Less than two weeks after I got my car, some guy in a lifted Tundra parks next to me and puts a ding in my rear passenger door. Didn't see it until the next morning. Fortunately, it did not scratch the paint. It wasn't that bad, but it drove me nuts, so I had to get it fixed.

I just had a mobile dent repair guy come out to my work and remove the ding. He charged $100. It took him 7 minutes. It's like it was never there.

The guy attached a light bar generator to the side of the car with a suction cup so he could precisely see the contour of the sheet metal. He then had me roll down the window and inserted a window protector and a small wedge into the slot. He accessed the back of the ding through the window slot with a special tool and manipulated the metal to press out the ding. To finish it off, he made a few taps from the front with a plastic punch.

The interesting thing is that I was apparently lucky it was the rear door and not the front. The front windows of the GSh have laminated, dual pane glass, which would crack if they applied stress to it. This prevents them from accessing the door through the window slot. He would have had to drill a hole in the door, which I probably would not have let him do.

--

 

You could always try the heat gun and compressed air method. Would likely have worked on that dent, and saved you $100.

 

I did consider it, also looked at glue pull kits. The car is just too new and this guy had done good work for several of my colleagues, so I decided against DIY. Maybe by the next ding.

 

PDR is incredible isn't it? Well worth $100 to be sure it's done right on a $70k Lexus. You should see them do hail damage.

I wouldn't worry about drilling.. I've had several dents taken out with the tech having to drill the door. They treat the edges and put in a black plastic plug, you'd never know.

 

I'd say that's $100 well spent. If only they could do that with scratches....

When they have to drill a hole, they put a plastic plug in the hole? Do they paint it or something? I'm not understanding how this plastic plug doesn't stick out like a sore thumb?

 

The hole is usually drilled in the door jam. I need to look into PDR myself; I have a hit and run ding as well as one from a falling acorn.

 

Right. The hole is not on an exterior surface of the vehicle, its hidden in a door jamb, etc.

 

Nice. I got a similar ding on the front passenger door I have been meaning to get taken cared of.

 

Going first thing in the AM for some PDR work. I have two minor dings. One on the passenger rear door, and the other on the wheel well. That one worries me some. But well see how it goes.

 

I rarely buy the add-ons when I buy a car, but this time around I bought the Wheel & Tire Package and the Dent Removal package from the dealer. I can't tell you how many times they have removed dents from careless drivers and curb rash from the high curbs we have here in Dallas. They even straightened and repainted a wheel that was pot hole damaged at no charge. It has been well worth the investment. Amazing what they can do these days.

 

I agree. I have both of these add-ons on the '14 and have had one ding removed and need to have a rim repaired (deep rash). Yes, you hope to never need it. But it is nice to have that insurance in hand if and when you do need it. Wish I had it on the '13! I just came back from a local shop here in town who wanted to do some crazy things to remove a dent. They wanted to basically paint the entire car. WTF? Uh, no thanks. I'll see what the dealership says the next time I take it in.

 

If the dent is on a crease, it's not coming out.

 

Depends on the skill of the PDR tech and how deep the dent is. I've had dings taken out of creases before.

 

This summary from Wikipedia (Paintless dent repair) is very consistent with what the technician told me about what he could and could not do.
They are not always able to fully restore the body panel to original condition. Sometimes they will be able to improve it to a level of 80-90% so that it is much less noticeable. Sometimes, that's OK.

 

I have a guy that removes dents for $75 per panel. Also price goes up per dent that is difficult that takes more than 4 attempts. The most expensive per dent I ever paid was $120 for 1 dent that took him 1 and a half hour.