Tell me about paintless dent removal

[lufbramatt]

My e39 has a couple of car park dints in the doors, that are quite subtle and can only be noticed if you stand almost directly behind/in front of the car and look down the side at the reflections in the paint. The paint hasn't been broken or even scratched by any of the dints. It doesn't massively bother me but I notice them from time to time and the car is otherwise perfect.

What's the deal with paintless dent removal? I gather that some dents are removed by pressing it back from the inside, but I've also heard mention of a "gun" that is glued on to the outside and pulls the dent out?

Does PDR work on subtle car park dints?

Will I have to remove the door cards?

anyone have experience of this, how successful was it (i.e. was the dent invisible or just reduced)?

[OldBuoy]

The good guys are very very good. The bad guys are not.

It can be dependent on where the ding is. A seam or strengthing bar can make things much more difficult.
As with most things recomendations are king.

[greygoose]

I had a couple of dings removed, one on the crease in the side that I thought wouldn't come out and they were both done as good as new. I didn't have to remove the door cards.

[xjay1337]

PDR work is good.
Makes light work of dents... normally the PDR man will do all of the work including removing any small trim panels... Find a trusted one in your area.

I had some done and results were great.

[lufbramatt]

Any recommendations for good guys in North Kent?

[TUS373]

I have been stunned as to how good PDR can be. We had one car that had a very pronounced dent near a door handle. The dealership was set to fill the dent, repaint the door and most of the side of the car. I recommended PDR guy and it took him less than 15 minutes to remove the dent and it was factory fresh again and at a fraction of the price of respray. Great result.

The glue gun technique is perhaps not as good as pushing dents out from behind but is used for where the body is double skinned so there is no access. It relies on getting a good pull on the dent then tamping any raised areas down. Very skilled and best left to professionals.

[lufbramatt]

Good stuff. The car is techno violet which has silver metallic particles and a purple glitter in it so want to avoid having paintwork done at all costs as I can't see it ever matching properly.

[r11co]

I'll repeat the sentiment that if done well the results are incredible, but if done badly......

PDR is definitely a skill that has to be mastered (in this day-and-age of "anyone is capable of anything if they try" and franchise startups that anyone can buy into, never was there a better example that proves you have to actually be GOOD at something!)

Word of mouth recommendations from people who have had work done matter here. The chap I use is an absolute artist and he can squeeze dings out using the tiniest of access holes.

I've also seen some real bodges where holes were drilled in door frames and the like to get access because the monkey that did it couldn't be arsed to take the card off.

Edited by r11co on Thursday 14th August 15:43