Simple car repair options for scratches and minor dents

Introduction:

Danielle (HOST):

There is nothing more annoying damaging your car with scratches, dents, or paint chips – the type that can easily happen in the supermarket carpark!

And that sound when you scrape your wheels on the kerb……… which leaves unsightly gouges to your wheel rims, can be enough to make you cry!

I should know, I’ve just scraped the side of my car…

What’s worse is that these small types of damages to your vehicle can sometimes be too minor to warrant an insurance claim, yet still leave your vehicle looking unsightly and detracting from your ownership experience.

If left unattended, minor damage can develop into more significant issues, reducing the value of your car.

So today, we are going to take a look at a range of solutions to consider that provide a quick, cost effective repair to your vehicle.

In many instances these repairs can be performed by mobile services who can visit you at home,  work, or on the weekend.

Solution 1

Danielle:

This car has suffered the classic dent and looks ready for a trip to the panel beater – however modern technologies in many instances can ‘re-form’ the metal back to its original shape and avoid the need for panel replacement or re-spray!

Sean Charles, Paint and Panel repairer:

The one on the tailgate is probably a little bit more than average. It’s sort of a dent within a dent. Its got quite a sharp spot in it, so for that dent we will use both PDR techniques. We’ll actually glue pull the dent first. Glue Pulling means we actually glue a  little plastic tab onto the dent and use what’s called a slide hammer to pull most of the dent out. And then we will use traditional tools to get the low spot out. If it becomes a little bit high, we will then tap it down with a nylon nail. And then after that process is done, we’ll de-knib the area and polish it back to original.

Danielle:

How good does that look!....and it’s been completed in little under an hour.

Solution 2

Danielle:

This looks all too familiar – the result of misjudged car parking that has caused a deep scrape to your moulded bumper bar, taking the paint with it!

Sean:

Well the techniques we used for this one, we started off  with a coarser grade sandpaper to rip down the paint back to the substrate, then we went to a finer grade sandpaper just to smooth it all off, and then we went to a paper that’s called Wet ‘n Dry which is rubbed down with water which makes the fine scratch marks disappear. Then what we did is we primed it and in this case, we used new technology with a UV primer and with the UV technology we can dry it quickly with a UV lamp, which allows us to rub it quickly and finish the job much quicker.

After that we mixed up the base coat, we got the colour code - we have full mixing system in the vans and we can mix the colour, we blended the colour out so it matched the surrounding panels and then over the top of that we put two coats of a two-pac polyeurothane clear, to finish the job off

Danielle:

I think this type of repair would make a big difference to many people’s cars ….let’s see what else can be repaired.

Solution 3

Danielle:

This is one that unfortunately we know only too well!......it’s the dreaded wheel scrape that damages alloy wheels on the kerb and leaves these unsightly scrapes and gouges!

Sean:

The alloy wheel had what’s commonly known as gutter-rash. It had been damaged on a gutter, so what we do is start off with a coarser grade sandpaper, we actually sand the gutter-rash out of the wheel, then we go down to a finer grade of sand paper to get rid of the fine little scratch marks. After that, we use an adhesion promoter on the wheel,  then we apply the colour – whatever colour the wheel is…silver or black, whatever that maybe…then over the top of that again, goes a two-pac polyeurothane clear, which makes everything go hard and shiny and finishes the process.

Danielle:

It’s like it was never damaged at all.

Summary:

Danielle:

We hope that you’ve found this video informative, with potential options and solutions that may save you time, money and preserve the appearance and value of your car.

Remember when searching for a good car scratch remover or car dent repairer – it pays to do your research. Ask a family member or friends for referrals or check out the online reviews for paint-less dent repairs on social media.

There’s nothing more annoying than a small damage to your vehicle that is left and worsens over time. So consider these quick and cost-effective solutions that might be right for you and only use a trained technician. And don’t forget to find out what type of warranty your repairer provides on their work!

Oh…and they fixed the damage to my car….and no-one will ever know!