Dent removal without having to dismantle door interior?

Dent removal without having to dismantle door interior?

Author
Discussion

Funk

Original Poster:

26,254 posts

208 months

Monday 1st March 2021
quotequote all
Spotted that someone's very kindly left me this on my driver's door. It's right on the swage line but isn't deep and hasn't broken the paint. Is it feasible to have this repaired without having to take all the door innards off? BMWs have a history of using plastic fixings which break if you dare look at them and I'd be keen not to introduce any rattles...

Dead centre here where the Peugeot's wheel is in the reflection:



You can see how much it distorts here:



Again, the reflection of the Peugeot's wheel really shows it:



Or just leave it and wait until it inevitably collects more dings and do it then...? hehe

AJB88

12,263 posts

170 months

Monday 1st March 2021
quotequote all
Had a few of them, they can usually get at them without taking the door card off.

finlo

3,731 posts

202 months

Monday 1st March 2021
quotequote all
Glue pull.

Dave3166

1,770 posts

125 months

Monday 1st March 2021
quotequote all
People that do that are real low life’s IMO.

Be careful if you use a glue pull, as when you are turning the knob to pull dent out, you are also pulling the glue pulling thing back into the paint work.
I used on of those, nearly got the dent out but put other small dents in from the pressure of it pulling against bodywork.

Ended up getting pointless dent removal, 99.9% removed.

From where that is, I’m sure the paint less removal guys would go down the inside of the door between window & rubber seal.

Hope this helps.

Funk

Original Poster:

26,254 posts

208 months

Monday 1st March 2021
quotequote all
Thanks for all the input - what sort of figure should I be expecting from a PDR company? I'm in W.Sussex so any recommendations too would be appreciated!

_Hoppers

1,176 posts

64 months

Tuesday 2nd March 2021
quotequote all
I’ve used a PDR guy several times and based on what he’s done for me, that dent should be a doddle. I’m guessing price would be in the region of about £60-80. If you have other minor dents he may do them at the same time for not much more?

Funk

Original Poster:

26,254 posts

208 months

Tuesday 6th April 2021
quotequote all
Thanks for the advice all, the guy that valets my car gave me the number of his local 'dent guy', Russ at Panel Perfection (07717 796 622). He's done a great job, was great value and I'd recommend him if you're in the Sussex coast area too.

A better 'before':



Here's the 'afters':





Apparently the job was a little trickier than initially thought as the car's mostly made of aluminium which is a bit more of a faff to work with according to Russ - as someone mentioned above, he chose to go through between the window rubber and door skin to work the dent out from the inside without the need to remove anything.

Edited by Funk on Tuesday 6th April 01:30

paintman

7,669 posts

189 months

Tuesday 6th April 2021
quotequote all
After the hailstorm that went across Leicester a few years ago I had a long chat with the owner of one of the local PDR firms.
Problem with ally panels is that the metal tends to stretch as it deforms so with bigger sharp dents you're trying to put a quart back into a pint pot.

AJB88

12,263 posts

170 months

Tuesday 6th April 2021
quotequote all
Got my guy in MK area coming out tomorrow, the new dog wagon (SAAB) has got a few little ones in it so going to get him to try take them out.

Funk

Original Poster:

26,254 posts

208 months

Tuesday 6th April 2021
quotequote all
paintman said:
After the hailstorm that went across Leicester a few years ago I had a long chat with the owner of one of the local PDR firms.
Problem with ally panels is that the metal tends to stretch as it deforms so with bigger sharp dents you're trying to put a quart back into a pint pot.
Interesting; I wondered why it might be trickier but didn't have much time to ask him in detail. He went over the car and most of the panels on it are aluminium - I found this from BMW:

"An aluminium monocoque construction is used for its doors and the outer skin of the roof, while elements such as the bonnet, front shear panel, engine subframe, front bulkhead and rear bumper support are also made from aluminium. The plastic boot lid, the magnesium cockpit support and the use of carbon fibre-reinforced plastic in the centre tunnel help to both reduce weight and optimise distribution. As a result, the four-door is only 70kg heavier than the Coupé."

Louis Balfour

26,271 posts

221 months

Tuesday 6th April 2021
quotequote all
Funk said:
Thanks for the advice all, the guy that valets my car gave me the number of his local 'dent guy', Russ at Panel Perfection (07717 796 622). He's done a great job, was great value and I'd recommend him if you're in the Sussex coast area too.

A better 'before':



Here's the 'afters':





Apparently the job was a little trickier than initially thought as the car's mostly made of aluminium which is a bit more of a faff to work with according to Russ - as someone mentioned above, he chose to go through between the window rubber and door skin to work the dent out from the inside without the need to remove anything.

Edited by Funk on Tuesday 6th April 01:30
It won't necessarily apply here, but I have heard of people having issues later due to damage caused to the polythene membrane in the door.[/Mr Cheerful]

paintman

7,669 posts

189 months

Tuesday 6th April 2021
quotequote all
Louis Balfour said:
It won't necessarily apply here, but I have heard of people having issues later due to damage caused to the polythene membrane in the door.[/Mr Cheerful]
Common issue if the door cards have been removed & the sheet removed/cut to allow access to inside the door to beat out the outer skin or to work on any of the items in the door & not replaced properly.
Some of the rain running down the outside of the window will get past the waist seals & into the door. The sheet keeps it inside the door so it exits via the drain holes in the door bottom. No sheet & it can drip onto the back of the door card & run down into the car.

Usually shows up by wet carpets & causes lots of headscratching - when I bought my own Range Rover Classic they were missing altogether & I could have kept fish in the footwells after a good downpour.

The sheet is usually stuck to the metal framework immediately behind the door card so in the OPs case I would be surprised if it's been touched due to the method of access by the tech - which is the usual method for doing that type of dent on the skin.


Edited by paintman on Tuesday 6th April 13:15