The dents and door dings you find on your car can be the most frustrating because they look bad and are often not enough to warrant major body repair. There are some ways to remove those dents, and many auto body shops now offer paintless dent removal service that is less invasive and often leaves the body looking nearly new. 

Assessing The Damage

When you have some dents or dings on your car that you want to remove, you may want to consider using a paintless dent removal service. The damage must first be checked to determine if this method will work, and most body shops will look at the damage, work up an estimate, and help you decide if you want to have the work done on the vehicle. 

Paintless dent removal can effectively remove dents that are not overly deep and still have the paint intact. If the paint surface is cracked or broken, paintless repair will not work, and more traditional dent removal and paint touch up are necessary.

The Process

A paintless dent removal service works by making minute corrections to the sheet metal on the vehicle from behind the panel. Strip lights on stands are placed around the vehicle to reflect in the paint's surface to enable the tech to see where the dent is. Often the reflection is distorted in the area of the dent, and the lights make it much easier to see.

The adjustments to the panel require tiny movements that will move the metal back to its pre-dent condition without stretching it or breaking the paint surface. As the body panel is adjusted, the technician will see changes in the light reflection until it is consistent with the rest of the car and no longer looks distorted. 

The process can be tedious because it needs to be done slowly in order to avoid overworking the panel and creating a high spot where the dent once was. Paintless dent removal can be a better way to remove dents because it is faster and does not require repainting any part of the vehicle. Paintless dent removal can also be much less expensive than traditional repair. 

The Results

In many cases, a car fixed using a paintless dent removal service will look as good as the day it left the factory, barring any other body issues. Once the dents are gone, the car can be buffed and polished, and most people will not be able to pick out the repairs unless they know where they were at.

Not all insurance companies will pay for this service because the dents do not affect the safety or drivability of the vehicle, so you may have to pay for this service yourself.