How can I learn paintless dent removal?

[Mike]

I’d like to learn, just for myself to do on my own cars.
There doesn’t seem to be much reliable info that I can find.
Thank you, in advance, for your help.

Topic

[Mike]

It’s a skill, you learn it by doing it.

Maybe you can get some damaged fenders and doors at the scrapyard to practice on.

[Rob]

it deponds on your methid of how you want to do it…. there is multi ways to use paintless dent removal…. but deponds on your dent and your skill level you want to do it

[Mike]

Thanks for your replies. I guess I should’ve gone into more specific details….
[quote=”Evil-i” post=174457]It’s a skill, you learn it by doing it.
Maybe you can get some damaged fenders and doors at the scrapyard to practice on.[/quote]

I get that, since I learned to be a tech that way but I had people showing/telling me how to do things plus my job sent me to various classes along the way, too..
I don’t have any auto body buddies to tell me or show me anything, not even the important things I need to know.

My car has some hail dings on the trunk and I want to improve the appearance.
What I don’t know is things like whether to begin by applying pressure to the very lowest point or to work around the edges first, for example.
I’m great at reading and then doing things but have found nothing to read on the topic.

[quote=”Rob781″ post=174459]it deponds on your methid of how you want to do it…. there is multi ways to use paintless dent removal…. but deponds on your dent and your skill level you want to do it[/quote]
I’d be happy to get clued in about ANY method.
I’m just looking to take a few hail dings from the trunk lid of my 18 year old car.

[redfury]

YouTube is your friend in this case. I’ve watched a few videos, and I’ve seen the use of a lit grid being displayed on the car to use the lines to see the warping of the panel until the grid lines up properly. So, if you’ve been holding onto that overhead projector, that might finally be of use again. Beyond that, you’re probably going to have to purchase a few of the tools and give it a go.

[Mike]

Thanks for the reply.
I had watched a few videos, which is what piqued my interest.
You’re right in that it seems like the only option is to watch more videos and invest in some tools.
Figured the hail dents are shallow enough to tackle.

[Jim Schweikhardt]

I did PDR for 3yrs. Its not as easy as it looks. My boss got hood and door from junk yard and I trained in shop for 6mos before touching a car. The biggest thing about PDR is to not break the paint repairing the dent.

In PDR, using special dent tools (that are expensive) you push the dented metal from the back into its original place without breaking the paint. Metal has memory and as long as the metal hasn’t been stretched and dent is too deep then PDR will probably work.

There are a lot of tricks to doing it correctly. Best way to learn is from another tech or school and practice practice practice on junk metal.

[Mike]

Thanks for taking the time to reply.
Everything looks easy when a pro does it.
Only fools assume that it really is that easy.
I’m sure that patience and finesse are the keys to PDR.

[Author]

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