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Re: Does anybody know how to get rid of small dents caused by somebody knocking their door onto mine?

It seems more important for others to argue about the format of your question as opposed to answering it, I'll give you a tip that did work for me on my 02 Sonata. It is a bit involved and you have to be comfortable with taking the door panels off, at least if you want to make it a DIY project. Pushing small dents and dings out from inside the door panel will at least yield you decent results.

I've used everything from a small 2" hard-plastic touch-up paint roller to a large "masher" marble to roll out the concavities. Something with a fairly rigid but curved surface works well. You won't be able to suck out small door dings using the old plunger technique though. Door panels are "soft" metal so it's not too hard to push out the dings but you have to be careful in the amount of force you use so as to not make it convex. It takes a bit of patience and practice but it can be done.

Depending on you model, you might ask Hyundaitech for tips on removing the door panels or there might be info on hmaservice.com (requires free registration). If this sounds a bit much, you could always go to a couple of body shops and get quotes. It depends on what you're willing to live with. If you don't mind walking, you could always be the person who parks in the farthest corner of the lot where no one else parks.

- Thee Chicago Wolf

Reply to
Thee Chicago Wolf
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Argh! Sometimes it's not fun to read statements like this.

It can be, as you say, but I'd add to your cautions that a little at a time is the way to go. Try rolling gently from the outside edges of the ding (from inside the door), toward the center. It may seem intuitive to just lay on the crown of the ding and try to flatten it out, but you will most likely stretch the metal this way. Do yourself a favor and do some google searches on Paintless Dent Removal. You will find enough sites with information to give you better insight.

As well, let your fingers do the walking and try to find a Paintless Dent Removal company in your area. Most dealers know these guys in their area, because the use them themselves.

Reply to
Mike Marlow

Ah yes, I did forget to mention to specifically roll "across" the dent from inside the door. "Roll Out" is a bit nebulous. My wording could have implied to just apply force and the peak / center of the concavity which is in fact not the way to do it. Slow and easy, easy and slow is the way to do it. Yes, it will stretch the metal or make it convex if you just apply force to the center of the ding / dent.

Yup, that's another good choice and might be more competitive than body shop rates.

- Thee Chicago Wolf

Reply to
Thee Chicago Wolf

And, you know what? They really can make it look good!

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2nd row, third picture is my Town and Country after being smacked by a trash can during a windstorm (one of those monster municipal things). 2nd row, fourth picture is after about an hour and a half of him working on it. They come to you (in this case it was while I was at work), so you are not without a vehicle. They charged about $200 for the work compared with around $800 at three different body shops. The best part was when I traded it, the dealer has a form you sign off on where they ask if it ever had any paintwork.... Guess what? I could honestly say no. Long term, there's no paint mismatch like you might get with a body shop - no bondo to fall out, either.

If you want it to look good, I would suggest not messing with it until you get one of the PDR guys to look at it. If it's small, it won't cost much. If you try to fix it, it might make it harder or impossible for one of these guys to repair it.

Reply to
Bob

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