Paintless Dent Repair Archives - Total Collision & PDR Repair Shop

When you see a new dent on your vehicle, you are amazed of how it got there. Honestly, there are many reasons for that. Different impacts produce different kinds of dents, and sometimes accidents happen. And if you’ve been into a bad hail storm, you can get a small surprise in a car surface. So, how to fix a small dent in a car door?

No doubts, any, even the smallest dents in your car can be disturbing. The vehicle doesn’t look good and it is really frustrating for you as for an owner. Even if you don’t know how it happened, you should know how to fix everything. But first, you should find out what type of a dent your car has. This information will help you to find the best repair option and you can answer the question How to fix a small dent in a car door easily!

Type of Dents Your Car May Have

Round Dents

These types of dents are common and are caused by different round objects. It can be a ball or a hail, hitting your car while your vehicle is stationary. These dents are usually wide and round but won’t damage the paint. You can try to fix the car door on your own of spend a couple of hours and take your car to the PDR station for fast fixing. Paintless dent repair is the best option to put your vehicle back into its perfect condition.

Creased Dents

Crease dents are also can be fixed with paintless dent repair. You can damage your car when something (a vehicle, tree branch, bicycle, trailer) brushes up and draws against the side of your car. These dents are long and deep to damage the metal in your vehicle. How to fix a dent in a car door? Fixing such a large dent can be challenging and needs professional help.

Sharp Dents

Sharp dents are caused by a hard usually small item. You can get them in parking lots by another vehicle’s doors, shopping carts, or subjects. Sharp dents sometimes leave a high spot with a deep scratch.

Extreme Dents

Extreme dents usually happen when your vehicle hits with something substantial at a quicker speed, or by a person just leaning on it. You can fix them with the help of special tools and experts. Not all issues can be repaired with paintless dent repair methods. If the body of your car has been damaged or you’ve got large creases and dents in multiple areas on your vehicle, you might require a bit more work done to completely get your car back to where you want it to be.

How to fix A SMALL DENT in a car door?

1 Step

Wet the surface

You should prepare the door surface for repairing procedure. How? You can make it wet and slippery with the help of a mix of soap and water. Cover the dent surface, ensuring that it’s slippery. Now, place a plunger in the center of the dent. Press it against the door panel gently to create suction.

2 Step

Pop the dent

The next thing you need to do is pop the dent out by pulling the plunger back gently. If you can’t do the properly the first time, try pulling harder. To pop the dent out of the panel, you need to pull harder. If the dent is still there, release the suction by sliding the plunger down. Once you’ve removed the plunger, rinse the soap off the door panel.

3 Step

Detach the door

Just open the door as wide as it can go. With the help of a special tool start removing all the screws from the door panel. Remember that there are screws below and above the door panels. You should also remove the screws from the inside pockets. You may take a flat screwdriver, then pop open the small circle or square covers.

Now, you need to pop the internal panel away from the door. You can do this by pulling it away along the edges. You also need to disconnect the door’s wiring from the back side of the interior panel. The wiring should be located behind the panel. Once you’ve disconnected it, you can lift the panel up, then pull it off the door.

4 Step

Peel the plastic sheet of the metal door frame

Keep in mind that strong adhesive keeps the plastic sheet stuck on the metal door frame. You need to peel it off. Remember to lay the door panel flat on a clean area, ensuring that the adhesive does not touch anything. In this way, you will still be able to reuse the plastic sheet.

5 Step

Push the dent out

Place your hand on the back side of the dent, then push it out carefully. If that does not do the trick, you can apply more pressure or even use a rubber hammer. Gently tap the dent out, putting the panel back into place. Once you’ve taken care of the dent, you can put the plastic sheet and the interior door panel in their original positions.

Of course, if the dent is more serious than you can handle, you have to drive your vehicle to a professional body repair shop. Knowing your budget and what type of dents your car has, you can save your time and get your car back soon. Taking care of little dents and dings on a vehicle is a simple matter. This type of damage may not require much work at all, even on a car’s aluminum and plastic parts. Nevertheless, people often ask How to fix a dent in a car door? Be ready for the situations that you may want to tackle. No matter what the reason for the dent is, professional repair shop can help you with your dent repair and dent removal needs. Find the best service near you available to repair your vehicle.

DIY VS Professional Methods

When the hail season strikes again, it is time for you and for all the car owners to look at the affordable ways to protect or repair your car. No doubts, hail can cause serious damage to your car, creating dents and scratches. Thankfully, you can find many different ways to repair hail dents. Most of professional technologies are affordable. Thus, it is impossible to imagine professional hail damage repair without a paintless dent repair. It really helps to recover your car from hail damage. But first, let’s find out how to avoid hail damage and how to fix your car without professional help.

How To Avoid Hail Damage

Hail damage is a terrible nightmare for any car owner. Try to avoid it! Protecting your car from hail you should:

Park your car in a covered or shade place, particularly in hailstorm season.
Make sure you park your car in a safe area if you are going to leave for long. It would be great if someone can check your car every day.

How Long Does It Usually Take To Fix Hail Damage?

Repair time depends on damage on your car. For the light or moderate damages, the repairs may take from 1 to 3 days. But for heavy damages, it may take you 2 to 3 weeks as that damages will needs body shop participation, for paint work and panel replacement. Sure enough, professional repair will take less time.

Hail Damage Repair At Home

If you are skilled and good at car repairing, you can try to fix your car on your own.

Using dry ice
Applying dry ice to the dent is an effective way for fixing hail damage. The huge change in temperature can force the dents to pop out. Everything you need is to move the dry ice around the damaged area to cool the area rapidly. Be careful as dry ice can damage your skin if you don’t wear special gloves when handling it. Fixing hail damage by dry ice can be a cool solution, but sometimes it can’t remove all of the dents. So in this case, you will need to do additional repairs or call to professional hail damage repair.

Using hot air
You can use a hair dryer to repair your car! Are you surprised? Just aim the hair dryer to the areas you want to fix, and wait until the dents even out. The ideal distance between the hair dryer and the car should be 2-4 inches. Watch out! While using a hair dryer, there should be an interval of 2 minutes. If the car’s paint starts discoloring, you should stop applying heat right away. Use a rubbing compound or wax to revise the paint color.

Using dent repair kit
For small dents on your car hood, a car dent repair kit may be a simple and inexpensive solution. You can easily find these kits at any local store or a special auto store. Each kit often includes a knockdown tool, a glue gun and many stems for different sized dents. You may be surprised at the way the kit works and the professional result it makes. But this is a solution for small dents only. You shouldn’t use it for deep, large dents, it is better if you take your car to garage.

Professional help
A professional job at a garage is recommended for large, deep dents or terrible damaged surfaces. What about the fee? The fee for fixing hail damage at garage is quite cheap and fast, but often requires a new paint job. Besides, you can compare professional services on your location and find the cheapest variant. If your vehicle needs professional hail damage repair, bring it in to any service for free auto body repair estimate. You’ll receive the assurance that their technicians understand the frustration of hail damage and possess the precision required to fix it correctly.

Professional Hail Damage Repair

As a rule, professional services regularly use paintless dent repair for hail damage. They often utilize this technique when repairing outer panel strikes or indentations that haven’t stripped paint from the vehicle. When hail hasn’t compromised the exterior panel’s finish, this repair technique can effectively remove surface imperfections without having to repaint your vehicle.

Depending on the severity of the damage, the technician will most likely extract any dents from your vehicle and remove surface imperfections. If the finish is damaged, the technician may still remove the dent to eliminate the need for body fillers before the vehicle is refinished.

That’s so great that modern services use the latest technology and specialized tools for hail damage, ensuring your vehicle is restored to its pre-accident condition.

Paintless Dent Repair (PDR) or Body Filler

So, how do car body services decide which method to use? It really depends on how damaged the vehicle is.

PDR is ideal for removing small dents caused by hail damage. It’s also much cheaper and more eco-friendly compared to body filler, as there are no chemicals involved. Also, PDR is a good option if you’re looking to sell your car in the future, as painting and traditional dent repair methods can cause the value of your car to depreciate. Plus, PDR typically is a much faster process compared to body filler.

Body filler is optimal for repairing heavily dented vehicles. If hail damage has caused the vehicle’s metal to stretch or crack, then it will need to be repaired with body filler. In addition, if hail has damaged your vehicle’s paint, conventional methods will need to be used to repair the damage.

Any repair method must be an excellent choice for repairing hail damage of your car. But you may not know if it is the right option for you if you are not a specialist. If your car has severe damage, you’ll most likely need to have a trusted body shop repair the vehicle with body filler. Be sure to shop around to get an estimate on the cost of reparation.

Don’t forget about GUARANTEE! This professional option often attracts people to use professional help instead of DIY reparation. In the rare instance that you’re not 100 percent satisfied with the quality of your repair, simply return your vehicle to any location and the team of professional specialists will work to make it right.