e-man

Hey guys. First of all, I'm sure you can all feel my pain. I'm furious about this. I always park in end spots. Yesterday was no exception. I parked in a spot with a 4 door Acura TL on my driver's side. When I came out an our later, the TL was gone, but there was a 4 inch crease in the very front part of my rear driver's side door. The rear door of the TL must have been flung open by a back seat passenger (probably a kid) and the door, fully extended open, hit my car at the very front part of the rear door. The crease is very bad and noticeable.

Here's the question. I've had paintless dent repair done before on my last car. I know it's very easy for them to get out the dent as long as they can get to it. My concern is that the crease is so far forward, they will not be able to get to it. If you hit your hand along the middle of the door, it has a hollow sound, but as you get to the front of the door, it sounds very solid, almost as if they metal is two-ply in that area. In fact, when you open the front door, you can see the front part of the rear door has a 2-3 inch part going back where it almost seems like reinforced steel.

I know it's a long-shot if anyone knows, but I figured I'd ask the question. Does anyone know if a dent can be removed from the very front part of the rear doors? Thanks for your help.

e

ibidu1

iTrader: (1)

I have a friend who does PDR work. It amazes me the stuff he can reach, he has all kinds of funky tools, and some tools he made. He does most of the work for the big new car dealers in the area. That being said!

The getting to the dent part is not hard, they may have to drill a tiny hole use the tool and put a plug on the drill hole.

Take it to a reputable PDR who knows what they are doing and see what they think. Goodluck!

KJSmitty

Eman,
At one time or another all of our vehicles have been finessed by a talented PDR specialist. I actually took my GS350 to my local guy just this past summer to remove a few minor dings. I had serious doubts on a couple. However, I learned something new.. They actually have a type of temp superglue stuff that they use if the ding permits etc.. Allows them to pull/work it from the surface.

Maybe something like that will work on yours. Good luck.

PS - damn TL owners.... JK, I used to be one.
- Wind may have whipped the door open etc.

e-man

Hey guys. Thanks for the replies.

The more i look at this thing, the more I realize that there is nothing they are going to be able to do about it. It's a 4-5 inch vertical crease, and it is about 1-2 inches from the leading edge of the rear door. If you open your front driver's side door and look at the rear door, you'll see what I'm talking about, but that area of the rear door is reinforced metal. Whereas the rest of the door is just a metal skin, the front part of the door is different -- it has a backing to it.

The only thing I'm thinking is that if it can be dented it, it can also be dented out, so maybe. Maybe there is a way he can drill a small hole behind it, but again, that area of the door is maybe 1/2 inch thick, so I'm not sure what he would drill. I called the PDR guy yesterday, but haven't heard back from him yet. He'll probably call back tomorrow. I'll let you guys know how it works out.

e

arnieosp

iTrader: (1)

I absolutely HATE those inconsiderate bastards, and their children too!

Trocks797

This is obviously a case-by-case issue, but when my father took his GS to our "dent guy" for a dent in a similar location, the guy said almost any dent that is NOT located on a natural "line" in the car (like the line coming back off the top outer-most corner of your headlights) can be removed pretty effortlessly.

Vossen Wheels

The right PDR guy should be able to get it out! I know I've seen some bad dents and dings worked out of different Lexus models in the past. I know these cars have a ton of metal reinforcement, making it difficult, but you can always bring it down to a PDR guy and get an estimate/idea. It doesn't hurt to ask! It is unfortunate, though, to have to pay for someone else's inconsiderate mistake.... Post some pictures if you have them so we can get an idea!

CRAB

Sounds like more then a door being flung open to cause that kind of damage unless then wind caught it? Most owners that drive nice cars teach their kids at birth to watch our for other cars no matter what condition they are in. I bet it was some inconsiderate bas+ard that doesn't pay taxes and doesn't give a shi+ sitting in the back seat of the Acura. Those who are blaming the kids, probably don't have any. Sorry about the dent. We have new one the size of a dime on the rear quarter behing the rear door and looking for a paintless repair as well. Damn kidz.......

Ironman50

Go find that TL driver and whip his ***.

The dent repair guy can be better than a plastic surgeon if properly trained.

I use a guy here in Louisville that must have gone to MD school to learn his surgical skills.......his work is a masterpiece.

e-man

Thanks guys. The dent guy is going to take a look at it tomorrow or Wednesday, so we'll see.

If you have a chance, when you open your driver's door, take a quick look at the very front edge of the back door and you'll see what I'm talking about. It's almost like two-ply metal in that area of the door. I'm trying to be optimistic here, but I don't think there's any way to get between the two plies of metal to work out the crease. Even if drilling were an option, I'm not sure what they'd drill. Unfortunately I think I'm either going to have to live with it or have the door repainted (which I really don't want to do).

The funny part about this story (to the extent that there is anything funny about it) is that the reason the vertical dent/crease is so far forward on my rear door is because I was parked so far away from this car. Had I been closer, the dent would have been in the middle of the door and there would most likely have been no issue in getting the dent out.

We will see.

e

fventura03

whats a decent price to pay for this service? I have a couple of dings here and there that i'd like fixed

arnieosp

iTrader: (1)

For simple door dings they charge around $60-$80 per panel here. It means, if you have 2 or 5 simple dings on the driver door, they charge the price per door, ot per ding.

e-man

Hey guys. Quick update. My PDR guy is out of town until next Monday. In the meantime, and under the assumption that the crease could not be removed by PDR, I took my car in today to a body shop I've used in the past to get a quote to repair and repaint the door.

To my surprise, the shop manager immediately said that his PDR guy would be able to remove the crease without any issues. He walked me over to an ES350 that was in the shop with a crease in the exact same spot on the same door (pretty ironic) and he said that his dent guy was able to remove it (and Ioooked closely at the ES350's door, and it appears to be contructed pretty much the same as the GS in that area). I'll believe it when I see it, but I guess there's still hope.

I'll keep you posted. I'll also post up a picture (assuming I can get the crease to show up).

e

e-man

Hey guys. Here's an update. I had a few PDR guys look at the crease, and they all said it could most likely be removed, but that it would be tricky to get to because of it's location. My car was at the dealership yesterday for an oil change and brakes, so I had them have their PDR guy look at it. Long story short, he said he could remove it and it would cost $75, so I said okay. I got a call late yesterday afternoon letting me know the car was ready and that the dent guy was able to get the 95% of the crease out.

So I picked up the this morning. I think the guy did a good job. The crease is not as prominent/notceable as it was before, but because I know it's there, I can still see it if I look at it at the right angle (and the service advisor agreed). All in all, I'm okay with it. It's not perfect, but then again, what in life is, right?

e

mgokool

iTrader: (1)

Hey e-man, do you have any pictures to post of the before/after?