Hi, My truck got dinged by a shopping cart. A few questions:
Are those suction tools available at rental stores?
Is any technique required in their use?
What do body shops usually charge to get rid of small dents/
Thanks
The Dent Wizard changes like $130 for first dent! Try the dent remover that uses hot glue and a little bridge to pull the dent--- "as seen on TV". They are $29.95 but don't think they come with a free Ginsu knife.
Look very carefully at the TV ads. It's just fleeting, but you can see dents from the puller on each side of the dent that just got pulled. It isn't in all the shots, so I have to believe that it depends on where the dents are that you're pulling. If you're pulling out a dent on a flat panel, it only stands to reason that the force needed to pull the dent has to be dissapated somewhere, and that somewhere is the panel adjacent to the dent. Also, the metal in the dent is stretched somewhat and needs to be shrunk or the dent will become a "bubble," which leads me to the following story...
Wait for a warm day, or get a heat lamp and thoroughly warm the area, then rub dry ice on the dent. A body shop employee showed me the trick and I removed some of the dents on my Toyota Pickup's hood. He said the dry ice causes the metal to shrink which "raises" the dent.
Just an observation: During the hail storm that caused the damage, my pickup was parked between an older Jeep Wagoneer and a '78 Chevy Caprice, neither one had any damage while my Toyota hood and roof looked like they were made out of a golf ball... :>))
Tom - Vista, CA
Wolfgang wrote:
I've also noticed the TV ads for the dent removal suction cup thingies, they do indeed leave further dents... And the glue can't be good for the paint can it? Those commercials give me a good laugh.
We'd been considering just buying the 'spoons' to pop dents out from the backside, but I forget how much those cost. It was about as much as having one dent removed by a body shop IIRC. But then there's the problem of learning to use and maneuver the things beneath the body panels. At least once you get that down you're able to handle the rest of your dents with ease. I also recall that they came with an instructional video. This was at least 10 years ago, so I've no idea where to find them now, but I'm thinking it was a mail order catalog thing. Search 'dent spoons' and you might find some.
I think I might try the dry ice idea if I have any dents I'm worried about in the future. Personally, I'm not worried, I'm hanging onto my truck till it rusts away so minor dents aren't a problem ;)
The dry-ice thing works within moderation....
at least it's a cheap alternative prior to shelling out the bucks.
Give it a shot.
Good Luck...Walt
They also show an ad like that where a dent is hammered into a section of the hood that has a ridge on it; when they show the "repair," the dent is still visible along that design line. I have been to Dent Busters many times for dent removal and I've never seen those funky "seen on TV" tools in their shop. They have a lot of weird looking rods that they use. There's more to removing a lot of these dents than meets the eyes.
: >>Hi, : >>My truck got dinged by a shopping cart. A few questions: : >>
: >>Are those suction tools available at rental stores? : >>
: >>Is any technique required in their use? : >>
: >>What do body shops usually charge to get rid of small dents/ : >>
: >>Thanks
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