Hello, dear and respected readers! We continue to delight you with new and, I hope, useful materials. This time we’ll talk about dent repair without painting.
Alas, in a large and fairly cramped city, such as Moscow, St. Petersburg, Krasnodar, Kazan or Yekaterinburg, for example, where the flow of cars is very impressive, it is not difficult to collide with other cars or get hit in the body. Although in cities like Tomsk, Voronezh, Kirov, Samara, Krasnoyarsk, Penza or even in Tula, there are no less clients at service stations who come to repair dents.
I myself have tested the body of my car more than once. Moreover, sometimes the fault was entirely mine, and sometimes other drivers openly offended me and did not even apologize. Well, that's a matter of the past. What did I do then? When there were Zhiguli cars, I took a heavier hammer and simply hit the metal from the inside. To be honest, it didn’t level out very well. But there was no choice, because the cost of repairs at the service station was beyond my means.
Already, being the owner of a more expensive car, I stopped using this homemade barbaric method. But I learned about PDR technology. This is a method of removing dents without painting, which is originally called Paintless Dent Repair.
In our country, the technology began to be actively used only recently, although in its homeland, in Europe and the USA, they have been resisting dents in this way for more than 50 years. Therefore, it was decided to tell you, our dear readers, about this method in detail.
Removing dents with compressed air
Materials needed for paintless dent repair :
- Clean soft cloth;
- Compressed air cylinder;
- Hairdryer;
- Thick fabric gloves with rubber coating.
Sequencing:
- Give access to the damaged area. Make sure that the deformed area can be easily reached from both sides. For example, open the hood if there is damage there.
- Heat the dent . Adjust the hair dryer to medium heat and keep it 10-15 cm from the surface of the car. Depending on the size of the dent, you may need to move the hairdryer up and down, right and left, to completely heat the area.
- Evaluate the malleability of the metal. Wearing gloves, evaluate the plasticity of the metal after 2 minutes of heating by lightly pressing on the center or outer edges of the dent. If you feel movement, then move on to the next step. Otherwise, continue warming up for another minute and test again.
- Spray compressed air. Shake the can of compressed air and spray onto the dent, holding the can upside down (no need to remove gloves). Continue spraying within the area of the damage until the metal returns to its original shape, usually 30 to 50 seconds.
- Pat the area dry. Gently wipe off any remaining condensation with a soft cloth.
LIFE EXPERIENCE
Today, people everywhere have learned how to straighten dents without repainting, while preserving the factory finish. If you act correctly on the deformed metal, the dent can be completely removed without damaging the durable and elastic paintwork. But an important nuance of the process is that you cannot simply put pressure on the dent. This way you cannot restore the original shape of the part. To understand this, imagine that the door is dented and the owner, inserting a rubber balloon inside, pumps it up. The loads will be distributed so that the broken metal of the dent will not straighten, but everything else will be pulled! You should locally influence some key points, then others, and so on. The matter is extremely painstaking. But they say that it is afraid of the master. And since there is not always direct access to dents from the inside, special levers and hooks are used - of various shapes, sizes, and rigidity. How to use them is again determined by the master.
Types of Dents
Based on the type of dent, they are divided into 3 groups:
- simple - small dents up to 5 mm deep, in most cases they are without scratches;
- complex shape - scratches and dents are quite deep, from 5 to 10 mm, the damage is very extensive;
- with holes - most often such scratches were obtained as a result of impacts from piercing and cutting objects; their characteristic features appear in torn metal.
We recommend learning how to remove small dents without painting.
After the initial editing, the master proceeds to finishing the surface with hooks.
Having finished this matter, the tinsmith began to “massage” the dent from the inside. Crochet movements are soft, calculated, without fuss. The process is long - several hours with breaks for short rest for the eyes: they get very tired from the tension and blinding light of the lamp. It is curious that at first the master did not particularly care about the ideal shape of what he got - pits, tubercles. Some of the spectators even began to show concern, but after some time the irregularities began to miraculously disappear, and the Caddy’s wing began to look more and more like a new one. Such is high art! The result is shown in the last picture.
External leveling with special equipment
External straightening of dents without painting is recommended in cases where it is not possible to perform this task from the inside for certain reasons. Elimination of defects in the damaged area is carried out using:
- adhesive applicators;
- glue;
- vacuum suction cup;
- fluoroplastic bumpers;
- mini-lifter.
Adhesive applicators must be secured in the damaged areas and not touched while drying. The mini-lifter allows you to pull out the dent by acting on the central point. The final stage is removing the glue. As a result, painting the damaged area is not required.
Other tools can be used as an analogue. This method is performed in a similar way, but a piston is attached to the center of the damage, with which it is pulled out. The principle is as simple as the previous method.
If the necessary equipment is not available, you can use a suction cup and hot glue at home. The nozzles must match the dimensions of the dent. They are fixed to the surface. Pulling occurs in a similar way to professional tools.
We use a microlift
Here's how else you can do car dent repair without painting yourself. The larger the damage, the larger the piston needed. Glue is applied to the latter. Next, the device is installed in the center of the place for 15 minutes. Then the piston is placed in the groove on the microlift and tightened with a nut. Next, gently press on the handle of the tool. The metal will stretch out - the piston will shoot off, and the remaining glue is removed with alcohol. A bulge will remain, which can be removed with a pencil and hammer. This process may need to be repeated several times until it is completely level.
Attachments
At the mastering stage, dent repair will not require very rich tools:
- straightening hammer with shock-absorbing strikers – 300 rubles;
- gas burner Super-Ego R355 – 1.8 thousand rubles;
- portable gas cylinder – 100 rubles;
- stainless steel trowel – 300 rubles;
- hot glue gun – 600 rubles.
In general, your expenses will not exceed 3.5 thousand rubles. If luck inspires you, then buy an inexpensive (3 thousand rubles) set of straightening tools Force F-911M1. You can work with it at a professional level and repair not only your car.
Tool
Most effective repair methods require specialized tools and supplies. Non-professional tool sets are available in large quantities in auto stores, as well as on AliExpress. Before purchasing, you need to decide on the method that will be used.
The price of materials and tools varies from 100 to 15,000 rubles.
Despite the fact that the tool is not professional, its use will still require some skill on your part. Therefore, it is better to first practice on unnecessary parts (plastic or metal).
Features and Benefits
From the very beginning of its existence, PDR technology was extremely simple and did not allow eliminating serious defects on the body. Over time, it has been improved, so now it is possible to cope with fairly large dents and restore the previous quality of the body metal without damaging the paint layer.
The method is extremely simple, since now there is a special tool for it, a full set of devices. Some even decided to buy it for themselves, using it in the garage with their own hands.
But I’ll be honest, to remove small dents, you can try your luck and try to do everything yourself. But the technology has its own characteristics; craftsmen undergo special training to restore the car to the highest possible quality. You can practice on cars that you don't mind. And so they advise entrusting the process to specialists, whose address will not be difficult to find in your city.
The main advantages of PDR technology include:
- no need for painting work after removing a dent;
- little time spent on repairs and removal of defects;
- easy-to-perform local body repairs;
- a small number of stages required to carry out the work;
- affordable price, which is noticeably lower compared to traditional straightening, which additionally requires painting;
- maximum preservation of the quality of the paintwork on the car body;
- no need to look for paint to match the body color.
But you shouldn’t naively think that this is a magical method that allows you to carry out body repairs with one movement of your hand. The technology has its own nuances and certain limitations.
Is vacuum restoration possible at home?
Repairing dents without painting yourself at home is only possible using levers. A microlift is too expensive for an ordinary car enthusiast. It makes the most sense to contact specialized workshops for restoration. Of course, you can always find a tool cheaper. But with this device it is difficult to achieve the same result as with the worldcrolift. You'll have to putty and paint.
1200 rub. for the photo report
We pay for photo reports on car repairs. Earnings from 10,000 rubles/month.
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Removing dents after hail is a completely solvable problem for every car owner whose car has been exposed to this atmospheric phenomenon. To do this, one of four methods of paintless body repair can be used. Each of them has its own advantages and disadvantages, as well as the level of complexity of their implementation. In addition, they use different tools that should be available to craftsmen. We will discuss these repair methods in detail below.
Assessing the repairability of a dent
Using a hair dryer to remove dents will not work on a car that is seriously damaged, but it will generally work great on small dents and gouges in certain areas of the car's body. To assess whether a dent is repairable using this repair method, you first need to pay attention to its location.
- The dent must be on a smooth surface such as the trunk, roof, door, hood, fender. It is much more difficult to remove dents on corner surfaces or parts this way, although it is quite possible.
- Measure the size of the dent. If it is about 8cm in diameter or larger (thus not deep) and has no visible paint damage, you have a better chance of getting results.
There are two ways to remove dents using a hair dryer:
- Use a compressed air cylinder;
- Use dry ice.
Both methods are most effective in restoring the metal to its original shape. In practice, many people prefer to use compressed air rather than dry ice because dry ice is harder to find. In any case, it is worth looking for rubber-coated gloves to protect your hands.
Tapping
This method of removing dents is often called lever. It all depends on the location of the damage. If it is possible to knock out the dents, do so. If you can’t get to the part, use a lever, pressing it with your hand and eliminating the problem.
In most cases, dents on thresholds cannot be corrected in this way.
To make repairs, you will need a hammer with a soft edge, usually rubber pads are used. In some cases, a copper hammer may be used. In some cases a mount may be required.
Removing dents using this method is as follows.
- We remove everything that prevents you from getting to the dent. In some cases, you will have to disassemble the interior. To repair the wings, the fender liners are removed. To repair the threshold, you will have to drive the car onto an overpass or pit.
- We take a closer look at the damage and see how best to fix it. If leveling with a hammer is not possible, select the location where the lever will be applied. As a rule, you won't be able to use a lever on thresholds.
- Carefully tap out the dent. There is no need to apply strong blows, this can damage the paintwork, and there is also a risk of knocking the metal out, and we will have a bulge instead of a dent.
- If we use a lever, we need to find a fulcrum. Alignment must be done as carefully as possible. Other body elements are used for support; a wooden block must be placed under the lever.
- We check how correctly the dent alignment is done. If there are problems, repeat the procedure.
Pay attention to the integrity of the paint. If you do everything carefully, you can do without painting.
Dents in thresholds can only be corrected using the impact method; we will tell you more about this later.
DIY straightening methods
Many car enthusiasts cannot afford to carry out repairs in a specialized service center, since this procedure can be quite expensive. In this regard, the question arises: how to remove a dent with your own hands. There is a list of basic methods for removing dents without painting, and all of them are quite simple, since they are done on their own and do not require the involvement of expensive equipment.
Did you know? The first automobile service shop opened in Boston in 1899.
Via magnet
Straightening, in other words pulling out, dents using the magnetic method is quite simple; it is enough to have a powerful magnet to which a handle is attached. This type of repair is ideal for smoothing out small dents.
The repair proceeds as follows:
- The first step is to clean the surface with a regular rag.
- Next, we attach the magnet to the body.
- Then, using the handle that comes from the magnet, we begin to pull out the dent.
- Be careful to only remove the dent and not retighten it.
Important! Before repairing, it is necessary to place something soft under the magnet so as not to scratch the paintwork.
Lever
This process is much more complicated than the previous one. To straighten a dent, you will need a rather expensive set of tools, namely levers.
This repair is carried out when the damage is voluminous and complicated. The whole process involves tapping out dents from the inside of the body. If necessary, you can dismantle some parts that will prevent you from getting to the damaged parts of the body. Hooks and levers have different lengths and shapes, in addition, they are curved at different angles.
- The work surface should be cleaned.
- Then, using a hair dryer, the part is heated to 40–50 °C.
- The edges of the bends need to be tapped and pressed onto the surface, thereby leveling the dent.
We recommend: Do-it-yourself replacement of brake discs on a VAZ 2110
The leveling technology is quite complex. The master selects the lever or hook he needs, uses pressure and tapping to level the surface.
Find out what dent removal kits are available and which one is best to choose.
Via applicator
Dents are retracted using a special kit called “Pops-a-Dent.” The set includes a rocker arm made of plastic, which is curved in a special way. To avoid damaging the surface, it has long legs with a rubberized sponge at their ends.
Hot-melt gun and a set of rods with silicone glue. The kit also includes attachments with different gripping areas, the soles of which are glued to the dent and thus straighten them.
Important! You should definitely see protruding glue through the technological holes; this gives good strength to the fastening itself.
Using the above-mentioned device, it is not difficult to cope with the defect:
- The first step is to degrease the dent itself and wipe it dry. There should not be a speck of dust left on the surface to be treated.
- Melt the glue and apply it to the nozzle as quickly as possible. Press it against the dent, twisting it a little and pressing it half a turn.
- After 2-3 minutes, you need to thread the handle through the eye of the nozzle.
- Then you need to screw the valve onto the thread.
- Slowly straighten the dent until it is level with the metal.
- After this, you should leave everything in this position for 5–7 minutes.
- We unscrew the valve, removing the arc.
- To separate the nozzle, we heat the plastic using a hair dryer, while turning it around.
If your driving skills are very careful, then you don’t have to buy the whole set. It will be enough to purchase only a glue gun. The arc can be made at home yourself, for example, from wood. Instead of rods, you can use an ordinary bolt, gluing its head to the defect.
We recommend that you familiarize yourself with the operating principle of a magnetic inductor - a device for removing dents without painting.
Thermal
The essence of this method is that the metal begins to level out due to a huge temperature difference. To implement this method you must have:
- construction hair dryer;
- compressed air.
The work algorithm looks like this:
- After the dent area is heated, it is cooled using compressed air.
- If the affected area is large, then it is heated in several places.
Replacing a part or part of it
If there is more serious damage, removing dents will not help restore the integrity of the part. In this case, the body element, or its most severely damaged part, is replaced with a new one. When replacing, it is necessary to find a part identical to the one being replaced. If a specific area is being replaced, the patch is cut from the same metal. Next, it is welded to the part being restored.
Minor damage to the body, chips, scratches and dents on the car can be repaired independently without repainting. Parts of the body that were not previously damaged are subject to restoration. If paint cracking, breaks or kinks appear, repairs without painting will not be possible.
This is what happens on the road: “if you don’t, it hits you,” in the sense that the accident is either your own fault, or the driver of another car is to blame. This is what I decided to write about and more.
So sadness happened to me: I was standing in the parking lot in the evening near the ESSEN shopping center, didn’t touch anyone, went off to stock up, and when I came back, the driver of a Lada Kalina came up to me and said that he hit my car. He says that while parking, he backed up next to my car and was distracted by the child in the back seat - the car rolled forward onto mine and dented the front passenger door. I am sad
