Paintless Dent Repair

What is Paintless Dent Repair and Why Use It?

Paintless Dent Repair (PDR) is a process of carefully massaging the metal back into its original shape without the use of fillers or paint. This can greatly reduce the cost of the repair. It also eliminates any potential problems in color matching, since the original paint is still intact.

Paintless Dent Repair (PDR) is very effective for the following situations:

• From very small to large dents.
• Generally 1990 model year and newer vehicles.
• Hail damage.
• The paint has not been broken or cracked.
• The dent is not near the edge of a panel.
• The panel has not had previous body repair.

Admittedly, not all damage to the body of a vehicle can be repaired with PDR techniques, but if a dent cannot be removed completely, often the repair will make the damage almost unnoticeable.

How is it Done?

Tight Curve's PDR professionals/technicians use specialized tools to push the metal back in to its original shape from behind the dent. Depending on the location of the damage, the panel is accessed by removing trim pieces, through window openings or by removing inner panels. In a typical dent removal, the metal around the outside edge of the dent is slowly massaged back in to its original position. The dent becomes progressively smaller as the technician works from the outside edge; eventually the dent becomes so small it blends with the texture of the paint and disappears completely. Most repairs can be completed in one to two hours, and Tight Curve's Collision Center's PDR team offers mobile service to save even more time. Prices vary on the location and complexity of the repair. A general starting point would be around $75 for a single dent or ding around 1" (inch) in diameter and moving up in cost as the size or diameter of the dent or ding increases. This compares with a cost of several hundred dollars to repair and repaint a single dent using traditional auto body repair techniques.

Advantages of Paintless Dent Repair

The advantages of paintless dent repair include:

• Paint work, sanding, or traditional bodywork are not usually necessary.
• Less expensive than traditional body repair.
• Same-day service in most cases.
• Vehicle retains original paint.

Paintless Dent Repair is a very effective method of fixing dings or dents that don't need major repair. It is both cost effective and very time sensitive for the right type of repair.