Paintless Dent Repair Talk

Plastic Rivets for wheel liners

chipdavis — Wed, 27 May 2009 20:32:07 +0000

Chrysler is using plastic rivets in their wheel house liners quite often. I have ran across this a number of times.And if you remove the rivets to get this liner / splash sheild , what ever you want to call it out of the way. You need to have some of these rivets to put back in there. The thing is not all tool companies carry these rivets. And it takes a special rivet tool to set these rivets in. They pop when you set them in much like a regular pop rivet gun. But where do I get these rivets and tool. I was in the Harbor Freight Tools store looking around. And I saw just this tool and rivets. So if your looking for this same thing , check out your local Harbor Freight store.

Warning:08 Chrysler Mini Van Front doors..

chipdavis — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 13:21:58 +0000

This is just a heads up if you work on the new Chrysler mini van front doors. I recently worked on a 08 Chrysler mini van right front door. It was a real easy basic door ding. Maybe close to a foot down from the top of the door , below the glass.midway from front to rear. For some reason they put a block of styrofoam in the door , that rest on a cross beam and is held on by a small piece(about the size of a postage stamp) of two sided tape at the top of this styrofoam block that holds it to the inside of the door skin. I rolled the window down and started working my tool around and bumped the styrofoam maybe a couple of times.(I didnt know it was even there at first). But it knocked the foam block loose and it fell to the bottom of the door. When it fell, I heard something , but I didnt know what it was. When I was done with fixing the ding . The window went back up just fine. So I never gave it a second thought.
Well I got called back out to the residence. They said their window doesnt go all the way back down now !! Huh !?? I thought. Thats odd, I never used much force in fixing the ding.Not enough to bend any window bracket or linkage. The door panel is held on by push in type retainers.Take the two screws out, one by the door handle you use to grab and close the door and one by the door release lever.The push in retainers are a bit tough to get started taking the door panel off. I took my cake knife / glue cutter and slide that in at the bottom of the door panel between the panel and the metal door body.Twist the cake cutter just alittle to give your self a small gap to get your plastic wedge in and start poping the retainers loose. Once you have the door panel off. They have redesigned the inside of the door. All the mechanics of the door are bolted to a large removeable panel. The panel is some kind of composit material.My first thought was , Damn , now I have to take all this off to get to the stryrofoam block that fell. There are no openings already there to access through. Dont pull all this off. Its not nesesary. Just pull the speaker out and pull it out through the hole there. Its alittle tight, but it will come out……………..What had happened, when the block fell to the bottom of the door and laid there. The window would only come down as far as it could then it hit the styrofoam block that was laying there. And it couldnt go any futher. I pulled the foam block out and left it out……………..If you work on these Chrysler mini van doors, its going to happen to you.!!! This is just a heads up to let you know….. Chip

09 Dodge Challenger 1/4 access

chipdavis — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 16:19:55 +0000

I worked an 09 Challenger this week. It had a ding in the left quarter panel. Not a huge ding , but it took alittle bit of work to get it out. The car was black, so it had to be perfect !! The ding was just above the wheel well about 8 inches or so.More toward the front. I looked inside the trunk and inside by the rear seat and the trim panel there. I told the guy that the easiest way to get access to that spot . Would be to drill a small hole in the wheel well behind the plastic liner there. And go in through this area. Always check before you drill on any car. The owner didnt care as long as the ding was gone. So that what I did.There is just one thing about going in through the wheel well area. You have to stay as close to the outer skin as you possibly can.Take the wheel off if necessarry.The tires really fill up the opening. Because there is a secondary panel behind there. If you drill back away from the outer panel very much at all. You will be behind the secondary panel and wont be able to reach the back side of the outer skin. I hate drilling ,but it put me as close to the ding as I could possibly get.And when your fine tuning a dent, the closer you are, the easier it is…

06 Lexus SC 430 Hard Top convertable access.

chipdavis — Sat, 07 Mar 2009 03:27:06 +0000

I had a 06 Lexus SC 430 hard top convertable with a ding dead center of the roof on the metal section just off of the rear glass. I looked at it and wondered how in the heck am I going to get access to this area.The roof folds in about three sections . Being a high end car , anything is possible. I thought , well lets get the roof up ,partially anyway.I stopped it about mid way. To see if there was any possible access points. It turned out to be quite easy to get on the dent.Pull loose the two inner trim side panels.They dont need to come all the way out. Just enough to let the center trim panel to come out. And they just pop out. No screws or anything like that.Pull the center panel all the way out. Go in through the holes for the retainers for the trim panel. I dont know if this will get you access for all area on this panel. But it got me right on the dent that I was working.This part of the car is aluminum. So keep that in mind. But it wasnt as bad of a job as I had thought.

What Tools do I need?

DugBob — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 11:52:59 +0000

I am just starting out and am training myself. I have done the training videos and am about to purchase a set of tools. Can any of you seasoned techs guide me in the right direction? I want to get the best bang for my buck. I dont want to purchase a bunch of tools that I dont need.

Merry Christmas to all the Dent techs.

chipdavis — Tue, 23 Dec 2008 15:06:00 +0000

Christmas is but just a couple days away.I hope your able to spend it with those you care about. Family or friends. Times are tough with out a doubt.Try to forget about it for at least the one day.Lets not forget what the reason for Christmas is about. That very special birthday a very long time ago. He didnt start out with anything ether. But look at the impact he made.We will all get through these tough times. Just keep on trying.Its my wish to all the other dent techs out there, have a very Merry Christmas and great new year !!! Chip

Chrysler Sebring Convertable 08, 1/4 Panel access ??

chipdavis — Sun, 02 Nov 2008 00:00:16 +0000

I worked on an 08 Sebring Convertable the other day. The older Sebrinigs conv where bad enough.The 1/4 panels anyway.Your really limited on getting access behind it.But at least the older sebrings you had (some) access openings behind the quarters. The new Sebrings convertables. There were not (ANY) openings to sneak in behind the 1/4.None !! I couldnt see anyway to get behind the 1/4. Has anybody else worked on these cars??

Getting through these tough times.

chipdavis — Sun, 13 Jul 2008 20:52:31 +0000

Its no secret that the economy is in the toilet right now.Alot of people are really hurting. And its in all kinds of business’s.If you happen to be in a area or situation where your doing good. Good for you. But for for those of us that are struggling. My prayers go out to you. My wife works and has a decent job.And I have days where I do ok. Then other days where not much goes on. I do what ever to make a few bucks. Sure I sometimes wonder whats around the corner in these tough times. Maybe I dont want to know.And alot of times, faith in above is all I have left. I hope thats enough. He hasnt failed me yet.Good luck to all of you guys out there.Chip

Customers / Whats fixable or what isnt..

chipdavis — Sat, 31 May 2008 01:52:59 +0000

There has been a couple of times this week that I got called out to fix a car.I ask them several questions on the phone trying to get an idea if its even fixable with PDR.Trying to save a wasted trip. The last one, a Mercedez mini van / cross over kind of a car.The lady says she bumped a pole thats around the gas pumps at the gas station. She says its just a little dent. I’m thinking that she opened her door and bumped the pole and maybe put a dime sized ding or so in it.Its was alittle bit of a drive out there.I figured I could make some quick cash for the weekend. I walk over and look at the car..!!!!!! Bumped the pole my ass, I was thinking !!! You hit the pole !!! Instead of the fender having a nice curved side to it. The fender is now FLAT from the top of the fender down to where it meets the bumper!!!She kept saying its just a little dent. LITTLE !!! It needs a whole new fender !!! There was nothing that I could do for it. !!!!I wasnt very happy at this point. Its not like they were asking you to just come out and look at the damage. They wanted it fixed alright. But there just isnt any fixing to it!! Are some customers just plain stupid and dont know when a fender is too far gone to be repaired with PDR?? Do you try and get alittle some thing to help cover gas?

How far will you go to just look ??

chipdavis — Fri, 16 May 2008 02:04:38 +0000

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 ??