Hey guys,

Been meaning to post this up for awhile, but better late than never I guess.

2 weekends ago I took my TL-S down to my friend's body shop to get my doors repaired. Over the past 3 years, random people who don't give a shit for other people's property have managed to put in a bunch of dings into 3 of my doors. I drove down to my friend's body shop and he and I counted approximately 16 dings on 3 of the doors. One door (the rear passenger side door was in perfect condition... )

Anyway, I was planning to dish out close to $1000 to have the doors repaired: meaning I thought I was gonna have to strip the paint, have them do body work and then repaint the doors back to WDP. But my friend told me that he recently hired a guy that does Paintless Dent Removal, and since all the dings didn't have any damage to the paint, it'd be a better method.

I was skeptical. I 've never heard of Paintless Dent Removal ("PDR") and didn't want to risk having some unknown procedure done to my car. My friend told me to atleast meet the new guy he hired and so I agreed. His PDR guy was cool and told me how the process is done. He told me since I was a friend of his boss that he'd charge me half price at $65 a door. I was still skeptical and my friend cut me a deal: If his new guy couldn't get all the dents out within 2 hours, he'd repair my doors and repaint them for free. I couldn't pass up the chance so I agreed.

I left and came back 2 hours later and say my car parked outside. It was being washed by some workers there and I walked immediately to the driver side. There was one spot on my rear driver side door that had about 6-7 consecutive dings in it. (Because the dings were so close together, it was easily seen by the naked eye and it bothered the shit out of me.) Gone. All the dings gone! Even better, all the dings on the body line of the doors were gone as well!

My friend walked out and grinned and asked me what I thought. I told him it was perfect. His PDR guy walked out and told me he finished in an hour and 45 and told me that he got a total of 19 dings out. I thought he'd charge me more, but he told me to give him $180 and it'd be even. (Discount on top of discount I guess?) I gave him $220 since I felt like I should tip him something for doing an outstanding job.

I wish I had a camera there to take before and after pics, but I didn't have one on me. And even if I did, the dings are hard to see; the WDP really makes it hard to see the dings in pictures. But about that one problem area, I did take a picture of that area the day before.



If you look at the red box above, look closely at the reflection of the background on the paint. Focus on the red no parking curb... you can clearly see it wave up and down. See how it's all wavy? Its because of dings in the door. I had about 6 or 7 lined up in that area. I think it may have been a co-worker.. I had an assigned spot when I used to work at Ernst and Young and this jackass in a tahoe always parked right next to me opend his rear passenger door to get out his brief case. Anyhow look below



Notice that the reflection of the background now lines up perfectly on the door. That area was seriously the worst part of my car and now I can't even tell that it had damage on it. I had 19 dings on the 3 doors and I cant even tell where they used to be any more.

Paintless dent removal is a good option for those who have dings with the paint still in tact. I suggest you guys find a reputable place with a good PDR specialist and try it out. I think on average, they'll charge anywhere from $80-150 per door depending on where you go. But try bargaining... wouldn't hurt anyway.

Anyhow, I thought I'd post this up for those who are somewhat OCD when it comes to their car. I hate getting random dings in doors and park in the "boonies" in parking lots so that no one else will park next to me. For those that wanted to get their dings removed, try PDR.

 

awesome and informative post. Dent Wizard places around here are awesome and inexpensive for the service they provide. very good writeup and the pictures are very helpful.

 

i seriosuly need to do that...the same door u had the consecutive dents i have aswell...i have at least like 10 small dents one after the other on that door..and all can be taken out cuz no paint was removed..i have a guy whos friends with my dad who does it so ill be telling u guys about it soon

 

I had a huge dent on my rear quarter panel on my previous car and I really did not think paintless dent removal would work either but it did. I paid $90 for that one dent but it came out flawless.