Customize my ride ? PDR is a specialized form of autobody repair where technicians use special tools and techniques to slowly reduce a dent down in size until it completely disappears. PDR is a learned skill. Through trial and error, technicians gradually begin to understand the specific areas of a dent to manipulate, exactly how to manipulate certain locations of a dent, and the specialized processes and technologies used to remove a dent without the need to repaint the area.
So, we’ve explained what the procedure looks like — assuming it was done properly. And as you could probably guess there are a lot of ways an amateur or first-timer can get it wrong. It’s different than most other car repairs because it’s not about mechanical prowess; it’s more about control and the ability to maintain a steady hand and a gentle pace. You can’t rush it. The problem is, once a sheet metal repair starts to go awry, you’re usually much, much worse off than if you’d just left it alone. Metal holds its shape, but only to a certain point. Let’s say you get a dent in the hood — nothing too drastic, just a shallow, even dent with no sharp creases in an area that’s pretty easy to reach. You think it’ll be easy to pop it out on your own, so you begin to massage the underside while holding your shaping tool in place. You’ve made good progress so far, and a casual observer wouldn’t even notice the flawed area. But it’s not exactly perfect, and since it’s been fairly easy to this point, you decide to keep massaging the area to make it flawless. After a few more minutes of massaging, you realize that you’ve pushed it just a little too far. And now you’ve got this flabby area on the hood where you stretched out the metal. And there’s no easy way to shrink it back down. Keep going and it’ll stretch even more. Lesson learned.
Use Hot Glue, Wooden Dowels, & Screws: When you attempt to take out dents yourself, you always put the risk that you might further damage your car, whether you make the dent worse or chip the paint. A safe way of trying to take out big dents on your car is by using several wooden dowels, a few screws, and a hot glue gun. Simply place two nails into each side of the dowel and put the hot glue on the bottom. Place the dowels glue-side down in areas around the dent, repeat as many times as needed to cover the area, let them dry, and pull each one out until the dent is gone.
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.
This technique is popular among automotive enthusiasts when it comes to the removal of small dents. The idea is simple: heat will inevitably cause the metal surface to expand and (hopefully) pop the dent out. Remember that the more time the car spends time under the sun, the better this technique will work. Use a plastic and/or leather conditioner for the car’s interior, so as to not damage it while exposing the car to maximum sunlight. If the sun’s heat isn’t particularly strong that day, a simple hair dryer could be used in conjunction with the sun to concentrate the heat to a specific area. Point the hair dryer to the dented area for two-minute intervals until the dent pops out. Be careful not to touch the hot lip of the hair dryer on any painted surface. A two-to-four inch gap between the dryer and the surface is recommended.
We recommend going to a professional repair service to avoid a lot of extra costs. Meet EvidentPDR in Colorado. Leo has over 15 years of experience with print services, vinyl wrap, window tinting, graphic design, and physical advertising. After many years of working with Pinnacle Signs, he then founded LD Wraps for 5 years, where he acquired many large accounts in Colorado Springs, everything from designing for local breweries, news stations, and real estate. Ben and Leo met through several business interactions, where Ben asked Leo to design several vinyl decals, stickers, signs, and banners you see in our shop. Read extra info on Paintless dent repair.