Home-made PDR techniques?

M

MongooseGA

New member
As some of you know, I recently acquired a new [to me] Lexus SC400. The car only has an average of 3-4 thousand miles per year, but the owner was some old man. Said old man insisted on parking up front everywhere, resulting in multiple small door dings all over my car.



Most of these little buggers are probably good candidates for a professional PDR job, but I don't have the cash to pay for a professional job right now. Today I was talking with a family friend and he mentioned something about dry ice being used for PDR.



My questions are: Is this true? How does it work?



Eventually the car will go to our body guy for some minor touch up, but I wanted to give it a try first if I could.



Thanks in advance,
 
ive tried the dry ice method before, every technique i could find/heard about. the only thing it did was make some dents sliiightly more shallow, i think it might work on larger shallow dents where the metal is not stretched, but like you i have quite a bit of dings from parking lots and this method does not work so well.
 
Have you checked around, some PDR places charge by the panel rather than the dent. Might wind up cheaper if you can find a place that charges by the panel.
 
MongooseGA said:
Thanks.



Does anyone know of any other simple ways to remove/lessen the appearance of these dings?
Click to expand...



may sound crazy, but I bought one of those Ding King kits.... it actually does an OK job on some mid to large size dents; might want to give that a shot....
 
I never really thought about it. I'll try to get a few pictures showing the dings and maybe you could tell me whether or not the Ding King could help.
 
That sure would be worth a try first before either paying to have it done professionally or learning on the $500 true pro variety
 
My experience with dry ice is negative, no effect at all... plus, I'm told that the drastic temperature change could fracture the paint!



The $20 Dent King does work, on some dings. The down side of using glued on tabs to pull the ding? If the paint was weakened by the 'event', you may actually pull paint off.



Don't ask how I know.



Jim
 
Jimmy Buffit said:
My experience with dry ice is negative, no effect at all... plus, I'm told that the drastic temperature change could fracture the paint!



The $20 Dent King does work, on some dings. The down side of using glued on tabs to pull the ding? If the paint was weakened by the 'event', you may actually pull paint off.



Don't ask how I know.



Jim
Click to expand...



That's exactly why I use a paint thickness gauge before I try the ding king -- usually you can tell if a vehicle has been re-painted or not. The directions state only to use the DK on OEM paint.
 
GA... I've had a lot of dings removed. Post pics so we can see them. If they are in a "good" place you can borrow my Wurth dent puller. I have about a 50% success rate.
 
No offense, but with the amount of money that Autopians spend on washing and polishing and detailing products, it sounds a tad strange that one would look to take the cheap route when it comes to the surface you are washing, polishing, and detailing :)



Save up and spend the cash, get it done properly. Usually if you find one of the mobile guys, they'll give you a deal anyways.
 
DavidB, thank you for the offer. If the weather is nice out tomorrow (calling for torrential downpours) I'll try to snap some pics. I need to set up an artsy photo shoot for the Lexus and the newly lifted TJ anyway soon.



MikeV, you're correct. Of course, some Autopians have their own little tips and tricks, and I was just wondering if anyone had their own. I know all too well on spending alot of money on polishes, sealants, waxes, etc... :)



Cash is hard to come by when you happen to be 15 ;)
 
MongooseGA said:
As some of you know, I recently acquired a new [to me] Lexus SC400. The car only has an average of 3-4 thousand miles per year, but the owner was some old man. Said old man insisted on parking up front everywhere, resulting in multiple small door dings all over my car.



Most of these little buggers are probably good candidates for a professional PDR job, but I don't have the cash to pay for a professional job right now. Today I was talking with a family friend and he mentioned something about dry ice being used for PDR.



My questions are: Is this true? How does it work?



Eventually the car will go to our body guy for some minor touch up, but I wanted to give it a try first if I could.



Thanks in advance,
Click to expand...





Why why why? This is one of those jobs that is best left to the pros. How do I know? I am one. I spent $12000 back in 1999 to learn how to do PDR properly and after 6 months of practice I still wasn't as fast or as good as I wanted to be. That was six months of doing dents every day. It may look very simple when you have an experienced guy wacking them out in a few short minutes but the experience needed to do just that takes years to aqcuire. Those dink king glue pullers can sometimes do an adequate job on shallow, perfectly round dents with no sharp creases but they can't fix anything that is moderately to severely dented. You also can't control the amount of pressure applied to a particular area of a dent that might need it. It shouldn't cost you more than a couple of hundred bucks to have an experienced dent guy do a quality job so my best advice is save yourself the heartache of having to pay more in the end if you end up making it worse. We often end up fixing the dents that were "fixed" by Dent Wizard at the auction and they are supposed to be professionals.
 
Thanks Scotty. I might be making a phone call to our body guy sooner than I had thought. Maybe after working for a little while this summer I can invest in a pro job.



One thing that really, really upset me today, was what looks like the prestag of CC failure. One spot on my hood, one on my trunk. About the size of a pinhead each. I'll just have to be careful.
 
ShineShop said:
Why why why? This is one of those jobs that is best left to the pros.
Click to expand...



I could not agree more. That's why I suggested that GA post pics so we can see.



I have had a dozen or more complex dents removed by my pda pro, and the results were all great.



If GA has a simple dent, my Wurth tool will do a better than ok job for FREE.
 
David, that's too kind. I really appreciate the offer.



I'll try to get pics. I'll need the correct lighting for them to show up on film, I'd assume. Let's keep our fingers crossed for sun tomorrow!
 
mikev said:
No offense, but with the amount of money that Autopians spend on washing and polishing and detailing products, it sounds a tad strange that one would look to take the cheap route when it comes to the surface you are washing, polishing, and detailing :)



Save up and spend the cash, get it done properly. Usually if you find one of the mobile guys, they'll give you a deal anyways.
Click to expand...



For stuff I can't fix myself, I've been looking for a mobile guy who can come to the shop and do work for me -- that way not only can I sell his services to customers (with markup of course) but I can get a discount for stuff on my own vehicles.



Haven't found anybody yet that does mobile though. :(
 
GA.jr



Why don't you try and get a job this summer as a helper in a PDR shop. You would learn a trade and would possibly get your dents fixed for free. Oh and make a little cash.
 
This is a good idea. I have the option of 3 or 4 jobs this summer. I can either help in the wash bay at the broker we bought m Lexus from, work for the localc pet shop, my neighbor's pool supply store, and possibly with our body guy.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top