I Finally Picked Between a Stud Welder and a Clip Gun for Dent Repair

Been doing body work for about 7 years now and I always used a stud welder for pulling dents. Last month I borrowed a buddy's clip gun for a door ding on a 2018 Civic and honestly it was way faster. The clip gun saved me maybe 20 minutes on that one panel alone. No more grinding down studs or worrying about warping the metal. I still kept the stud welder for bigger jobs like quarter panels but for daily stuff the clip gun is my go to now. Any of you guys made the switch and regretted it?

3 comments

3 Comments

olivia_carr717d ago

Actually I used to think the adhesive thing was no big deal, but after trying a clip gun on a few jobs I totally get where @hall.nora is coming from now. I had a thin panel on an old Accord and the heat from the glue setting actually did cause a little bit of warping that I had to fix later. And yeah, the residue cleanup on that Civic door was way worse than I expected. I spent an extra 30 minutes scrubbing with solvent and still had to buff it out before primer. Kind of made the speed gain not feel as worth it in the end. I'm keeping my stud welder for anything with thin metal or where I know paint is coming after.

hall.nora2mo ago

Actually clip guns still cause heat buildup on thin panels, just from the glue setting instead of welding. Did you notice any issues with the adhesive residue on that Civic?

tylermurray2mo ago

Man, the adhesive residue thing is a real pain. On that Civic I had to spend an extra hour cleaning off the leftover glue with solvent before I could even think about paint. And if you don't get it all off, the new paint will fisheye or peel right off in a couple months.