There are two types of cars on the road today. Ones with door dings and ones that will get a door ding. This may seem like a funny quote however if you think about it couldn’t be truer. Unless you keep your car in a padded garage that has no tools and the kids have no access to it it’s going to get dinged one day. So many people here in San Antonio tell me that they really try and avoid getting door dings by parking at the far end of the parking lot only to come out of the store to find some big hunk of ancient steel that looks like it was just shipped in from a war zone parked next to them. Or they find a shopping cart resting on the door or fender of their vehicle after spending a small fortune buying the week’s groceries.
Some people can live with one or two-door dings but for the ones who can’t, there are two options. The first is to take your car to a body shop and have them grind, sand, Bondo, and paint over the damage. Or you can find a local reputable shop like Concours Auto Salon to use the paintless dent repair process and have them repair that ding or small dent in as little as 30 minutes.
The Body Shop.
This is how the body shop process works. You schedule an appointment to leave your car. The body man will then start by sanding or grind all the paint away in the damaged area. Bondo is mixed to fill the dented area and then spread over it like cake batter. After it’s had a chance to harden the sanding process starts again. Bondo dust is flying everywhere (you better hope they didn’t leave your windows open). This process can be done a few more times depending on where the damage is and the experience of the body man. Then your car will sit the rest of the day with no other work to be done. The next day your car will be prepped for painting. The damaged area will get primed and painted. After this, it will sit until the next day. Ok it’s now day three and if everything has gone as planned you will be able to pick up your car today but not until a couple of things are done. The freshly painted panel or panel’s if they had to blend will be sanded in an attempt to flatten the paint out and to remove any dirt particles that may have gotten into the paint. Then this will be polished to a high gloss. In most cases, the body shop will leave swirl marks as an added bonus just so everyone knows you have some repairs done. This process can cost as little as $300.00
The Paintless Dent Repair Process
The paintless dent repair process works like this. You make an appointment with a reputable company that offers (PDR) like Concours Auto Salon. When you show up to have the repairs done you have a seat in the waiting room while the Vale Certified PDR technician pulls your car into the shop. He uses special tools to gently massage the damaged area back to its original shape or position. This process takes as little as 30 minutes. The final step is to polish the area removing any signs of impact from the paint that might have happened when it was dented. This entire process can cost as little as $80.00 Which process would you choose?
Now it’s obvious that if your car receives a significant impact or is in a major collision your going to need a body shop to repair the damage. However for those smaller dents that haven’t damaged the paint why not look into paintless dent repair and see if it can be fixed.
