Last week, I went to Wal-Mart, parked in the usual undesirable place (a taxicab ride from the door), came home and noticed that some @sshole rammed a shopping cart into my driver's side rear door (I couldn't tell right away as it was dirty and had been raining). I went to a paintless dent removal place (I've been to this shop on a few occasions and they do good work), and after an hour, they could not get the dents out. He noticed that the metal in that area (between the body line and the BSM) was very springy and would flex to the touch, but would not respond to the paintless dent removal tools. Have any of you had any problems with this before? Should I try a different place (if I can find one)? Otherwise it will cost me about $300 and they'll have to repaint, instead of the $100 for the two dings. Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks!

 

If I recall, the doors are made of a special alloy meant to reduce the susceptibility to dings. Could be that a side effect is that when they do ding, they are equally resistant to being fixed via the paintless method.

Mike
BSM owner and proud of it.

 

I would call another Dent Removal place and mention that another company tried it and couldn`t.
Ask if they can inspect or try but, if unable, it would be no charge for the effort

 

I've had the process done on two of my other vehicles, both times superb results. Did the guy use a tool that slide down through the window area or did they drill a specific hole in the "door jam" area of the door to facilitate tool use?? They drilled a hole in both my vehicles to use a very rigid steel rod/pointer tool. Using the hole method (though less desired by the customer) allows the technician to use a stiffer tool and apply more leverage. Something their not able to do going through the window area. When finished, they painted the bare metal area of the hole, plugged it with a 1/2 - 3/4 inch black cap and all was well. My wifes Suburban was also a Wal-Mart victim.. It had an 8-10 inch crease in the drivers door. Thank God no paint damage that buffing didn't fix. That was two years ago and I still can't tell it ever happened. My Civic SI was the other victim with several small dings, most from hail. Same guy fixed this car with flawless results.
The possibility of the metal not responding well definitely could be an issue with the TL, but I find that hard to believe. I would ask around at different shops.. I used a "come to your house" service called Dent Magic. If you were in the Dallas area I would highly recommend them.

My guess it probably is a factor of your guy not using the proper tools or techniques,,, but it's hard to know. Watching the guy fix my vehicles was like watching an artist. It definitely looked like an "art" vs just a procedure, with a requirement for a bit of perfectionism. One of those things your either good at or need more practice/experience. Not to mention the "will" to do a good job.

Good luck

 

http://www.acura-tl.com/forums/showthread.php?t=81514

Related... at least same topic...

 

 

It depends on the quality of your dent guy. My brother can easilly handle a LOT of work other dent guys turn away. The experience of the guy can also be an issue as a bad (or simply inexperienced one can cause it to look WORSE). Ask your dent guys about their experience level...

 

good point

 

I've come to the conclusion that 90% of the dings occur either at Wal-Mart or Costco. Why is it that all the low-life that doesn't give a rat's ass about someone else's property seem to shop there? You go there either to get your car dented or get exposed to tuberculosis. No thanks.

 

This is a HIGHLY inappropriate, insensitive, politically-incorrect comment that should be deleted by the moderators immediately.

It's also, IMO, hilarious.

 

OK, its obvious,,, You shop there

 

www.dentwizard.com