Help me fix a parking lot door ding

[GN SBS]

I inherited a passenger-side door ding-- help me fix it!

It is thin & vertical from the horizontal crease in the bottom of the door (not the sill but the factory bend in the door sheet metal). No paint chipping (just shaved off zaino wax), but it is a noticable dent from what must have been a fast swinging door with a plastic guard (hence no paint).

Should I take the door apart and try to pound it out from the inside?

Should I try one of the cheapo quicky dent removal companies?

Or should I give in and go to the body shop?

Pros/Cons?

thanks,
Scott

 

[strikeeagle]

You should have Pamela Anderson... Oh, forget it!!!

You should have a paintless dent removal expert look it over and give you his thoughts. If he does perform the repair he (or you) will need to remove the inner door panels, etc. to provide the necessary access for his tools.

 

[tim87tr]

The person that did mine just slid the metal rod tool behind the door panel and popped it out that way. Mine was $45 first ding, $25 second ding, and $10 for each of the rest. I had a few so I circled them in yellow crayon before he got to them. Tim

 

[Brian Harper]

I had great luck with the paintless dent removal method, but be forewarned - shop around and find someone who really knows what they are doing or the results will look worse than the original dent. Don't just take their word on their work either, see some proof first.
I had a bunch of small dents taken out and I can't even find where they were now, so it is definitely worth it (and cheaper than repainting by a long shot).

 

[99Formula]

I have had paintless dent removal done on the Formula and it came out really good. One of the dents was a crease with a divot in the middle... It couldn't be 100% removed, but isn't even noticable any more unless you're specifically looking for it. He worked on it as much as he could, but eventually stopped for fear of the paint popping off. The other ones he worked on are now gone. I'd agree with going that route.

Peter

 

[Turbo Brian]

The general rule of thumb is: if the dent is shallower than a quarter, it can be fixed with paintless dent removal successfully. If it is deeper than that, get the opinion of the tech who performs the job, it still might be worth a try.

 

[GN SBS]

Thanks for the advice and the rule of thumb on the quarter depth gauge. Sounds like this is definately worth looking into.

I'll post my results after giving it a shot.

If anyone from Philly knows a good guy do let me know.

thanks,
Scott

 

[NICKG]

if you were near ny area i can recommend!

go to your local new car dealer and ask them who does their pdr, they all use this, if you are near eastern pa or poughkeepsie ny, i can highly recomend a guy, he did my truck and you would never know, ,,,,yeah they are that good!

 

[Brian Harper]

I'll second NICKG's suggestion. I found out about the guy who fixed my dents from the GM dealer I buy parts from. He spends most of his time fixing dents on brand new cars, so it seems like a good place to start looking.
As I said before though, check out the work before you let someone take a hammer to your car. It is more than just "popping out" a dent. The metal has to be worked back to its original shape.