During the spring and early summer, hail is just a fact of life here along the Front Range. Whether you’re south in Colorado Springs, here in Denver, or up north in Boulder, hail happens. On a good day, it’ll happen when you’re in a position to protect your vehicles, either in the garage at home or in a covered parking structure if you’re out running errands. If you’re caught on a less lucky day, however, your vehicle may now look a bit like a golf ball.
Given how common hail damage is across Colorado, it’s pretty easy to slip into the mindset that it can be repaired as quickly and easily as the damage happens. This is true — to an extent. Paintless dent repair makes small dent removal a much faster and easier process than traditional dent repair. However! This does not mean that those at-home dent-puller options are quicker and easier. If you’re thinking about trying to DIY your dent repair, keep these things in mind:
Paint Damage
One of the biggest concerns with trying to DIY your dent removal is that, if you don’t know what you’re doing, you run the risk of making things worse — and by worse, we mean more expensive. If you slip or otherwise mess up when using an at-home dent repair kit, you could easily end with damage to the paint. Automotive paint actually includes protective coatings that help prevent issues like rust from damaging a vehicle’s body. In order to repair it, the area has to be sanded down, painted, and re-sealed. And if you did the damage yourself, your insurance company isn’t going to pay for a professional to fix it.
Body Damage
The other common damage done when trying to DIY dent repair is pushing the dent out too much or stretching out the metal too far. The reason paintless dent repair works is because sheet metal is just malleable enough to accept the gentle pressure it takes to push out a dent. However, if you take it too far and push the metal out, you’ll end up with a mountain of too-stretched metal, in that area. At this point, there’s really no way to shrink the metal back to normal. If you stretch the metal too far, your only options are to live with the mountain of stretched metal, or to replace that panel. Your insurance isn’t going to pay for that damage, either.
Expertise Matters
Despite the name, dent pullers don’t just attach to your car and pull the dent out perfectly each time. Paintless dent repair actually involves going to the back side of a damaged panel and carefully pushing the dent out to the original shape. That means using our expertise in terms of knowing which tools to use, but it also means using our training and experience to push and shape the dent back to its original appearance. If you want to get your vehicle to look like new again, it’s better to trust the paintless dent repair experts with your vehicle.
For experienced paintless dent repair in Denver, along the Front Range, and down to Colorado Springs, connect with the team at AJ’s Dent today!