Kids and swinging doors...AGGHH!
 

One of my 4 kids used my wife's altima door as a ram...now I've got a crease (about 2 inches long, vertical) in the back render. Called a body guy and got referred to a "Dent Doctor". The Doc says that he can get it out for about 60 bucks. HMMM? Sounds fishy...too cheap and fishy, but my brother says that some of these guys use "Dry Ice" to actually shrink the affected area and eliminate the crease. If this is true, it sounds pretty cool, but the skeptic in me is worried about more damage. This fella has alot of people recommending him, so I will have to just bite the bullet and see if he can work his magic.

dude - Dent doctors are no joke... I'm in DFW Texas and there is "The Dent Guy" in the yellow pages b/c I had some fender dings from parking lot assholes. Drove over there and for about an hour of my time and 125 dollars he got out three horrible dings in my RX8.... 60 dollars seems about right, just depends on where the ding is, what type of metal and stuff like that.

After seeing "the dent guy" work his magic on my car, i told him flat out if I ever get any more (god forbid) im coming straight back to him.

P.S. beat your kids for that kinda crap :-) I'm only 24 so no kids/wife/gf but I do know if I ever had my kids do that to my RX8 they better move to canada, gotta teach kids early on to respect cars, especially "daddy's car"

toxin440,
Did he have to drill the interior panel to gain access the dented area? I am asking cause I am considering one of these but have heard they drill standard 1/4, 1/2/, 3/8 and 3/4 access holes to get the aluminum tools behind the dent and plug with a rubber grommet.

I havent heard about that but when doing a walk around to see what kinda damage he had to work on he did mention on one he might have to take the interior panel off, I was lucky that no panels had to be taken off or drilled to fix my dents... but just thinking about it for a minute it seems like the "drilling" route seems lazy on the part of the repair guy. What comes to mind is him drilling thru some wiring harness or just fucking something up in general when you start drilling random holes in the interior.

Sorry -- I never had to deal with anything getting drilled in my car to get fixed, good luck though!

Not always true.
If the dent is under the substructure they have to drill a hole to get the backside of a dent.
It's an area that will never be seen unless an interior panel is removed.
Your other option would be to have a body shop drill holes to pull out
the dented area, use bondo to fill the holes and repaint your car...

You tell me? Which is easier and less expensive?

Dent Dr is the way to go and if you're concerned about the low price you can ask
them to charge you more if it'll make you feel better... I'm sure they'll take your $$$ :spank:

dam kids! they cost me $99 bucks from dent wizard to fix that shit!

Just wondering...does the dent guy do deep paint scratches by any chance?

Hmm I don't know i only had the very slightest of damage and it was just the tiniest chip in the clear coat on one of the dings...

I was under the assumption though that with any paint damage, the dent guy cant fix it? I dont think he doenst paint work. And just off the top of my head i think the best you could get would be the dent fixed and just use your touch up paint, I hope i never have to find out though, lol

When I purchased my car new from my dealer, I had to bring it back for the reconditioning (shop closed on a Sat when I bought it). Well after the recon, they parked it in line with other cars and sure enough, I got a dent. Freakin' 120 miles on the car. Needless to say I was pissed.

They sent a dent guy out to fix it. It was on the rear driver's side door and since these doors are sealed (no drain holes), there was no access from behind or under the dent. I had to pull the interior panel off (broke a damn clip doing it), so he could get to the dent from behind.

He said he could normally do doors by going up through the drain holes at the bottom of the door with his tools so he doesn't have to drill. He also said it is very rare for him to have to drill a hole.

BTW, he did a great job. Can't see the dent.

Dent wizards are just that, wizards. Had my car a total of 3 hours and an elderly lady (being kind here) dinged my front fender. $90 later all pretty again.

I had a couple dents in my drivers door, the dent wizard ended up having to drill into the seam of the door to get at them with his tools, but plugged the holes with grommets. Did I dislike him drilling into the door, yes, but I rather have that then the door repainted.

The simply work the sheet metal back to its original shape. They traditionally don't do paint. I have had them do several spots on the RX-8 (all self-inflicted), where there was a dent but the paint was not broken, and they came out great. Prices range from $50 to $250 per panel depending on the complexity of the work done.

Look for a Carsmedics in your area. This is a franchise that does color matching and airbrushing. No body work. Never used one myself but heard they are way cheaper than a body shop. One of my friends owns a used car lot and uses them for prepping cars for sale.

actually when referring to "dent guys"... think PDR or Paintless Dent Repair... meaning that MOST dents can be worked out... some DO require drilling small holes to access the dent, but are not visible as stated before.

i work at a reputable body shop and we have a PDR guy that has been here for a little over a month doing hail damage repair. it really is a unique trade and very interesting to watch him "work" the dents out.

some dents WILL require body work due to the fact that the metal has been overly stretched. which would either require your typical bondo approach or panel replacement, which is what we usually do.

PM me if you have any questions regarding this... if i can't answer, then i know the guys at the shop can!

i hope this helps!