davie

Gang, had some bad storms here in North Alabama and my car was at the dealership being serviced when a nasty hail storm hit. Well, my car now has about 20 to 25 dings on the hood and top of the car. Most of them are dime sized maybe but there are a couple that are the size of a half dollar. Anyone here have experience with this type of damage and if so, was paintless dent repair a viable fix? Any information would be GREATLY appreciated.

Rowlie

Drag!

I have done some paintless dent repair on my car and got pretty good results. It actually pulled the dent out a little too far and I had to push it back slightly.

It's worth a shot, IMHO

AofC_RR

its tougher with the aluminum body cars. A skilled guy can do it. Or look for an aluminum certified body shop and have them give you an estimate and do the work.

carsany

Sorry to hear that. I have had very good results with dent removals. Usually runs $100 per panel up to 3 door dings around here. On most surfaces it comes out near perfect. The ones that don't seem to come out all that well are the ones on the body lines or a very curve part of the panel. Good luck.

awdinut

I am a dealer so I have a lot of experience with having all types of dents worked on with PDR. The absolute most defining aspect is how skilled the tech is...bad techs can will make the matter worse. If you are lucky enough to find a shop like the one I use you'll find that they can do almost anything;even on feature lines and curves;big dents and small dents. They can usually get even a crease to come out looking good, and a crease is harder than a depression.

The top will be the expensive part, the headliner usually has to come out to gain access to the back of the dent. As to finding a good shop, go by recommendation from someone who has had work done there and ask to see the car because some people ascetic threshhold is way to low. I have seen some HORRENDOUS PDR work because everybody thinks they can do it. I considder it a black art.And most of those in the biz are not artists.

mmaguire2

My repair was onthe right rear quarter panel up by the trunk lid. Someone actually tried to pry open the trunk and left a dent in the panel along the top. The repair shop took it out and it looks like new again. It cost about $250. Much cheaper than the couple of autobody repair shops. Were are you located. I spoke with my locate Audi dealer in Bellevue Washington and used their recommendation. I would just go ask a few dealerships who they use.

Victoryroad

Agree that skill varies greatly. The hackers often drill holes to access the dent rather than remove panels so be certain to specify that the PDR tech drills no holes.

Audi#3

Paintless dent repair is almost amazing if you use a reputable tech/company. Generally, if you go to your local dealer and ask who does the dentless repair for their lot, they can give you the information that you will need in order to make an informed decision. Having a panel or two painted on these metallic colors is very difficult considering the fact that they are very hard to match correctly.

I use a specific company here in California for many of my little parking lot issues(THANKS TO MY WIFE!)and they have saved me a lot of money, along with many headaches from getting the paint matched properly. I just remembered that a year or so ago I had a BMW 750LI which mysteriously had large dents and small dings all over the roof. I took it to my frequented paintless repair company with no real hope that he could make it look even close to decent. I left it with him for 24 hours and to my complete shock, it looked perfect. You couldn't tell at all, and let me advise you, I am extremely picky!

Good luck!

Audi#3

One more thing on that note. Not all dents are able to be reached by taking off a panel, so unfortunately in some rare cases it is necessary to drill a small hole to gain access. However, don't be completely alarmed, just have them tell you before they do it and where it will be. If a company is reputable then they will have rubber pieces that will fill the hole completely so there will be no problems. You just have to weigh your options, either you have an ugly dent on your panel, have the panel repaired and painted while wondering if it will match, or have a tiny rubber cover in a place that you will never see. To me the choice is obvious.