What Is PDR?

Fall is a wonderful time of the year, full of pretty colors, cooler temps, and lots of hail. Hail season lasts into the winter and gets us ready for our busy season. That being said, hail season can often be just as busy as the winter season, but offers an unpredictable flare to the year. When hail storms hit, all kinds of storm chasers come up from the south and set up shop in the cities. Those storm chasers perform a special kind of auto body repair called PDR, or paintless dent repair. Paintless dent repair is exactly as it sounds, these technicians, and some of our own, remove the dents in your vehicle without painting it. Sounds crazy, we know. 

PDR is a lot simpler than you’d imagine. Picture big bright lights, a disassembled vehicle, and little (sometimes large!) rubber mallets. Your PDR technician is actually using pressure from inside the panels of your vehicle to slowly pound them out, reforming the metal to its original shape. The transformation is incredible to watch, and we highly recommend checking YouTube for a severe hail repair! The reason you can perform PDR in hail dents is because the hail pieces leave ridgeless dents in the panels of your vehicle. Dents from things like backing into a pole or getting rear ended aren’t typically candidates for PDR as the paint has been pushed to the point of breaking. However, we can occasionally fix a dent via PDR even if it has a ridge, as long as the paint has not cracked at all! The beauty of having an auto body shop look over your vehicle and repair it is that we can work directly with your insurance on the damage caused by the storm!

We understand though, you may not have full coverage on your vehicle, may not have the time to drop off the vehicle, or you may just want to experiment yourself! There are certain things you can do at home to attempt to repair hail damage. Heat is one way to get the metal panels on your vehicle to flex and return to its preformed shape. By parking your vehicle in the sun, sometimes certain dents can pop out themselves. We’ve heard of people trying hot water methods and using their hair dryers as well. These are all great DIY techniques if you don’t mind some paint discoloration. The other option here would be to chill the dents, some people have been said to use dry ice. They circle the dent with a piece of dry ice, attempting to coax the dent out of the metal. All these techniques have seen varied results, and we do not recommend attempting to repair your vehicle untrained at home, unless you’re not worried about how the vehicle looks afterwards. Attempts to repair the vehicle yourself could result in voiding your warranty, or loss of insurance coverage for the hailstorm. 

Naturally, we suggest bringing your vehicle into your local body shop, which is hopefully ours! There is no way to guarantee that these home remedies will work for your vehicle, and we always have time to help! Whether you’re just coming in for an estimate, or coming in for repairs, we are here to try and solve your problems as best we can. 

Get That Chip Fixed

Winter is on it’s way, and before it’s here in full force you need to give your car an in depth inventory of potential repairs. Look over your car and make a list of things you might need before salt and grime eat away at your mode of transportation. One of the most overlooked items that should be on your list of repairs before it freezes are rock chips in your windshield. While they may be minimal at first, those chips can quickly turn into large cracks that span your windshield all because it dropped below freezing overnight. They are frustrating and not something to be ignored. Even the smallest of cracks can turn into large unrepairable ones due to the cold temperatures we face.

If the crack is less than six inches in length, it is unlikely you will need a full windshield repair. They have aftermarket kits that are available to patch and repair small kits, but it should be looked at by a professional to verify the crack has not penetrated the plastic shield that prevents the windshield from shattering. In the chance that the damage to your windshield is a shallow crack, they will smooth down the glass and fill the crack with a glue that dries clear. This option does not make the

crack any less visible, but it will keep it from spreading and causing additional damage.

Windshield repair is a simple process, and does not take long. A technician can assess the damage by evaluating the age of the windshield with the length and depth of the crack, as well as where it lies in your line of sight. A technician will almost always recommend full replacement if the crack spans your line of sight, and provided you have glass coverage with your insurance, it should be covered. Full glass replacement is a quick fix, but some sealants require it to sit for 24 hours following the repair.

Both rock chip repair and full windshield replacement are not costly items. If you need a recommendation for a place, please give us a call!

Dents! Who Needs Em!

Door dings, bumper scratches, and paint chips are part of life when you own a car. Whether you come out of the grocery store to find a shopping cart has dented your car door or someone “tapped” your back bumper in the parking garage at the mall, you can bet it’s going to happen at some point in your cars life.

Can it be avoided? To some degree, you can avoid dings. Can we help? You bet. Here are six common ways cars get dents and even a few ways you can try to avoid them. And remember, if avoiding them doesn’t work, we can always fix them.

1. Hail Damage: Hail is a natural and unpredictable occurrence. A sudden hail storm could leave your car with multiple dents. 
2. Sports Accidents: We’re talking recreational sports accidents here. A fly ball at a neighborhood baseball game, a rogue Frisbee or soccer ball could potentially bounce off the roof of your car. 
3. Car Wash: Ah, you thought the car wash was safe. Your car may leave nice and clean, but you could get an accidental bump or scrape while on the conveyor. 
4. Low Speed Fender Benders: Most of us have experienced a low speed fender bender. It doesn’t just have to be another car hitting your front fender. It could also be a runaway grocery cart in the parking lot that slams right into your door. Any way you slice it, a minor collision can still cause damage. 
5. Car Door Ding: You know the drill. You walk out of the gas station and someone has parked to close to your car. You inspect it for dings and scratches and sure enough, there’s a small dent from the impact of their car door. 
6. Rocks: Rocks can be tossed at your car while on the freeway or even a side street. They chip paint or cause dents. 

While all of these common ways your car can get dented, dinged or scratched, some of them can be avoided.

Here are a few steps to avoiding those needles dents:

• Park away from other cars at the grocery store, a ball game, or a restaurant. Sure it means you might have walk a little further, but imagine the all the door dings you won’t get.
• Open Your Door slowly- if you think you’re too close to the car next to you or maybe you parked too close to a railing, open that car door slowly. It will make sure everyone’s doors are safe and sound. 
• Protecting your car from hail damage if it has to be left outside can be a little trickier. You could try covering it to protect it from damage. 
• Invest in comprehensive coverage! If you don’t have it already, get it. Comprehensive coverage can take care of a lot of the items we’ve covered in this post. Check with you insurance agency to see what you your policy covers.