Friends, I am betting that NJ is the door ding capital of the world. No matter how I park, even with a handicap permit, I keep finding new door dings on my 1998 xk8. I would love for the exterior to be perfect, but I'm clueless on my options to repair some/all of them.

The gentleman at the local Autozone car parts store swears by a dent repair guy he found that can "fix" these at $35 per ding. Apparently the repair guy gains access to behind the pannel and somehow gets the ding pushed out. Seems way too good to be true (reminds me of the Dry Ice urban legend - swirl dry ice around the dent, it contracts the metal and pops the dent out. Research shows this has never happened in real life).

I welcome your thoughts on options and your experiences. Thanks, John

 

A well-experienced door-ding specialist can work wonders repairing minor door dings that do not require paint. The operative word is "well-experienced". Do your due diligence before you hand over your keys to Bubba the Ding-Be-Gone Guy....

The greater challenge is preventing door dings in the first place. Gotta park way out in the North Forty 100% of the time in order to give yourself a chance. As soon as you break your rule and grab that next-to-the-door parking spot "just this once", you're going to wind up dinged again....

 

I have had extensive dent removal on my xkr done by a specialist. He offered to show me on a car a customer had left how he does his work. He really did have the skills and my car looks fantastic; not fantastic considering, just actually like they never were there. He charged $50 per panel regardless of how many dents (within reason).

 

Look for PDR (Painless or Paintless Dent Removal) services.

In the UK these are franchises (it's probably the same in the US) so you want one with experience and not in the first week out of training!

They really can work miracles.

Graham

 

Years back I had a bunch of door dings on my car and I happened to see one of those "dent repair wizard" trucks at a car dealer - so I asked the dude if he did side jobs and he gave me his card. I had him come to my work one day and he worked out in the parking garage and did a fabulous job for a fraction of the regular pricing (normal pricing was like $100 for the first ding and $50 for the next four and then.....) At $35/per, if the guy is good then I would say go for it because they can do miracles on simple door dings (where the paint is still fine)...

 

I wanted to thank you all, I was really skeptical. I appreciate your input. John

 

I'm still laughing about the:

"Bubba the Ding be Gone Guy"

You made my day. Thanks..........

 

+1 on all the positive comments on the good guys who do this type of work.

SWMBO's X5 collected a golf-ball sized dent on the driver's door about a week after we took delivery. I was still fuming when someone suggested PDR as a solution. I looked at the damage and thought nah - the metal's too stretched.

Have to hand it to the guy - he did a superb job: I could just see where it had been if I looked very closely. Best $75 (dollar equivalent) I ever spent. He said he'd also taken out a tiny one on the wing at the same time.

I had the guy back to sort out a mark in the middle of XK's bonnet (my kids I think) with the same brilliant result.

Find someone on a recommendation rather than Bubba and I doubt you'll be disappointed provided the paint isn't damaged.

If it's any consolation Johnken, old Jersey also has a high percentage of drivers who think it's OK to use the car next to them as a door stop...

Mike

 

Hi Johnken, your thinking, NOT... My 99 KX8 has had my garage for 6 months now. First thing I took care of is a few dents that drove me crazy. One on the trunk the screemed at me every time I approached the car. The dent repair guys use mirrors and techniques that body shops are envious. I had, the bad one on the trunk, one on each front fender ( mechanics not careful) and one on the quarter. Guy came, took an hour to repair, charged me $ 120, give him $ 140 and was thrilled. Cannot see, no paint touch up required.

 

I had a 98 with a crease on the passenger door. I took it to 3 companies and they all said the metal was too thick to just pop out. I guess I did not look hard enough...

 

Some dings/dents are indeed too intrusive for paintless dent removal. If you struck out three times with three different guys, it's likely true that your damage requires typical body work in order to effect a proper repair....

 

PDR (paintless dent repair) is great most of the time but some things to look out for are firstly the paint has to be intact small scuff can be polished out and be sure to check that after the repair the paint has not developed a crack in it (can be very hard to see) If it has get it attended to with conventional repair to stop a possible corrosion issue. I use PDR all of the time at our shop with very few issues but caution is always a good thing

 

Me again. Reading all the replies I guess we may have a few amateurs in the ding repair bus running around. I would go to a local hi end dealer, Jaguar if you have it. Ask to speak to the used car manager. Thank him for his time ( first) . Explain that you have a classic vehicle with a few dents needing repair. Ask if you could have his number. Most of these guys will come to your door and do side work. Dealers are primary income for them. They have to do a good job doing dealer work. Use the sale manager as a reference. At times they will tell you they cannot repair. Most times its where the dent is located. Brace under dent, no rear access, etc. It is what I did. I had a Local guy, explained what he was doing and how. Then let him do it. Excellent!