With the gas prices nearing four dollars a gallon. And the economy going down. I get calls every once in a while.They want me to just look at a car to see if its something that I can fix and how much it will be. And if its not too much , then they will decide if they want me to fix it or not. Hello !!!! Have you seen the prices of gas lately !!! You just want me to look!!! If its local. I dont have a problem with just looking. But if its any more then 5 or 10 minutes away. I am hesident in going that far just to look. What do other dent techs do in this situation?? I dont want to lose out on work out there. But there has got to be a compromise some where. I try to have them come to me if at all possible. This is becoming more of an issue.What do you do ??

I worked on a 07 Chevy HHR drivers door the other day. The ding was bettween the edge of the door and the door handle. It was a sharpe ding.Dead on the body line that runs through there. Wasnt sure if the ding would come out. The best way would be to access the ding as close to it as I could.For best leverage and control.I didnt want to drill if I didnt have to . But that would get in / access the dent , real close to the work area. There happened to be a red reflector sticker , almost the size of a quarter. That was just below where I wanted to drill. I’m thinking that if I move the sticker up and use it to cover my hole.No one would ever know that I drilled at all.So I pulled the sticker off and got it ready to put it over the hole I wanted to drill. But when I pulled the sticker off. There was a factory hole already there. And it turned out it was close enough to the dent , that I didnt have to drill at all !!! So if you ever need access this area of an HHR. There you go !!

I am an autobody estimator for a good and busy shop. I want to learn PDR and add it to our shop. What are the “To do’s” & “Not to do’s” about getting started. I have some tools and a glue puller. I know that this is something I can do, I just want to start out on the right foot. Any information would be appreciated.

Its sad to think that society has gotten to be the way that it is today.Some people killing other people just for entertainment purposes. Theres times where I get called out to work in some places that I’m not really crazy about. Today I was working at a small wholesale lot.Police cars where screaming by the end of the street. The helocopter was circling around over head. I’m thinking (What the #ell is going on!!) I have often thought of carrying a gun in the car just for self protection. But I’m sure that there are a bunch of dealerships that would send you packing if they caught on that you carried a gun. So what do you do ??!!It would be nice to think that if the s#it started to fly.That I had half a chance to get out of there alive. Where do you draw the line ?? Do you pass on work if your not sure of the neighbor hood.Work has been hard to come by.I dont want to become another statistic.

I’m looking for information about jobs in the PDR world? When I was a hail tech and/or a business owner I never needed to find work as an “employee”. Now I’m done pushing dents, but don’t want to waste all my PDR / hail chasing experiance, so I am looking to see how I might get into writing estimates, managing some hails crews, maybe as a free-lance / independent contractor / commission only estimator.

 Any thoughts will be appreciated!  

I have done this many times. You all the time see local stores , fast food places or what have you. trying to help orgainizations like MDA ,or whatever by selling these piece’s of paper with their logo on it that they are raising for. You sign it and you get to stick it up on the wall somewhere so people can see your good deed. No body ever said you couldnt stick your business card on it and stick it on the wall. My business cards are BRIGHT YELLOW just like my car.You cant miss it when its stuck on the wall. I was at Lowes home improvement store. Tons of people in and out of there all the time. They dont care where you stick card and that piece of paper. I put mine right over the exit door. It was the only one there . Tons of them on the walls but not above the door. And with that bright a$$ yellow card. You cant help but notice it !!! For a meer dollar!!! For the length of time its there. A few weeks or whatever. I cant lose !!!

Working dings , you can get into some crazy positions sometimes. I’ll be the first to tell you.Getting old SUCKS!!!!! Your body hurts from all the abuse you put it through when you young and thought you were invinceable.Your back gets out alignment and you hurt . Chiropractor’s can become your best friend. I have been to see a chiropractor many times. Sure, some are going to be better then others.But you find a good one, they are great. When your living with pain. Its no fun. But I’m thinking, what are they actually doing. They tap your back into alignment and send you on your way. I’m at the local mechanics shop with the wifes truck.And I see he’s got one of these Inversion tables off to the side. I asked him what he thought about it. He said he liked it.It takes the pressure off your back . When you hang upside down. You naturally hang in a straight line. Like if you held a chain or rope at one end. Hmmmm , I saw one at Sam’s Club. 150 bucks. If this can help me from going to the Chiropractor. Its worth it. Its been about a year since my last visit to the Chriopractor.If you have other issues other then alignment . Its not going to do anything.Or could cause you harm. So check with your doctor before you get on one of these tables. But for me. I like it ..

Its spring now and the summer heat is right around the corner.For some of us that live and work in the southern states. It gets WAY HOT in the summer. I am not a doctor or will pretend to be one. So I will only post whatI do for my self for fighting the fatigue in the summer heat. Most of it is common sense. Drink plenty of fluids. I drink ice water.I’ll freeze my water bottle. So as I go through my day and it melts as I’m working.I have something cold to drink. I’ll drink as much water as I can when I’m passing the water fountain at the dealerships where I happen to be working. If you dont have anything else to drink.Soda is better then nothing. But water is better for you.I try to nibble on something during the course of the day.To keep something in my stomach. I hate working hungry. Be aware of how your feeling. If your feeling light headed. Go sit in the shade or inside the A/C somewhere. If your feeling funny or woozy. Your reaching the danger point. For myself, I’ll take a bufferd salt tablet. I dont get heat fatuge as easy. As always , check with your doctor to see what is best for you. But working in the heat can be dangerous. Please take care of yourself in the heat this summer. Chip

For those that have and use the quick boards or any other tool that uses the suction cup base.Over time they tend to lose their suction . The older they get , the worse it seems to get. Its plenty frustrating to be working your dent and have your quick board fall off.There are a few things that you can do to help extend the life of your suction cups.First thing is to try and keep them as clean as possible. Wipe the dust off the panel your about to work , so it doesnt suck dirt into your suction cup. When you notice dirt start to collect around where your plunger moves up and down.Pull the plunger out and wipe it down .Maybe use a little baby oil on it too.Wipe the inside of cyclinder down too. But what I have found that makes the biggest diffrence.The main rubber cup that everything mounts to.Rubber by nature .Deteriorates with time.It can be so slight at first. That its really hard to see. But its enough that it will cause your suction cup to lose its suction . To fix that, take a sheet off wet or dry sand paper. I like to use 1000 grit. Place it on a flat surface. Kitchen counter top works well. Or if your out in the field. The hood of a car.Place your suction cup on the sand paper .And with just a little pressure.Rub the cup across the sand paper. What this is doing is taking off the tiny bit of rubber that has deteriorated . And your getting back down to fresh rubber again. Give it a try. It should help quite a bit. Chip

I hate being bored !!!! And one of my hobbies or pass time.Is fixing up old school Volkswagen’s . I have four of them.A 67 Bug.Its been turned into a Baha buggy. Its mostly a show car.Driven on weekends and stuff. Then I have my 71 Super Beatle. Thats my daily driver. The outside looks great ! Its got aluminum rims , one piece windows , Its bright yellow !! Its a ford yellow. Called “Screaming Yellow” The name alone made me decide to use it.Then I have a 73 bug that I’m in the process of fixing up.That one I will paint Kawasaki green. My kid just turned 17 and has his learners permit now.So he will get one of the bugs.
The I have a 67 split window bus that I want to fix up and use for a work vehicle.Use it to go to bike week in Daytona or whatever. I cant wait to get going on it. All my VW’s , the motors are basically stock.I left them that way for reliablity. But I have plans to put a 1776 cc motor in the bus. Drop it alittle lower. I get people all the time telling me when I’m working on their car. That they used to have one and all the good times that they had with it. The ole bug has been a great conversation piece. I have fun talking to customers about them. I will try and post pictures of them later if they allow it here.I have a couple of pictures on my MySpace site of the VW’s. My e-mail address will bring up my page. chipd2000a@hotmail.com