Winter Weather and Vehicle Dents:
What you Should Know
Cold winds, snow and ice can take their toll on your vehicle, which will cause scratches, cracks and scratches. To help you avoid the excessive wear and tear of winter, we break down what often causes your car to malfunction in that season.
Here are some common causes of winter dents:
Hailstorms: If you are taking a trip during your winter vacation, you may end up hitting one of these popcorn sized hailstones, which can do quite a bit of damage to your car body. The roof, hood or trunk of your car are easy targets for all manner of hailstones — from tiny pebbles or giant golf balls. This kind of damage can be prevented by parking your car in a covered area, or even using a car cover before a storm hits.
Slippery Roads : Ice and snow-covered roads are often the cause of fender benders and minor collisions. You can even slip on ice when driving slowly, and hit someone else’s car, curb or other objects. A lot of these small collisions end up causing dents that are purely cosmetic and can certainly make your car look awful.
Ice And Snow Accumulations: Sheets of ice and snow from a variety of outdoor sources, such as trees that hang over driveways or ice forming on the roof or the vehicle. If you need to park your car, do not park near trees; snowplows could knock down dangerous limbs and ice formations.
Busy Parking lots: Winter causes shopping centers to be overpacked, so drivers tend to get as close as possible next to other cars in order to not walk far in the cold. Thus, doors are more likely to open into adjacent parking spaces and lots of the shallow but irritating door dings occur.
Shoveling Mishaps: Using the wrong tools or techniques to shovel snow away from your car can cause denting. Careful with those hard shovels or ice scrapers that can do some serious damage if not used correctly on your car’s body.
Ways of Protecting your automobile from Winter season Dents
If you can, park under a carport or in a garage to protect against hail and snow or ice that may accumulate on top of your car. If you do not have a garage, then park outside using a protective car cover. Remember to drive slowly as roads can be icy and making driving more dangerous, so avoid fast speeds to have full control of your vehicle.
Before heading out of the house, you should always check the weather reports so you can be prepared and know what the road conditions are like. You should also ensure that your car tires are maintained well, especially during winter so that they can have a good grasp on icy roads.
Why Opt for PDR in for Winter Dents?
If your vehicle does get dents this winter, Paintless Dent Repair (PDR) is a great option. PDR repairs dents without repainting, leaving your auto with its original coat. That’s why we at Sioux Falls Dent Repair are experienced certified PDR technicians and allow them to remove large dents promptly, delivering a full body repair job that looks great without the high costs or lead times of traditional repair methods.
It does not matter if you have hail damage, minor collision dents or some falling debris dent- PDR is a quick and inexpensive way to get your car back in its original shape. Being informed of winter hazards and precautions you can take to avoid them, should assist in preventing your car from suffering unsightly dents.
Paintless Dent Repair (PDR) is a technique for repairing dents, dings, and creases in a vehicle’s bodywork without the need for repainting. Here are the steps involved in a typical PDR process:
Assessment: A technician will inspect the dent to determine if it’s suitable for PDR. Generally, smaller dents with no paint damage are good candidates for PDR.
Access: The technician will need to gain access to the backside of the dent, which may require removing interior panels or trim pieces.
Repair: Using specialized tools, the technician will slowly and methodically massage the dent back into its original shape. This requires a skilled touch and a lot of patience, as the metal must be coaxed back into place without cracking or breaking.
Finish: Once the dent has been fully repaired, the technician will ensure that the surface is smooth and free of any imperfections. This may involve using a special light to check for any remaining ripples or waves in the metal.
Inspection: Finally, the technician will inspect the repair to ensure that it meets their high standards of quality. If any issues are detected, they will be addressed before the repair is considered complete.
Overall, paintless dent repair is a precise and careful process that requires a skilled technician with the right tools and experience. When done properly, it can restore a vehicle’s bodywork to like-new condition, without the need for expensive repainting.
In today’s video, we are going to check out some of the hail damage tools that we use here at Sioux Falls Dent Repair. We will be looking at some of the pushing tools or hail rods that we use to get out all kinds of hail damage. While most of these tools can be used for all kinds of dent repair, they have twin tips which is specifically designed for hail damage repairs.
As you can see on the first tool, we can attach two different sized tips so that we can take out all the damage from a panel without having to change tools constantly. The tips are interchangeable and all depend on the size, depth, and severity of the dent itself. The bigger tip is the R4 from DeadDentTools.com and we use a Cherry Hard Tip on it to get out the initial damage. On the other side of the hail rod we have a sharper tip that is available on EdgyTools.com and is used for fine tuning and completing the job. There are companies that have even taken it even further and produced a four sided hail rod for holding four different tips but we haven’t gotten around to using one of those, yet.
The next rod is not only one of the first ones we got, but it is also one of the best ones we have in the shop. It is called the 36-inch Hail Interchangeable Tip Rod from DentCraftTools.com and it is all made form metal and is extremely durable. Going up from there, we also use the 60-inch Hail Interchangeable Tip Rod which is exactly the same – just bigger.
Tools Made From Carbon Fiber?!
The first rod that we saw is made entirely from carbon fiber and is available on CarbonTechPDRTools.com. The one we use is the Hail Rod and it comes in three separate pieces at 12-inches, 26-inches, and 46-inches. When we put the rod together, it measures 7-foot and gives us access to all parts of a damaged panel with ease. However, they do sell extensions to make the rod even longer. While it might not make sense for most to have a 10-foot hail rod, it is actually extremely helpful when you’re looking for extra leverage on larger vehicles.
Carbon Tech also has some grips on offer which are made from aluminum and make using the rod easier. Another great handle option from the brand is the T Handle which allows us to use both hands for some of the more stubborn dents that we have to deal with. We also use the T Handle to twist and push out the damage from tighter spaces where the entire tip head will not fit. Also, when dealing with tight spaces like truck beds, the twin tip head can be replaced with a single tip head – also available from Carbon Tech.
Another attachment you can get is the Single Bend Pick Tool and is used for taking out the smaller dents. There is also a Double Bend Pick Tool and they are great for getting under the roof of a car and pushing out any damage. Lastly, we also have a Whale Tail extension that lets us get out dents from tiny spaces.
If you have any queries or questions give us a call or text at 605-250-1023 we’ll be happy to chat with you.
In today’s video, we take a look at some of the latest additions to our Paintless Dent Repair tools collection. We made our recent purchase on Black Friday and got some great deals. Although most of the tools we’ve ordered have come in, we are still patiently waiting for the new dent reaper rods.
One of the first tools we’re going to look at is actually from Blehm and it’s called the SHUTT-UPS. It is the first time we have purchased Blehm and we are excited to start using them. Something that sets these tools apart is that the SHUTT-UPS come with adjustable handles which means they can be used from any angle and easily. There are different varieties of the SHUTT-UPS and come with different levels of curve so that you can reach practically all parts of the panel.
The next tool is called the Daniel Gromm Balloon Tip tool which is also from Blehm and is great for prying two panels apart. Before the Balloon Tip tools were released, we used to use the Whale Tip tools to get out the damage from panels. However, the Whale Tips are a lot sharper than the Balloon Tips and the later ensures that the metal and the paint (if any) is not damaged while we push out the dents. Nevertheless, both the tools work extremely well. The Balloon Tip tools are available in various sizes which is great for working on all kinds of dents and dings.
Next, we take a look at the KECO K-Beam Bridge Lifter which is a powerful tool in the PDR industry. What it actually does is that the K-Beam is placed on the vehicle body using the rubber legs and a pull tab is connected to the central lever. The lever can be spun manually or with the help of a drill to pull the glue tab out along with the dent. The K-Beam Bridge Lifter is designed for bigger dents and larger damage.
This is the time of the year where people wash their vehicles a lot less and therefore they don’t notice the smaller dents that they would have noticed in the summer months. We have been getting a lot of calls from people who are backing out of their garages and denting their side fenders.
One of the jobs we have on our hands right now is a door dent which is on a 2017 Honda. The dent extends from the bodyline and also comes with a tiny chip in the paint. The customer was fine with us just doing a small touch up job as the car was a lease turn-in. The PDR job will help them avoid any major fines or fees. PDR will always be more affordable than what a body shop has to offer and the customer knows that which is why they chose to come to us before bringing the vehicle back to the dealership. A body shop would have repainted the entire panel and would have most likely even had to paint and blend the front fender as well. As you can tell, that process would have been more expensive and time consuming.
Moving to the hood of the car, there is also a small dent in front – most likely from the vehicle hitting a bird. You can actually see the extent of the damage in the PDR lights and how distorted the hood really looks. So, we’ll be taking out the door and hood damage and getting the car back to the customer so that they can turn it back into the dealer without having to pay the extra fines. This car is a perfect candidate for PDR as the damage can be removed up to 80-90 percent and a regular person won’t even notice the difference, this allows the customer to save money!
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?
