Dings are driving me crazy (It is a short drive)

My Miata got dinged like no other car i've ever had, which is surprising since it is so narrow that it was usually pretty far from doors... You can attempt the dry-ice method of removing dings on steel panels, but that won't work on the hood (aluminum). Even then, you will probably have poor results.



Unfortunately, those "ding king" kits cannot handle small dings because the plungers/suction cups are bigger than the dings themselves. You better just pay a paintless dent repair professional to get rid of your dings.
 
I know of none that work. Pay a PDR guy to make it perfect. Not that expensive actually with how whored out the PDR market is these days.
 
David Fermani said:
I know of none that work. Pay a PDR guy to make it perfect. Not that expensive actually with how whored out the PDR market is these days.
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I guess I will have to get some quotes from a few PDR people. I was hoping to do some myself.
 
Close to impossible to do it yourself unless you have the proper tools which are really expensive. The PDR guys that do dealer work are generally cheaper because they're used to doing cut-throat pricing for dealers. Call your local dealer and ask their used car department who they use.
 
David Fermani said:
Close to impossible to do it yourself unless you have the proper tools which are really expensive. The PDR guys that do dealer work are generally cheaper because they're used to doing cut-throat pricing for dealers. Call your local dealer and ask their used car department who they use.
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That sounds like good advice. Thank you. I appreciate it.
 
corvetteman said:
No they are dings in a Miata. I havent had a Vette in a while. Any ideas?
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Seems like I saw some kinda chinese kit thing @ Northern Tool once. Do a Google search



Good luck



Flash
 
corvetteman said:
Thanks guys. Does anyone have any experiences (good or bad) working with the dent/ding tools at Northern?
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If there kit is anything like the rest of their stuff, I can just about assure you it will break mid way through what you working on



They do have a great exchange program though
 
I will get an estimate when I'm on the other side of town. That may be a while. I have 3 dings on 1 panel and a crease on the hood. The 3 dings on the rear panel seem minor but I will obsess about them. I may try to see if I can get to them through my trunk and encourage them out. :)
 
Corvette man how are you? Glad to see there is no dents in the Vette! lol its fiberglass so there will never be one. Now as far as the Miata. Stay away from the do it yourself kits. Dry ice dosen't work at all. Thats a bogus claim just like the dealership lifetime sealents. Dents need to be massaged out and tapped down. Sure you can go buy the pro tools for about $3000 dollars, but the problem is you need to know how to use them. Its not something you grab and do. Even once trained it takes about year for a dent guy to be about average. PDR is a flooded market in my area as David said. There are so many things you need to know its unreal. My advice would be to pony up the money to a good dent guy. Average price should be about 75 a panel. One ding or four. Im my area its a lot less, but about $75 is a good national average. Also offer to pay the man cash! It will help.
 
Barry Theal said:
Corvette man how are you? Glad to see there is no dents in the Vette! lol its fiberglass so there will never be one. Now as far as the Miata. Stay away from the do it yourself kits. Dry ice dosen't work at all. Thats a bogus claim just like the dealership lifetime sealents. Dents need to be massaged out and tapped down. Sure you can go buy the pro tools for about $3000 dollars, but the problem is you need to know how to use them. Its not something you grab and do. Even once trained it takes about year for a dent guy to be about average. PDR is a flooded market in my area as David said. There are so many things you need to know its unreal. My advice would be to pony up the money to a good dent guy. Average price should be about 75 a panel. One ding or four. Im my area its a lot less, but about $75 is a good national average. Also offer to pay the man cash! It will help.
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Hi Barry,

Thanks for the reply. I was hesitating about going the PDR route because the place my family used previously gave me a pretty high estimate for the small crease in my hood. Since then I went to look at my 3 dings on my rear panel. Luckily they are easy to get to through the trunk with almost no work to access them. With this in mind and your advice I think I'm going to have a PDR place do those 3 dings on the rear panel. I wont take them to the place that gave me the hood estimate. I will take them to fixmydents.com or what would be easier/closer to me is to ask the guy that comes around to the Lexus dealership to do them. He worked on my dads car before he purchased it and did a very good job. Hopefully since the panel is so easy to get to it will be in that $75 range or even less. :)



Thanks again for your help.
 
I think that's going to money well spent. This thread reinforces to me, to always ( which I diligently do) "park lonely". I've covered a lot of miles walking to and from the rears of parking lots. I ought to use my pedometer app more. :chuckle:
 
Bill D said:
I think that's going to money well spent. This thread reinforces to me, to always ( which I diligently do) "park lonely". I've covered a lot of miles walking to and from the rears of parking lots. I ought to use my pedometer app more. :chuckle:
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I agree 100%. I often also look to park againts a curb. I tell my dad to do this all the time to eliminate 50% chance of a door hitting his car. He is older though and parks between huge trucks because the spot is closer for him.



1 of my 3 dings on that panel was already there when I bought the car but I noticed 2 more dings around 12 inches away after a guy pushed my car last week. I asked him to be gentle but I fear that he made to 2 small impressions where his fingers would be. It is possible they were there before but with as often as I wash and detail my cars it would be strange for me to only notice them 60 minutes after the car was pushed.
 
Yeah them Miata trunks are soft! Mine had all kinds of pimples (pushed from inside the trunk) on it because I (or the previous owner) would slam the trunk on crap.
 
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