Automotive hail repair recommendations
A few tips for automotive hail damage repair projects: For dents that are fairly small and not deep, a dent repair kit may be an inexpensive and simple solution. These kits are available at any auto parts store and tend to be very user friendly — instructions are always included. The best part is that they usually cost under $40. Most include several stems for various sized dents, a glue gun and a knockdown tool. You may be surprised at how well the kit works and how professional the result looks. We don’t recommend this kit for large, deep dents — you might cause even more damage trying to fix those with a kit.
First let’s begin with some car paint care tricks: If you can not expose your car to the sunlight, you can use a hair dryer instead. Just aim the hair dryer to the areas you want to fix, and wait until the dents even out. The ideal distance between the hair dryer and the car should be 2-4 inches. While using a hair dryer, there should be an interval of 2 minutes. If the car’s paint starts discoloring, you should stop applying heat right away. Use a rubbing compound or wax to revise the paint color.
If you want to polish your car and are considering buying a buffer, you can see my simplified approach to car polishing for the true beginner to achieve professional results. As the saying goes, “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure”, and your car is no different. If you are just consistent with the basic instructions I have provided here, your car will not only look fabulous year after year, but will retain much more of its original value when you are ready to sell. Want to save your time and maximize your car detailing efforts. Unless you are a die hard car enthusiast, I actually recommend you find a quality, 100% cloth or hand wash, and take your car there at least every 2 weeks and let the crew there perform the grunt work of car washing.
Use Hot Glue, Wooden Dowels, & Screws: When you attempt to take out dents yourself, you always put the risk that you might further damage your car, whether you make the dent worse or chip the paint. A safe way of trying to take out big dents on your car is by using several wooden dowels, a few screws, and a hot glue gun. Simply place two nails into each side of the dowel and put the hot glue on the bottom. Place the dowels glue-side down in areas around the dent, repeat as many times as needed to cover the area, let them dry, and pull each one out until the dent is gone.
Clay: You could also obtain a better finish and a prominent shine if you use good quality clay. Before the clay is applied to the surface, make sure the car is cleaned with paint cleaner. Always remember to use the right applicator pad or a soft terry towel when working on the car’s exterior, to avoid scratching the vehicle. If you don’t know how to use detailing products or clay on your car, view online tutorials and easy do-it-yourself guides to complete the task easily. Read extra info at Paint Protection Film Colorado Springs.
If you are considering learning the skill of how to do paintless dent repair, it’s important to understand that it isn’t simply a matter of “popping” a dent out and expecting that the body will be perfect again. PDR involves a very slow and methodical process that requires special tools, a certain level of knowledge and skill, and a great deal of patience. Some dent repairs, even on small dents, can take up to two hours.
A good paintless dent repair might look perfect, or close to it,but the metal underneath that shiny paint is still damaged. It’s thinned out and its structure has been weakened. But as long as the paint is still there and it’s not immediately obvious, that’s probably good enough. After all, it’s not a safety concern or anything. Just remember: Sometimes it really pays to hire a pro. To DIY or not to DIY? I’ve never tried to use an at-home paintless dent removal kit to bang one out myself; however, I have owned a car that I had completely repainted because paintless dent removal wasn’t an option. And it’s a pain in the butt. And it’s expensive. And I’ve also made some bad calls in terms of judging what I can handle myself … and what I’d just make worse. That said, I’ve never bought a product from an infomercial to attempt a car repair.