When it comes to car dent repair, you’ve got plenty of options available—and if you’ve been doing your homework before committing, you may have stumbled across the method known as paintless dent repair. Is it really as great as it seems, you may wonder?
As pros in hail damage repair for cars and more, Dent Heads is here to give you the lowdown. Below, you’ll learn all about this method of car dent repair—how it’s accomplished, how it compares to traditional techniques, and why it comes out on top in nearly every situation.
Paintless Dent Repair Basics
Paintless dent repair, also known as paintless dent removal or just PDR, is an environmentally friendly method of restoring a vehicle’s body by removing dings, dents, body creases, and hail damage.
The paintless dent repair process involves five steps:
1. Assess the damage
2. Gain access to the dent
3. Inspect the dent more closely
4. Apply pressure to work out the dent
5. Recalibrate the ADAS features
Let’s take a closer look at this process below:
The Full Paintless Dent Removal Process
Dent Heads technicians restore your vehicle to its original factory condition without compromising a vehicle’s original painted finish. Here’s how we do it:
1. Assess the Auto Body Damage
The first step to any repair process is to assess the damage. We approach the process by asking some simple questions:
● Where is the dent?
● How big is the dent?
● How do we access the dent?
After assessing the damage, we prepare the area around the dent for the repair.
2. Gain Access to the Dent
Paintless dent repair requires our technician to access the backside of the dent, which means carefully removing body panels, tail lights, or in some cases, interior panels, as well as other auto parts. To perform the car dent repair, we need a straight path to the dent so we can effectively fix it.
3. Inspect the Dent More Closely
Dent Heads technicians utilize specialized equipment to give our technicians a look at the dent from the best angle. Cameras, video screens, and lights display a shadow of the indentation, which gives us an indication of where to place our tools on the back end of the dent.
4. Apply Pressure to the Dent
We apply pressure to the dent from the inside. This is a delicate process that we have to perform with absolute precision to completely remove the dents. We can complete it quickly—this is inherently a speedy car dent removal method—but it depends on the severity and depth of the dent. Complex dents obviously take more time.
For more info on how long it will take to fix your car, check out our car dent repair blog that addresses the topic. Typically, though, we can accomplish in hours what takes a traditional repair shop days.
5. Recalibrating the ADAS Features
Many cars today use what are called ADAS features to help their drivers on the road. ADAS stands for Advanced Driver Assistance Systems and, according to Robotics & Automation News, can include features such as forward-collision warnings, a parking assistant, and a blind spot monitor, among others.
Because these systems have to do with your vehicle’s exterior and use to function, they can become uncalibrated when pieces are removed during the paintless dent repair process. That’s why we at Dent Heads have done our homework with these systems; after doing our thing on a vehicle that’s this technologically advanced, we take it upon ourselves to recalibrate its ADAS features so that you leave the shop with a car that’s ready for the road.
Paintless Dent Repair vs. Traditional Repair
Traditional dent repair fills in auto body dents with paint or body filler, which is then matched to the rest of the vehicle’s exterior. While this process can restore a vehicle’s factory look, it doesn’t solve the problem of removing the dent.
It’s also not a long-term solution, as the filler will eventually crack, chip, or fall out of the dented groove. Traditional dent repair is also time-consuming and expensive.
By contrast, paintless dent repair requires no fillers and no sanding. Technicians and customers have discovered that PDR is a more effective and inexpensive solution for removing minor dents in your vehicle. It keeps your car’s original body intact and provides an affordable long-term solution.
What About Paint Chip Repair?
You may have noticed that we at Dent Heads provide a service we call paint chip repair—so why do we do that if we’ve said other car repair methods pale in comparison to the power of paintless?
One key reason: paintless dent repair cannot fix paint that has been chipped. It’s right in the name! While it remains an amazing solution for vehicle hail damage repair, if you’ve got damaged paint, that’ll need tending to via other methods. Luckily, Dent Heads’ expertise can help you handle that, too; we’ll help you order the right paint from your dealer, then take care of the application once it comes in.
No matter what your car has going on with it, it’ll leave our shop with an exterior that shines like new.
Dent Heads: Your Paintless Dent Repair Experts in Bloomington, MN
Do you need minor dents removed from your vehicle? Contact Dent Heads today! We remove door dings, creases, hail damage, and more from your vehicle while keeping the original paint job intact.
To find out more about our services or schedule an appointment, call us at 612-986-1171. You can also message us on our contact page.