Phantom Menace

Hey guys,

About a week and a half ago, I took my car to Midas to get some work done. I wrote a "venting" thread about it. Well it turns out that they also put a dimple dent on my right rear fender. Ofcourse, they are denying it. Fortunatley for me, I took some pics of the car right before they started to work on it. Initially, I wanted to do some before and after pics to post on here.

Anyways, I called this guy--Dent Xpert--and he uses little hammers and pics to pound out dents from the inside out. He came to my house and took only about a half an hour. It cost me $85.00, which I'm trying to have Midas reimburse me for, and it's flawless now. No sign of anything! Not a ripple, nick, or distortion in the paint or the relfections in the paint. He did, however, drill a 7/16" hole, which he later plugged, behind the wheel cover (inside the wheel well) in order to get his tools inside the body cavity.

I've never heard of "Paintless Dent Removal" before and I'm now a believer! So much cheaper and convenient than going to a body shop, who'll drill a hole or tack weld on the dent and paint over. If anyone in the SF Bay Area is interested in having some dings or dents removed at a fraction of body shop prices, his email is:

dentexpert@mac.com

He's mobile and works very fast. I've seen some of the other stuff he's done, he can even do much larger dents. I think the only limitations on this method is when the paint is damaged or the metal streches...

XDEEDUBBX

I got mine done by dent wizard a year and a half ago. It truely is amazing! Hope u get reimburesed.

New Yorker

I'm a HUGE fan of PDR! To think they can remove little dings like that—like they were never there—and NOT have to repaint—I still can't believe it! Door/fender dings use to drive me absolutely crazy—now I just shrug my shoulders, think "no big deal" and take it to Dent Wizard.

LostAngel

Dent Doctor in Erie PA fixed my door ding this summer. Looks perfect!!

dupa12345

i need a guy like that in chicago

Phantom Menace

The little dents are the worse! Big-As$ dents are so overwhelming that you know you have to either replace the body part or take it to the body shop. And ususally its so expensive you can go with your insurance company and pay a deductable. With these little dimple fu@kers, sometimes the deductable would be more than the actual damage. When the dent was there, I didn't want to clean my car...I didn't even want to look at it. Though it was small--it slayed me everytime the light caught it just right and screamed out "IMPERFECTION!" $85, for me, was definatley worth it to get rid of that dent.

When it was done...I felt as if a huge weight had been lifted. All I need to do now is chase Midas around to fix my rims and pay me back for the dent.


Dub,
Thanks man--I hope so too! Its not really so much for the $85...well yeah it is about the $85. But, "there's principalities involved!" Ya'know?!

solito77

Are those "Dent Wizards" located in FLA? ...Ive been driving around with a couple of dings too long and something like $85 dollars I'll call tomorrow. Good luck on that Menace.

Phantom Menace

Thanks brother! You know, I don't know about FL. If you guys have a "craig's list" or some community site, check under auto services or "paintless dent removal." These guys are may be associated with some body or detail shops. Small dealerships also employ them to "pretty-up" their inventory. However, some bodyshops will refuse to validate them as PDR guys take most of their smaller business. You can also check the yellow pages. But most PDRs, that I have recently been hearing about, are small businesses like mobile tinters and such. The going rate, here in the SF Bay Area, is about $80-100 for the first dent and something like $40-$50 for each additional dent.

If you do find one, try to get it done during the winter time. Summer is real busy for these guys, so the Dent Xpert in my area has told me, because that is when most people want to shine up and detail their cars.

d j

..cool, I might try this out =)

Transam kid 01

iTrader: (1)

Got mine done by a friend at a body shop. Bout quarter sized dents taken out. He charges $75 a piece.

chickenwafer

iTrader: (9)

Had this done on my bike when I laid it down (the gas tank). Awesome stuff.
For any 8 owners in AZ that need some PDR, here's a good place: http://www.azdentrepair.com/ mobile and less than an hour

Dave

Napboy

Just out of curiosity, how does he get behind the right rear fender?

I had a ding taken out of my door for $50 and he did a great job. I didn't see him do it, but I assumed the took the door panel off to get behind the dent.

QBallz

The paintless dent remove is amazing. Some kid ran into the back of my wifes Mazda3 with a bike. It put a 2" dent on the rear pillar of the hatch back, and dented the rear quarter panel quite badly.

Took them 2-3 hours of work but they popped them all out perfect.

Phantom Menace

He jacked the right rear wheel up and removed the wheel liner. Then, he drilled a small hole from under the wheel well, about 7/16" then he plugged it.

NgoRX8

iTrader: (1)

i had a dent on my door fixed by paintless dent removal, they went through the window opening.

paintless dent removal is amazing.

New Yorker

You can find PDR in Chicago, Florida… virtually anywhere new cars are sold. New car dealers routinely use PDR to remove tiny dings on new cars that haven't been sold yet. (And after hailstorms!) In fact, PDR guys tell me the lion's share of their business—by far—comes from dealerships. So if you can't find a PDR place with Google, the Yellow Pages or craigslist, call a couple of dealers in your area and they'll probably tell you who they use.

jskup1

iTrader: (7)

I've used Dent Wizard a few times on a couple of our cars and they are amazing. That would be a great skill to learn and do on the side.

kwescott

had some damage from a floor jack at a local mazda dealer...they denied everything, but offered to provide me with a discount for using the collision place they use. Went there, and was going to be nearly 800 dollars, along with the two days I would be without my car.

Gave up.

Then saw a PDR guy locally, he was able to remove the dent in the fender, along with various other door dings I have collected over the last two years. For 2 hours of his time, he charged me 125.

+1 for PDR. They really can do some amazing things, and save you that heart ache of dropping your car down at a plce, where it will remain outside overnight, and potentially get overspray on your wheels and nice shiny exhaust.

NgoRX8

iTrader: (1)

800 bucks... what a rip off. this is why i hate taking the car to the dealer.

New Yorker

The best thing about PDR is not having to paint. Getting to keep the original factory paint is huge, I think.

kwescott

I think the break down was something like 200 bucks in paint/materials...and another 600 for removal/install.

Phantom Menace

I was thinking the exact same thing. Someone here was selling some of the pics and hammers--for cheap too. The guy who did my car told me that there are some "schools" that specialize in PDR. On the side would be cool, but you gotta think about it. Most of you clients would be family/friends that you may not want to charge too much. The guy who fixed my car does it full-time and makes a cool living off of it. I think he does something like 4-8 cars a day. At about a bird a pop...that's an average of $12K a month before taxes for a 5 day work week...

*Whistles* Not a bad living, indeed...