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Hello my fellow 3IS owners, I would like to share my bad experience resulted from hitting a road debris and hopefully getting some good advice as what would be the best approach to remedy the damage.
I was driving on the freeway and accidentally hit a tent someone must have dropped from their vehicle. I did not have time to maneuver as the object appeared very quickly in front of me. The end result was the big dent on driver side fender. The pictures are attached.
I called several body shops and most of them quoted $1,000 - $1,200 to repair it. They said they have to repair and repaint the fender. Only one guy said that he can perform PDR (paintless dent repair) and no repainting is necessary. He quoted $350, which seems to be really good. Now it is no brainer to choose PDR if it will suffice. What do you guys think? Should I go with PDR or it wont do it? Thanks a lot in advance.
kinda dicey since the dent is on a crease of the fender, it should be able to get most of it out but it might not be 100% perfect. That should be easily PDRable
From my experience, if the paint is not chipped or cracked (which appears to be the case from the pic), do the paintless dent repair. No only does it save you the $, but you still maintain the original factory paint. If you have any DIY in you, you can even attempt it yourself by removing the inner wheel well cover and hammering it out carefully.
If the paint is not chipped or peeling, PDR is a way to go. You said it yourself, $350 vs. $1100+. No brainer to me. A good PDR person can get you close to 100%. Another advantage you have too is a white car. If the PDR is not quite perfect, the small dents will be harder to see on white due to the lack of a noticeable shadow. Good luck!
I would ask the PDR guy exactly what you can expect. Like it was stated above, since it is across a crease i would be a little concerned. If he cant guarantee it to meet your expectations i would consider going the other route.
+1 on the PDR. I had a dent removed on a crease on my previous car. It looked perfect afterwards. I wouldn't want to risk repainting unless there were no other options.
have you looked into what a new painted fender would cost? Might be about the same and it's easily replaceable.
New fender on Sewell costs around $277 + shipment. But that is unpainted. The problem is not only the cost of the painting but also the fender wont have the factory paint any longer. Good idea though. Thanks
It is such a bummer. I wonder how many cars got damaged that day. After I hit the object (a tent) I immediately called nine one one to report road hazard. Hopefully authorities picked it up shortly after my call. What makes my situation even worse is that the insurance only will cover it under collision coverage, which is in my case $1000 deductible, not comprehensive ($0 deductible) because the object hit me from the ground as apposed to fell off the sky or smth like that. In any case it is my out pocket cost.
As I said I earlier I will post the new pictures after PDR is complete. So I just picked up my car from a shop I am glad to say that the PDR took care almost all of it. There very few imperfections that pretty hard to detect. Overall I am very satisfied going PDR route rather than repainting the fender. Pix are attached.
08-18-14, 01:35 PM
Bummer - road debris damage
