Bonnie

I wrote a few days ago how for six months I have avoided the
dreaded ding situation by parking far away from other cars, etc.,
and how my "wonderful" husband ended up opening up the door
of his Jeep and how it hit my car and made a ding. Well, I thought,
OK, this is not the ideal situation, but I was sure an experienced
ding man can easily get this out as the paint was not affected.

Well, we had a ding man come by last night that was highly
recommended and used to do work for the local Audi dealer, and
he took one look at the car, and because all cars have "braces",
this ding was in such a spot that the brace would have gotten in
the way of him "undinging" the car. He said he might end up
doing more damage than good, and it might ultimately have
to go into a body shop. He came by to do my husband's dings
as well on his Jeep and had no problem getting everything out.
He also said that German cars have the thickest sheet metal, and
when the ding is near the brace of the door, it's almost impossible
(without body work), to get it out the conventional way.

Since Audi still owes me service, I called them to see if maybe
we can coordinate my service with the "ding man". They said
no problem. I asked them about the problem with getting dings
out of Audi's that are in certain places in the car, and the service
manager the same thing the ding man did. He did say
that the man who comes to their shop, does the dings with heat,
which makes a difference as opposed to the non-heat way this
other guy came equipped.

A. Did anyone here encounter this same problem with a ding?

B. Don't park next to an SUV. The ding man said that if a car
door had hit my car, it would have been in a lower position (under
the brace), and much easier to fix very quickly. Because I was
hit by the door of an SUV, it made all the difference in the world.

Waaaaaaaaaaa............

Bonnie
'00 2.8 QTX

Denver J

I have had dings taken out of my Honda cars for years the way your "ding guy" is going to do it... he will insert a metal probe into the car and try to tap out the ding. Many of them use a special lamp (blacklight?) to help them get it looking good.

I have also heard that german cars have very thick sheet metal, which is one reason that they don't tend to get dinged up quite as easily.

I hate to be the one to say this, but what the hell was your husband thinking? He didn't notice the pressure he was putting on the car door which caused the ding? This is exactly the kind of thing that really pisses me off (people being oblivious to this sort of thing). I can't even imagine how pissed I would be if I had an S4 or M3 and had this happen.

Bonnie

Divorce is.

Although you are right about German cars getting less dings because of it's thick sheetmetal, it is also harder to get out dings when they are in certain places because of the same thing.

Foo

I'd kill him. (hehehe)

ALensink

Is it a question of accessibility, or just difficulty in working the metal because it's near the brace? If it's a matter of the ding being accessible for purposes of repair, then read on.... I have an A4 which received a ding (damn) on the passenger side front door, near the top, above the handle. The guy who fixed it had to drill a small hole in the back of the door (opposite the hinges), between the latch mechanism and the window frame (you can't see the hole when the door is closed) in order to get his probe to the ding. Once the ding was fixed, he painted the hole, and put a plug in it. The plug is not noticeable because it's black and so is the car. If the repair guy can't get to the ding by going inside the door through the window opening, sometimes drilling in from the back of the door works. This was at Dent Magic on Rafferty Gardens off of South Broadway.

Good luck. I'm a fanatic about dings. I once bought a piece of dry ice to get a ding out of another car I had. I didn't work. I feel your pain.....

aronical

It was a crowed lot, so I figgured "safe car" and parked a little closer to her. She is really good about that, but unfortunately her passenger was careless and just let the passenger door fly open as I stood there waiting for her to get in.

Oh well. What can you do?

Hope you get the dings fixed...

-Aron

Digit@lex

Just kidding. Tough to hear that one. I guess it's even worse to know that
he got the dings out of the Jeep without a hitch. I'm still debating on
getting the ding out of my left rear fenderwell. I also need to find someone
that may be able to touch up my scratch. Do you anyone Bonnie?

Good luck on your "baptized" A4.
-AlexD

Bonnie

Alensink:

Thanks for your story. Strangely enough he did what you
described above to my husband's car, but when I asked him
if he could do it to mine, he said the ding was right on the
brace, and he couldn't get to it either way. I must say that
when I felt where the brace was, the ding was definitely
about 1-1/2" above it, and I thought it was doable. We'll
see what Audi has to say.

Alex

I do, I do. Let's just elope in our A4's. Just kidding too. Anyway,
if you need a scratch taken out and it is big enough to have body
work done, I would definitely go to Gino's Body Shop on Route 27
in Monmouth Junction. They are really great and nice. As far as
the ding is concerned, you might want to call the guy I used, his
name is Roger Benson (215-353-0092). He is at Malouf, Toyota
and a number of other dealerships in our area during the week.
He is very good, and is your ding is undingable, he would do a
great job for $55.00. Otherwise, I will give you an update on
the Audi ding person once that happens.

DRC

Why is it the majority of people don't give a rat's butt about their own property, let alone yours...and it's usually your friends or family? My best friend/roommate paid $20,000 cash for her '96 Accord EX and treats it like crap. I think she's taken it to a car wash twice since she's had it, the interior is littered with junk and filthy. There are dings and dents all over it because she doesn't care where she parks. Anyway, we share a garage and my previous car, a '95 Accord EX that I kept spotless, had a series of small dents on the rear door from her rear door (loading/unloading stuff). I park on the right in the garage and nearly scrape the wall to keep away from her but the farther over I get, she just compensates and parks the same small distance away. I've lost count of how many times I've moved her car far enough away so her doors won't hit my car when opened. She's just oblivious to it and when I talk to her about it she says I'm just too finicky about my car. Give me a break! My car is a big investment. Obviously her $20,000 didn't mean much to her. After I got my A4, I told her if I see the slightest dent from her door, her death will immediately follow. The good thing is she's very impressed with the A4 and seems to respect it more than the Accord, so she's been more careful about her parking. May also have something to do with the Uzi I keep in a gun rack in the rear window My roommate is a wonderful person and would do anything for anyone, but to her, cars are just a way to get from point A to point B...metal, plastic & rubber. Period. Wash, wax...huh?

Anyone else have a similar problem with their garage "partner"?

Alf Arkin

Bonnie wants to borrow your Uzi