but just the theory is where the differences stop. Ceramic coating is often times well over a thousand dollars to apply so just the thought of us mentioning wax as similar may make people scoff. We get it, but to explain this as basic as possible this is what most know and it is the easiest for others to compare the basic concept to.
Which Are You?
Do you have an idea of which person you may slightly lean to or we may have described you exactly.
If you are more like the first person we described then maybe that small dent or ding is not worth fixing to you. If you are more like the second person we described then to you a small dent or ding is worth every penny to make sure your baby is always in pristine condition and spotless.
Other Alternatives
Are you thinking of selling your vehicle soon? Is your vehicle a lease that you are needed to turn in soon?
We have a whole article discussing selling a car with dents, dings and hail damage you can
Why does the glass in your door matter when doing a price quote for your door ding?
Well today we will be discussing how the glass in the door of your vehicle will determinant what steps are need in order to perform your dent repair. There are two different style of glasses that they put in vehicles. One being the traditional tempered glass which is one solid piece of glass, the other being laminated safety glass. Laminated safety glass is actually 2 pieces of glass glued together with plastic in between them.
Why Do Manufactures Do this?
Why do they have 2 different style of glasses you ask? There are multiple reasons why a manufacture would choose Laminated safety glass over your traditional tempered glass. The biggest reason would be safety, in the event of an accident laminated glass does not shatter like your traditional tempered glass. The reason being is the plastic in between the 2 outer pieces of glass will actually hold the structure of the glass even when it is broken. This type of glass is what is used in windshields, so when you get damage to your windshield it does not shatter it cracks, the same is true for laminated safety glass in your door. This glass holds its form so when an airbag is deployed or the vehicle is perhaps involved in a roll over for instance it will not blow out or break the side glass when the structure of the door frame is compromised or is heavily impacted. Another big reason for this glass choice and why it is typically found in more highly optioned and high end vehicles is noise. This glass is thicker and has multiple layers making it harder for sound to go though, so it is actually quieter, you will have less road noise transmitted through this glass.
Check out our video on how to better identify your glass and have us explain this whole process:
Hi there, I’m Jack with Sioux Falls Dent Repair. If you don’t know what this is, this is actually the window from the right front door of this Lincoln MKZ. Now you’re probably asking yourself, “Why the heck does he have this out of the vehicle? Don’t they just do dent repair? They don’t tint windows.” Well, you’re absolutely right. We don’t do any type of window tinting at all. We do only paintless dent repair. But, I’m going to go and run through a couple of reasons of why I have this glass out of the vehicle, and why I had to take it out of the door of this Lincoln, in order to perform paintless dent repair on this passenger front door.
Now, the reason why I have to actually pull this glass out of the vehicle in order to perform paintless dent repair, is because it is what is called laminated safety glass. What laminated safety glass is, it’s the same makeup as your windshield. So when you get a, let’s say for instance, a rock chip in your windshield, all you’re left with is a crack or a chip in the window. That’s the same type of makeup of glass that we have right here in my hands.
Now, you’re wondering, “Okay, well why is this car in particular?” With this being a Lincoln, this is the higher-end model of a Ford-manufactured vehicle. What this has is specialized of laminated safety glass in the front doors only of this vehicle. So, if you call and get an estimate for a door ding, a question I may or may not ask you if I’m unsure of it. Most of the time I have a general idea, if it does or does not. But, I actually have to look at the markings in the bottom of this glass here, and I’m pointing to it with my fingers, it’s kind of hard to see. But it’ll actually say either tempered or laminate glass on it. This glass here actually does say laminated.
The reason why I have to pull this out in order to perform paintless dent repair is my traditional repairs, I’ve installed a metal window guard against this glass, and push off the glass. If I put any pressure whatsoever on the glass, this type of glass specifically, it cracks. I don’t want to purchase a $200 to $700 piece of glass to do a door ding on a vehicle. So, it has to be removed, in order to safely perform these repairs.
Unfortunately, not every vehicle states on the glass if it’s laminated or tempered. Tempered is the other type of glass that will actually shatter if hit. We could put a lot of pressure on that without any problem at all, as long as we have a window guard, preferably a metal window guard, installed between the glass and the tool. Another way to actually check it is to actually roll the window down, and actually feel the edge of the glass. So we’re actually really lucky on this one. This actually has laminated glass in the front, and tempered glass in the rear. So I’m going to go ahead and show you how the class actually looks. So, roll the glass down just a little bit, and as you could see, you can see it’s two pieces of glass. Versus, tempered glass. It is one solid piece.
All right, so we, anyways, we hope you learned something in this video here. If you enjoyed anything you learned, or did learn anything, hit that like button and subscribe to our channel, so you can see some of the newest content that we deliver, whether it be tools, tips, tricks, actual dent repairs, customer reviews, help with identifying components in your own vehicle, even walking through, taking things apart and everything like that. And we’re going to have some videos coming to that here shortly. Anyway, so we appreciate you watching, and I don’t have a tagline yet, so, thanks!
Hopefully this helps you better understand the glass make up in your vehicle and why we have to know which style of glass it is when doing a dent repair on your door for instance.
Do you have more questions or need a repair done on your own vehicle?