Debate: should you fix a dent yourself or leave it to the paintless guys? Here's what happened to me.

I had a situation last month where a customer's truck got a nasty door ding from a shopping cart at the Home Depot lot. I was standing there looking at it, like maybe I could pop it out with a heat gun and some dry ice. I've seen guys do that on YouTube and it looks easy, right? So I tried it on my own car first, a 2015 Silverado, and I actually made the dent way worse. The paint started cracking and I had to call a PDR pro to come fix it, cost me $75 instead of the $20 I thought I'd save. On the other hand, my buddy at the shop swears by DIY dent kits and says he's never had an issue. Has anyone else tried the heat and cold method and had it backfire like that, or am I just unlucky?

2 comments

2 Comments

oscarb714d ago

Man I watched my cousin try the dry ice trick on his Tacoma and he ended up with a dent that looked like a golf ball had hit it lol. He spent like two hours watching YouTube tutorials before attempting it and still botched it pretty bad. The PDR guy who fixed it said he sees at least one DIY horror story a week from people trying that method.

charles6784d ago

Jumped straight into that same mistake with my old F-150 and cracked the clear coat, ended up costing more to fix than the original dent. @oscarb71 nailed it, those YouTube tutorials make it look bulletproof but real life ain't that forgiving. The PDR guy told me the metal can get too hot and warp weird, especially on thinner truck panels like the Tacomas and Silverados. Every time I see a can of dry ice in a garage now I just shake my head.