Restoring your hail damaged vehicle recommendations

Evaluation of your hail damaged vehicle ? The first step to performing a dent repair without using paint involves assessing the dent itself and determining if a paintless dent repair is even possible. According to most experts, 80 to 90 percent of dents can be repaired using PDR techniques. However, there are a certain percentage of dents that are impossible to repair without following it up with a paint job. The following types of dents usually fall into this “non-PDR” category: Very deep dents – Even very large dents can be repaired using PDR if the dent is fairly shallow. However, if a dent of any size is pushed in too far, the metal can’t be bent back into place without damaging the paint and requiring repainting.

First, you have to pick a proper tool kit. And that’s not easy for a user who has little clue what’s going on. Some of them are cheap — low prices should raise red flags. Others are so expensive (three-figures or more) that they’re probably right up there with the cost of a decent professional repair (although, to be fair, if you buy the kit you can perform multiple repairs). Many of the high-end, expensive tools are intended to be used along the inside of the panel, much like a pro would do. (Gaining access to the inside of body panels can be a chore, though, and often involves careful removal of multiple interior trim pieces.) Alternatives (which tend to be the less expensive kits) flaunt the conventional wisdom that small dents should be massaged back out from behind the painted surface. These options instruct the user to glue a tool to the dented surface and then twist or pull on the tool to pop it out. True, you can go buy the same tools as a pro, but it takes a lot of skill and experience to use them properly.

Instead, save yourself some of that hard-earned money and do it yourself. There are plenty of ways to get a small dent or ding out of a vehicle at home without ruining your paint, and you don’t need to be a gearhead to do it. However, not all of these tricks will work on your particular automobile; your mileage may vary depending on where the dent is and what your body panel, hood, or bumper is made of (aluminum, carbon fiber, plastic, fiberglass, steel, etc.). For instance, aluminum has little memory properties, so paintless dent removal is much more difficult.

Another way to fix the small dents is parking your car in a sunny area. This is an effective way that most of car enthusiasts all know. By doing this way, the metal will heat up and expand. As the car surface expands, the shallow and light dents will pop out. The longer you park your car in a sunny area, the more likely this way will work.

For dents that are fairly small and not deep, a dent repair kit may be an inexpensive and simple solution. These kits are available at any auto parts store and tend to be very user friendly — instructions are always included. The best part is that they usually cost under $40. Most include several stems for various sized dents, a glue gun and a knockdown tool. You may be surprised at how well the kit works and how professional the result looks. We don’t recommend this kit for large, deep dents — you might cause even more damage trying to fix those with a kit. Read extra details at The best paintless dent repair (PDR) in Colorado.