Paintless dent repairs?

[Renman]

Has anyone experience/advice regarding how succesful paintless dent removal can be. I have a couple small (dime sized, shallow) dings whereas the paint was not noticably damaged. Can they really be repaired without body work/paintwork?

[Martin in Bellevue]

Those guys did a great job on the wife's '95 540 way back, when a transport truck took the damn thing through a hail storm on the drive up to Bellevue, WA from Texas. The paint shop recommended by the local dealer wanted $10k to pull the dents & repaint.
It looked great afterwards.

[AngryPopTart]

Often times, yes. But the problem is that sometimes, when bringing the ding back OUT, the paint then cracks. So you end up with a spot that is essentially the shape it was supposed to be, but there are rings of cracks which are noticable up close. Sometimes it comes out perfect, it just depends on the paint that was used on a said car, how thick it is, how old it is, how deep the ding was. The thing is, last time I checked, it was so expensive to have these paintless guys do anything that it seemed it was realistically for the sake of not having to disturb the factory paint, like in the case of a collector car, because the cost difference didn't seem worth it. Then again, this is California where everything is dollar signs.

The guy across the street from me had it done on one of his 80's Porsche's and it ended up with the rings of cracks where some of the dings were. When you see it from a small distance, it won't be noticable like the ding was, though. Up close, you'll spot the rings.

[Kalevera]

I have an excellent PDR guy who has a local Dent Wizard franchise. He's got around 10 years of experience and has done some amazing work for me. One thing to remember is that there's a limit on how much damage these guys can take out. As long as it's accessible, doesn't have another layer of metal behind it, and isn't on a body line, they can usually do something with it. The other thing to remember is that they essentially stretch the metal back into position, so you occasionally get paint cracking (get the paint hot before having this work done) or fine pinpoint extrusions from the tools. I think these issues outweigh not putting as much mud in the body the next time a paint job comes around.

Price is subjective. The winter before last was particularly harsh to my 535 -- it was stored outside in a parking lot for half of it. Somebody parked an E30 with no door latches next to it and a strong wind slammed the E30's driver door repeatedly into the 535. In the spring, my buddy went over the entire car, pulling around 20 door dings (stupid PO's kids), jack dings (stupid BMW jack), and E30 dings (stupid E30) for $100. When he sets up on the dealership's service line, he charges $90 per dent, $25 for each additional dent on the panel.

[Russell]

Dent Wizard did a fine job of taking a vertical crease out of a passenger door for me. I left the door open and tried to pull into my garage and hit teh door frame. It was about 3.5 years ago and cost about $70.

Itis my understanding they must go through a fairly intense training period before they work on a customer's car.

[dennyg]

A wind/rain storm pushed about eight shopping carts into my E39 two yrs ago. I had Color Tech guy come and fix them. He did a great job except for the last dent. In the rear driver door he messed up the window regulator. Cost about 475 from the stealer to fix even though it was in warranty period. Only good thing about it is they are offering a discount on paint job for my E34. I think there is more room inside doors of E34 style then E39 so this problem would not be as common. Just like everything it depends on their experience and skill. Maybe ask around and find the best guy in the area.

[Renman]

Thank you for the information folks! I was at a funeral for our fire chief a while back and it was very windy. A fire dept vehicle loaded with bagpipers was parked next to me and it was pretty obvious that a door blew open and left a minor but noticeable dime sized ding in my aft, right door. It bugs the crap out of me because aside from that the car is amazingly straight for it's age. I'm going to see if I can get a good reference in the Portland, OR area and see how it goes.

[mzarifkar]

You're a firefighter as well?

[Podmore]

As with any repair, the skills and experience of the technician will determine the end result. I'm in the business of providing minor on-site paint repairs to the auto industry (www.chipsaway.com.au), and I will always recommend paintless dent repairs over body filling and painting whenever the damage will allow. However, I've also seen some pretty bad dent repairs over the years, so make sure you pick someone who can provide references from the car trade - anyone who only does retail (private) clients generally has a reason (like he's not good enough to satisfy trade clients). There is a limit to the size of dents which can be successfully repaired using PDR, and as commented in other posts, generally any dent which involves a style line or a dent in a convex curve will be hard to put right. The process requires the metal to be pushed back past the original body profile, then allowed to spring back to its correct spot. Original paint generally should not crack provided the panel is not too cold, but repainted panels can be risky. If cracks do appear, you'll be up for a paint repair anyway, as moisture will get under the paint and you'll start to see surface rust in a year or two.

[Mendozart]

I just had a buddy's friend come to our work and the PDR guy was amazing. He removed 7 dings from my car for $100. They were on 4 different panels. Those guys definitely work some magic.