Discussion
PDR business is great and always busy, especially if you make yourself busy.
Training is really just a show and tell from someone with the tools and the know how to get you going and give you an idea of whether or not PDR is for you. Forget all the 'magic' youtube dent repairs with heat and compressed air and god knows what else that you see. 1 in 1000 might respond to this but EVERY one of them will only be half done and require PDR skills and tools to finish. If there really was one magic route then believe me we would all be using it. As for the guys you see delivering excellent repairs, the time lapse shows very little of the actual repair process. knowledge and skills required, so don't be fooled, this trade / skill can drive you mad getting it right.
You will need to practice and [practice and practice till your eyes bleed to get good and every single dent you ever touch or see will be different. Different car, different panel, different access, different technique, different tool, different paints etc. Then just when you think you are on top of the game, manufacturers change or update the models and the panels and access and paint finishes etc all change. Keeps the interest but you will be forever learning. Knowing how and where to start a dent repair and how to finish one is key. That said, not all dents are repairable with PDR and only experience will teach you to judge by looking and occasionally you will fail, just the job unfortunately so you have to factor that in.
I can make a dent repair look very easy, but what takes me 10 mins now took me a day or a week to repeatedly cock up and get wrong when I started learning. But it is very rewarding when it does 'click'. Dentrix used to do a free half day intro course that lets you pretty much have a go, I would get on that to start with. :-)
Training is really just a show and tell from someone with the tools and the know how to get you going and give you an idea of whether or not PDR is for you. Forget all the 'magic' youtube dent repairs with heat and compressed air and god knows what else that you see. 1 in 1000 might respond to this but EVERY one of them will only be half done and require PDR skills and tools to finish. If there really was one magic route then believe me we would all be using it. As for the guys you see delivering excellent repairs, the time lapse shows very little of the actual repair process. knowledge and skills required, so don't be fooled, this trade / skill can drive you mad getting it right.
You will need to practice and [practice and practice till your eyes bleed to get good and every single dent you ever touch or see will be different. Different car, different panel, different access, different technique, different tool, different paints etc. Then just when you think you are on top of the game, manufacturers change or update the models and the panels and access and paint finishes etc all change. Keeps the interest but you will be forever learning. Knowing how and where to start a dent repair and how to finish one is key. That said, not all dents are repairable with PDR and only experience will teach you to judge by looking and occasionally you will fail, just the job unfortunately so you have to factor that in.
I can make a dent repair look very easy, but what takes me 10 mins now took me a day or a week to repeatedly cock up and get wrong when I started learning. But it is very rewarding when it does 'click'. Dentrix used to do a free half day intro course that lets you pretty much have a go, I would get on that to start with. :-)
Edited by Adamski69 on Wednesday 24th May 09:31
Edited by Adamski69 on Wednesday 24th May 09:34
Adamski69 said:
PDR business is great and always busy, especially if you make yourself busy.
Training is really just a show and tell from someone with the tools and the know how to get you going and give you an idea of whether or not PDR is for you. Forget all the 'magic' youtube dent repairs with heat and compressed air and god knows what else that you see. 1 in 1000 might respond to this but EVERY one of them will only be half done and require PDR skills and tools to finish. If there really was one magic route then believe me we would all be using it. As for the guys you see delivering excellent repairs, the time lapse shows very little of the actual repair process. knowledge and skills required, so don't be fooled, this trade / skill can drive you mad getting it right.
You will need to practice and [practice and practice till your eyes bleed to get good and every single dent you ever touch or see will be different. Different car, different panel, different access, different technique, different tool, different paints etc. Then just when you think you are on top of the game, manufacturers change or update the models and the panels and access and paint finishes etc all change. Keeps the interest but you will be forever learning. Knowing how and where to start a dent repair and how to finish one is key. That said, not all dents are repairable with PDR and only experience will teach you to judge by looking and occasionally you will fail, just the job unfortunately so you have to factor that in.
I can make a dent repair look very easy, but what takes me 10 mins now took me a day or a week to repeatedly cock up and get wrong when I started learning. But it is very rewarding when it does 'click'. Dentrix used to do a free half day intro course that lets you pretty much have a go, I would get on that to start with. :-)
Great thanks, i have done a 1 week course but not at dentrix. I think i need further training on actual cars as opposed to panels in my garden.
Thanks for the advice
Training is really just a show and tell from someone with the tools and the know how to get you going and give you an idea of whether or not PDR is for you. Forget all the 'magic' youtube dent repairs with heat and compressed air and god knows what else that you see. 1 in 1000 might respond to this but EVERY one of them will only be half done and require PDR skills and tools to finish. If there really was one magic route then believe me we would all be using it. As for the guys you see delivering excellent repairs, the time lapse shows very little of the actual repair process. knowledge and skills required, so don't be fooled, this trade / skill can drive you mad getting it right.
You will need to practice and [practice and practice till your eyes bleed to get good and every single dent you ever touch or see will be different. Different car, different panel, different access, different technique, different tool, different paints etc. Then just when you think you are on top of the game, manufacturers change or update the models and the panels and access and paint finishes etc all change. Keeps the interest but you will be forever learning. Knowing how and where to start a dent repair and how to finish one is key. That said, not all dents are repairable with PDR and only experience will teach you to judge by looking and occasionally you will fail, just the job unfortunately so you have to factor that in.
I can make a dent repair look very easy, but what takes me 10 mins now took me a day or a week to repeatedly cock up and get wrong when I started learning. But it is very rewarding when it does 'click'. Dentrix used to do a free half day intro course that lets you pretty much have a go, I would get on that to start with. :-)
Great thanks, i have done a 1 week course but not at dentrix. I think i need further training on actual cars as opposed to panels in my garden.
Thanks for the advice
Edited by Adamski69 on Wednesday 24th May 09:31
Edited by Adamski69 on Wednesday 24th May 09:34
Hi LOSSB, You are welcome.
Yup, working on an actual car is a different game as you have to work on access etc as well and if the car is bad enough, real world dents. Could do what I did and buy a scrapper, that was a real help for me. I was fortunate to have a contact from my motor trade days that let me buy a scrapper trade in off them for £75 and park it up at home. It was my practice car for the next year.
Having said that, it was only 3 mths before I did my first paid work and again, I had a contact who let me fix dents at a main dealer on the basis that if I couldn't they went to the body shop anyway. What I did fix he paid me for and I did a whole bunch for a whole lot of next to nothing, but the learning was invaluable. I still practiced on the scrapper though every opportunity I had.
Further training is up to you. I absorbed what I was told and shown and applied it logically. No one is going to teach you how to repair every single different dent as it would be impossible. Basics apply to every repair, from initial assessment to finishing, and that is practice. I was not keen on paying £1000's for someone to look over my shoulder every 15 mins and say ' I can still see it'. Though nice to play with new tools, 1 bar fixes 90% of all door dents I do. Common sense and repetition. As you are probably finding, you spend almost as much time tapping down and dealing with high dents and crowns as you will tooling lows, and a glue kit is invaluable for assisting and sometimes fixing inaccessible dents.
Remember too, most of the dents you see techs posting on there websites and youtube and facebook are 'hero' repairs, they are not your bread and butter. For every 50 trolley dents I fix, I do 1 that is worthy of a b4 and after pics.
Yup, working on an actual car is a different game as you have to work on access etc as well and if the car is bad enough, real world dents. Could do what I did and buy a scrapper, that was a real help for me. I was fortunate to have a contact from my motor trade days that let me buy a scrapper trade in off them for £75 and park it up at home. It was my practice car for the next year.
Having said that, it was only 3 mths before I did my first paid work and again, I had a contact who let me fix dents at a main dealer on the basis that if I couldn't they went to the body shop anyway. What I did fix he paid me for and I did a whole bunch for a whole lot of next to nothing, but the learning was invaluable. I still practiced on the scrapper though every opportunity I had.
Further training is up to you. I absorbed what I was told and shown and applied it logically. No one is going to teach you how to repair every single different dent as it would be impossible. Basics apply to every repair, from initial assessment to finishing, and that is practice. I was not keen on paying £1000's for someone to look over my shoulder every 15 mins and say ' I can still see it'. Though nice to play with new tools, 1 bar fixes 90% of all door dents I do. Common sense and repetition. As you are probably finding, you spend almost as much time tapping down and dealing with high dents and crowns as you will tooling lows, and a glue kit is invaluable for assisting and sometimes fixing inaccessible dents.
Remember too, most of the dents you see techs posting on there websites and youtube and facebook are 'hero' repairs, they are not your bread and butter. For every 50 trolley dents I fix, I do 1 that is worthy of a b4 and after pics.
Edited by Adamski69 on Thursday 25th May 08:38
Edited by Adamski69 on Thursday 25th May 08:40
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