Dent Repair for Your Vehicle

You may need to have some dent repair done to your vehicle for any number of reasons. There could be something unavoidable like a late night hail storm. You could have backed into a post at low speed. Maybe your child was trying to see how well he could use a right handed golf club, despite the fact he's left handed (sorry Mom and Dad!) and sliced a golf ball right into the back of your van. It leaves an interesting looking dent, but is not something you want to brag about and show off to your friends.

Paintless dent repairs for your auto are the cheapest way to get your vehicle looking new again. This is a collection of different techniques which all remove minor dents and dings from your vehicle. It should be noted that these techniques are not always applicable in all situations. If there is damage to the paint it obviously cannot be used. Success of the repair can depend on the flexibility of the paint itself, and the amount of stretch the metal has undergone. Extreme dents and creases may not be repairable without painting afterwards.

The most common methods of auto paintless dent repair will use metal rods and body picks. They will be used to push out the dents from the inside of the body panel. It may sound simple, but it takes years of training through trial and error before a technician will ever be good at it. Some even consider it more of an art than a specific procedure with set ways of doing a repair consistently. Another way is through the use of glue that is specially designed to be used with a tab that will pull the dent out from the outside of the panel. No matter which option is used there will be slight fine tuning of the repair through the use of a technique called "tapping." This will shrink the metal in high spots and will make the surface flat. A truly skilled and advanced paint technician will not have to do this though.

Other valuable tools include simple fluorescent lighting, and a reflection board. They are used to see shadows that are created by deformation of the metal and are an important aspect of the repair process. Their proper use can be the difference between a repair that no one ever notices, to a repair everyone notices, to worst of all: a repair that needs repairing. Be sure to ask around and see if anyone you know has gone to a technician with a similar dent and had a repair done.

Weather, or rather, whether it was Mother Nature, an accident of your or someone else's doing, or a mistake with a golf ball that you can surely forgive your son for, automotive dent repair can be done easily and accurately. The best way to go about doing this is with a good technician who has the proper experience and knowledge with paintless dent repair techniques to fix your car so it appears good as new.