Having a car can be expensive. From gas to insurance to routine maintenance, it can be a costly expense to own a car in this country. Some could even liken the expense to having a child in some cases. In addition to traditional costs, there is the inevitable burden of repairing damage to your vehicle. Even if you are the most careful and defensive driver, there are others out there who are not so cautious. Sometimes this can result in significant damage, but most of the time it is limited to dents and scratches.
The ubiquity of dents in vehicles means that there is an entire industry dedicated to dent removal. In the old days, there were two methods of removing a dent in your car: the first was to drill a hole in the center of the dent, and pull it out using a hook type tool. The second was to fill the dent in with special materials and repaint it, so it matched the rest of your car. Both methods were time-consuming and inefficient, not to mention costly. Then, in the 1980s, someone had the brilliant idea of repairing a dent without having to damage the car or repaint it. This method was called Paintless Dent Removal, or PDR. These days, PDR is pretty much the standard for removing dents in your vehicle. Unfortunately, however, not all dents are created equal.
There are several methods of Paintless Dent Removal, but they all derive from the idea that you can “pop” a dent back to its original form. While it’s not necessarily as easy as it sounds, it certainly is a lot less laborious than old methods. PDR techniques typically work from the back of the dent, but there are some ways of popping it out from the front. Usually, if a dent doesn’t look to deep or impacted, suction cups will be used to pull the metal out from the center. Sometimes this is all it takes to repair a dent to its former glory. However, most dents are a little more complex than that and require a bit more time and attention. If you’re looking for a quick fix that at least looks okay, this could be a fast and easy option for you. However, if you’re looking to restore your car to pristine condition, you may need a PDR tech to perform the procedure.
Usually, the technician will remove the piece from the vehicle and inspect the dent from the backside. Then, using specialized tools and a lot of patience, they slowly move the dent outward until it returns to its former shape. If the dent is too deep, on the edge of a body piece, or already shows paint damage, then unfortunately PDR techniques won’t do much good. However, for most dent damage, your local auto body shop should be able to perform Paintless Dent Removal without too much hassle, saving you both time and money. Who doesn’t love that?
