Gyro
10-11-2003, 02:44 PM
I mentioned in another thread how I was dinged by an airborne acorn. This left a small dimple in the hood of my car. I just returned from a very trusted Paintless Dent Removal "artist" where I had the dent repaired. It was interesting to watch him work. The sound insulation was removed from the underside of the hood to reveal the hole that he needed to work from. The placement of my dent was in a particular bad spot as he was unable to get directly under it. This was because the are double layers of aluminum in certain areas. There is also ribs and supports that thwarted his efforts initially.
The tools were varied and many, with long handels and curved ends. He would lubricated the tip of the tool with light grease, and massage the underside of the dent and (heres the scary part) tap the painted surface from the top with a graphite pin and urethane hammer. He worked like this for a good 30 minutes using a magnifying glass and flouresant lights.
Contrary to what I first thought about aluminum panels, that they were prone to dings, was incorrect. He told me that aluminum actually is MORE resistant to dings even being thin and light like our hoods. The aluminum has very little "memory" and likes to spring back to its original form. However, this is also the reason that Paintless Dent Removal on aluminum is much harder to do. The hood once dented wants to stay that way.
Once all the massaging and tapping were done, the results were outstanding.
Not all dings can be removed that way due to placement and type of dent etc., but I highly recomend this method. Factory paint left unscathed and not a trace of a ding.
Sorry for no "before" pictures. I was too pissed about the dent I wasnt thinking of taking a picture of it. The prior damage was in the center of the frame in the pictures.
For those not familiar with New Englang Oak trees. The acorns are very dense when they are green. When they fall from 100 feet its like a rock.
The tools were varied and many, with long handels and curved ends. He would lubricated the tip of the tool with light grease, and massage the underside of the dent and (heres the scary part) tap the painted surface from the top with a graphite pin and urethane hammer. He worked like this for a good 30 minutes using a magnifying glass and flouresant lights.
Contrary to what I first thought about aluminum panels, that they were prone to dings, was incorrect. He told me that aluminum actually is MORE resistant to dings even being thin and light like our hoods. The aluminum has very little "memory" and likes to spring back to its original form. However, this is also the reason that Paintless Dent Removal on aluminum is much harder to do. The hood once dented wants to stay that way.
Once all the massaging and tapping were done, the results were outstanding.
Not all dings can be removed that way due to placement and type of dent etc., but I highly recomend this method. Factory paint left unscathed and not a trace of a ding.
Sorry for no "before" pictures. I was too pissed about the dent I wasnt thinking of taking a picture of it. The prior damage was in the center of the frame in the pictures.
For those not familiar with New Englang Oak trees. The acorns are very dense when they are green. When they fall from 100 feet its like a rock.