Anyone had luck with paintless dent removal? (pic inside)

[06wrx4me]

So I made it 6 years, 26 days and 85,000 miles without a door ding. A rebellious 7 y/o boy, and a kicked Suburban driver side door ended that. Worst part, I was in the car with the tranny in reverse waiting to back up. There isn't a scratch per se, just a nice 4" long dent. Which brings me to my question; Has anyone tried PDR?

I was intrigued when I saw an episode of Wheeler Dealers and they took like 25 door dings out of a Saab and you could not tell. So I called up the local Paintless dent removal guy with 5 stars on Yelp, and he's gonna come monday to give a quote. Preliminarily he said should be about $200, which is about 10% of what it would cost to have fixed at a body shop. I'm really not interested in having it sanded down and resprayed and the inconvenience of body shop work.

Needless to say, the miscreants father will be paying the bill regardless one way or the other.

Anyone have experience?

[SD_GR]

It can be excellent except if there is a rib, reinforcement, or other underlying structure to which the visible sheet metal is connected. If there is such a connection then it won't be perfect. Also, sometimes a dent comes out do that it is visible if one knows where to look but not palpable. Depends. I'd ask the guy in person and decide whether it's worth a try.

[wrxtreme06]

I had PDR on my car. It came out great and I've received a lot of compliments on the work

[mycologist]

I had PDR and it was flawless in spite of being a larger dent and on a crease. He told me before he started if I could see it when he was done it was free. You have to find a good one though not just some hack with a certificate.

[ea126405]

I had PDR on two of my previous cars, with EXCELLENT results. If you can, find someone who is recommended by an acquaintance. I new no one locally who could recommend a PDR guy, so I went to a local dealer and spoke to the used car sales manager. He introduced me to the person he used, who traveled from dealer to dealer.

[A265]

Had great results with my girlfriends VW Golf.

[06wrx4me]

Had PDR done on my car on monday. Great results! Not only did he fix the dent in the door, he fixed the aluminum hood from when the piece of steel hit it 6 months ago, and very very very reasonably priced. As an ex-body guy I can say that from now on my first call will be to a PDR guy. I had figured the hood as good as scrap with all the dents in it, but it looks great! Now If I only had a hood scoop to replace my cracked one.

Glad I caught that episode of Wheeler Dealers otherwise I would not have given it a try. I guess another positive could be that had this guy never hit my door, my hood probably never would have been fixed. Almost forgot, and while he was at my house, he fixed a door ding in the wife's car too.

So for those out their skeptical, givem a shot.

[xFalleNx]

So I made it 6 years, 26 days and 85,000 miles without a door ding.

What?? Lucky you man, I made it all of 2 weeks

Glad to hear everything worked out perfectly for you. Need to post after pics!!

[power091999]

Had a lot of dings from hail damage a few years back on my WRX. When the guy was done you couldn't even tell anything was done to the car. It was great work and is a service I would use again.

[06wrx4me]

What?? Lucky you man, I made it all of 2 weeks

Glad to hear everything worked out perfectly for you. Need to post after pics!!

I had been very careful.

Anyways here are the pics:

Hard to see, but there were ~6 dents and a long crease at the front part of the hood. Plus there were three dings on the pass side of the hood.

Before:





After:

[mycologist]

Mine was where the garage door retaining spring snapped and it crashed on my hood. It was BAD.

The guy explained the process to me while he was doing it. Anyone can pop the dent out - it is the careful smoothing of the ripple left around it afterwards that is art.

Nice job that one!

[06wrx4me]

Mine was where the garage door retaining spring snapped and it crashed on my hood. It was BAD.

The guy explained the process to me while he was doing it. Anyone can pop the dent out - it is the careful smoothing of the ripple left around it afterwards that is art.

Nice job that one!

Exactly. I did body work professionally for a while and a PDR guys tools are pretty crude, there is no magic device there. Essentially all they are is an assortment of oversized automotive dental picks, a hammer, plastic punch, and various lights and reflectors that suction cup on. It is entirely in the skill of the guy doing it, and absolutely an art form. Reminds me of a lot of the "old time" hot rod guys who didn't need body filler to perfect a panel.

[WRCfan]

He did a great job. 6 years though? WTF? My 2005 lasted a ****ing day and my 2012 went less than a month. And I almost never park next to other people.

How about when the PDR guy gets out that pointy hammer and bangs on the panel with that. I was like

[XiiiCarlo]

I was thinking of doing this to mine. i had my wrx for a about a week and it seems like a rock hit the front. but no chip paint damage more like a hail storm dent. i mean its not that large but since it warps the light whenever it hits it, it's like a big pimple on one's face... it just stares you down. since im very meticulous with my things and the fact that it was immaculate just a week ago bugs me. i was going to go down this route but my coworkers said "if youre driving it daily, it's bound to get some knicks." so i'm like whatever now. but it was baaaad, i was even going to change the whole hood for a measly ding the size of a pea. on the contrary, i will anyways because i want a carbon fiber hood.lol anyways, great job on yours. it wasn't too pricey was it? how much for one? lol

[06wrx4me]

He fixed all 9 dents on my hood for $150.