I am the owner of a 2013 Lexus ES 350. The car received a dent in a parking lot several months ago and I finally was able to visit a shop that does paintless dent removal. The dent is above the rear wheel area (drivers side) on the crease of the fender. The technician mentioned that the manufacturers are using thinner metals to address vehicle weight to get better fuel mileage. He mentioned that they get a lot of vehicles damaged by either a heavy rainfall or hail storm. In addition, he pointed out that there were several small dents on the hood due to pressure put on the hood when closing it. I was not aware of the dents on the hood until it was pointed out to me. I have the 3M protective coating on the vehicle.

I did install the side protection molding but that would not have prevented the dent.

Is anyone else experiencing easy to make dent issues?

 

Thank goodness. No!
It's weird about the hood dents..

 

I'm sure that your paintless dent guy is right about auto manufacturers using thinner metal panels to save weight, but that has been happening for quite few years, and I can't say whether the sheet metal on the ES is any thinner than it has been on previous ES models or on vehicles from other manufacturers.

Even small hail can cause lots of damage, and that is especially true if it strikes toward the middle of a large and relatively flat panel, such as the roof or the hood, but I'm a bit skeptical about the claim of hard rain causing dents.

Besides closing the hood with care to avoid dents, it is a good idea to get into the habit of doing the same when closing the trunk. When I close the trunk, I never do so with my hand on the top of the trunk. I usually do so with a couple of fingers on the rear license plate. Similarly, when closing the hood, I guide the hood down gently with just a couple of fingers on the very edge of the hood, which is where there is added structural strength. I've even seen vehicles with dents on the doors that were caused by people keeping their hand on a location on the door without much support while closing the door in a less than gentle manner, and, like with the hood and the trunk, I try to be careful about how I close the doors, too.

It is a reality that the paint finishes on today's vehicles have so much more depth to them than did the finishes on vehicles of a couple of decades ago. While that depth results in truly beautiful finishes, the downside is that even especially minor imperfections in the shape of the sheet metal (or the finish) catch the light and become readily visible to a much greater extent than did those imperfections with older vehicles.

 

I had a couple of "soft" dents in the same area above the wheel well of my GS. I suspect someone was leaning against the car on both occasions. I was told by the dealer that the metal used were as thin as coke cans, as a matter of fact. .

 

Over the years I have definitely noticed a thinning of the metal they use. All carmakers.

Remember when you used to be able to sit on the hood of a car? Try that now lol

 

Yes... in fact my car is going to a buddy's body shop at 8 am today ( thursday ) to get a door ding fixed using pdr.... My car does have the body side moldings but they didn't do any good with regard to this ding.....also my friend at the body shop pointed out some very minor scratches on the trunk deck ( said they were probably from the way it was washed - I'm suspecting those quick free hand washes at the dealership ) and a couple of very small paint chips. He's going to fix the door ding thru pdr, also going to touch up the minor paint chips and then have his detailer go over it and buff out any scratches he may see....he really has good eye's... I didn't even see the two paint chips til he pointed them out.. anyway should have her back by the end of the day and back in the garage, just about the time predicted heavy storms with possible hail is expected to move into the area....thank goodness i'm off today so my car will be garaged when the storms hit...

Poppa

 

The only concession/extra I made to the F&I mgr at the dealer was unlimited pdr for 5 year coverage, where pdr can be done. This was based on my Murphy's Law quotient and prior experience.

 

Got mine back from the body shop thursday evening... pdr worked great.. no sign of the door ding.... they also buffed the entire car which got rid of a few minor scratches that we think came from faulty / careless car washing... and they touched up 2 places where rocks or road debris caused small paint chips.... car looks wonderful....

Poppa

 

Good news. Now you have to watch where you park, and stay away from the Lexus or new car haters.

 

"... watch where you park, and stay away from the Lexus or new car haters"

How would one know?