There’s nothing more annoying than witnessing a dent in your prized possession. No matter how careful you were, you can’t always avoid falling pine cones, wrongly parked cars, or pebbles that hit your car when you’re on the road.
Knowing how to fix a dent in a car can simplify the whole process and in this article, we will learn about it detail.
Table of Contents
What Are The Kinds Of Dent Damages?
While finding ways to how to fix a dent in a car, it would be good to know about the kinds of dents. The body repair kind of depends on it. Here are the common kinds of dents-
1. The Round Dents
Round dents are some of the most common types of dents. It is caused by small objects such as hail, rocks, or sports balls striking the car. These dents have a small point in the middle or just can be a shallow indent in the metal. Fortunately, these types of dents don’t cause damage to the metal or paint job, which means that paintless dent repair (PDR) techniques can easily fix them.
2. The Dreaded Creased Dent
A creased dent typically as a result of a long and thin object gets dragged across the side of the vehicle. This damages both the paint job and the metal as well. These types of dents bad because they can alter the metal panel’s memory. It requires labor-intensive body sand and paints job. Sometimes, the panel has to be replaced.
3. Small Car Dings
These are the dents are typically in small parking lot incidents such as a meet with a shopping cart or someone opening their door into your car’s side. Dings can be deeper and more severe than a round dent. With a defined valley in the dent. As long as there is no damage to the paint, these dings can typically be fixed with PDR techniques that pop dents back into their original shape.
How To Fix A Dent In A Car Effectively?
Over time, many creative ways have been developed to repair car dents. The question, how to fix a dent? is no more a mystery. Let us discuss the ways to repair car dents-
1. Extreme Temperature Treatment
With the help of the following household items such as rubber-coated gloves, aluminum foil, a package of dry ice, a can of compressed air, and a hairdryer, you can remove small dents very easily. Heat the dent by using the hairdryer. Cover the damaged place with a piece of aluminum foil.
With rubber-coated gloves on your hands rub the dry ice over the aluminum foil covering the dent. Liquefied compressed air can also be used to cool the area. The rapid change in temperature will pop out the dent.
2. Paintless Dent Repair Method
Paintless dent repair (PDR), is a method of removing minor dents from the body of a motor vehicle. The paintless dent repair method is effective as long as the paint surface is intact. Paintless dent repair can be used on both aluminum and steel panels. The flexibility of the paint and the extent to which the metal has been stretched by the damage can both be limiting factors.
In this method, a puller is attached to the metal surface with hot glue, and hammering force is used to pull out a dent. The glue will not leave any residue back on the paint and it can be easily removed.
3. The Old Scrape And Paint Method
If the damage to the car is at a deeper level, then you have to go the traditional and more expensive way. In this method, you have to strip down the old paint, fix the dent, and again paint the whole car. This job is a labor-intensive job and you have to shell a large some of the money to get it fixed. Cheaper paint places such as Maco are available which provides budget-friendly plans.
4. Swap Those Body Panels
If the damage if specific to a particular body panel, then the good news is that you can swap that particular body panel with a new or used one. Places like Pull a Part are becoming popular as you can easily get a used to panel with a matching color. Going second-hand way is best when it comes to the question of how to fix a dent in a car?
How Long A Dent Can Be Ignored?
There is no real hurry in getting the car dent repaired. But if the damage has gone deep into the surface, then you should not ignore it if you are living in a rust belt area such as Chicago.
How Do You Repair Dents Yourself?
Depending on the kind of dents, there are certain home remedies which you can follow to remove car dent. There are many DIY kits available to repair car dents, you can try them if you want to, Also, simple tools such as plunger and boiling water can be used in the spot dents, where paint has not been damaged.
Many cheap dent pullers are also available in the market, they can also be sued to pull a dent out.
How Much Does It Cost To Fix A Dent?
Fortunately, as dents are a common occurring incident, their repairs are as easy. The biggest problem lies in getting the dent repaired, repainting your car can be a time-consuming and costly hassle. The cost of the dent repair at a budget shop is between $125–$500. The but the actual cost to repair your dent depends on the process followed and the type of car you drive.
A full professional paint shop can even charge up to 2000$ for dent repair jobs. Cars with aluminum body panels are even more expensive to get repaired.
Conclusion
The question how to fix a dent in a car can easily confuse you. But as it turns out, there are several easy home remedies that you can follow to repair the dent yourself. Also, there are easier options such as pull apart and maco paint job services, which can be easy on the pocket.