Paintless (of course) Dent Repair

[bfloyd]

When I purchased my car back in 2014, the only body damage at all was a small ding in the left front fender. It's not too bad, but to me it sticks out like a sore thumb.

I got an estimate on Monday from one of those hail damage repair / paintless dent removal places and they said they could get it out for right at $250+/-. Does that price sound about right?

http://i.imgur.com/FkrEy5nl.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/7mgX578l.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/qZ1fgRwl.jpg

[dn010]

Stainless is much harder to remove dents from than regular steel fenders. Did you ask the place you got a quote from if they've worked on stainless before?

[Mark D]

I'd be absolutely sure that the shop has worked with stainless before and knows what they're doing. Working with stainless vs. regular steel panels is a different set of skills. Attempting and failing a repair will stretch the metal and possibly make it worse than if you took it to a pro to start with.

A few years ago I was getting a few dings fixed on my daily driver at a "Dent Dr." and mentioned to the guy doing the work that I had a DeLorean that also had a few imperfections. The guy's work on regular painted cars was amazing...there was a hail damaged hood mounted to the wall where only half of it was fixed, and the one side that was repaired was flawless. He was eager to work on the DeLorean for some reason but didn't have any experience with stainless. Before I agreed to the work I had him practice on a dented piece of scrap stainless that I got from work. After spending some time on it he said he was no longer confident that that he could complete the repair to the level I was expecting.

Aside from the actual dents you'll also want to find someone who can blend the grain in the repaired section with the surrounding area. Depending on the size of the damage you may end up regraining the whole panel to make it match.

[Drive Stainless]

Are they coming to you, or you going to them? If they're coming to you, $200/dent is about right (at least here) unless you have several dents.

[bfloyd]

Would I be better off to remove the fender and send it to a DMC facility? I don't even know if they do that sort of thing.

[dn010]

I'd say it would be better to send it to a vendor then have someone at a every day dent place attempt to fix it. Especially since the dent is located on the edge/corner like that.

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk

[bfloyd]

OK, I just got off the phone with the paintless dent repair place, and they are too scared to attempt to try it.

How would you go about shipping a fender to a DMC facility? Crate it up I'd assume?

[Dangermouse]

Wait a little while for soundkillr to chime in. He's a great PDR guy who knows stainless obviously.

[Michael]

Sounds a bit on the expensive side. I know a lot of PDR guys since we are in the same line of work and a lot of us work together on the same cars. They get it straight (or straight enough) and I take it from there.

Soundkiller will know exactly what it takes and how much you should pay.

Shipping to and from a vendor will run you 200 bucks alone (both ways). If the panel were trashed I could see shipping to a vendor an option, but that dent should be very workable on site.

[Soundkillr]

Ill keep it brief, as I'm on my phone at work. 250 to 350 is a fair repair price (as it is stainless and runs through the body line.) Most pdr guys work with the panel on the car. I wouldn't trust a pdr guy to work stainless unless he is VERY familiar with shade lamps and high end cars. Yes it matters. High end cars are aluminum or hss and shadow the tensile strength of stainless, (although stainless is still stronger) I also wouldn't trust a pdr guy to work that dent with it on the car. Access at that point is limited and you risk him breaking the underbody using it for leverage.
If I did the repair, I would require the fender to be off the car. R&I would not be included in the initial price. If you can remove the fender yourself, do it and save on labor. Send it to a vendor of your choice, or meet us at a sedoc tech session, bring the fender, and ill fix it while you wait. I have done several panels, and that one wouldn't be an issue.
To be honest, the way sedoc is though, you have a better chance of them pulling the stamping tools from the ocean, restoring them, and stamping new fenders, before sedoc meets any time soon.
Anyone from sedoc wanna back me up on this? :)

[DMCMW Dave]

Agreed with the above. That dent is way beyond a PDR guy, they don't know how to get the grain back anyway, and to get that one straightened out the panel would have to be off the car. There is no access to that location in-place. Usually hard to tell from photos, but that one is pretty severe and the metal is very stretched.

Whatever you do, don't let someone work on it who doesn't have any experience, and don't try it yourself. The hardest dents to fix are, by far, the ones someone else already tried.

The front fender can be boxed and shipped via UPS or Fedex (insure it for full replacement value as they do lose things once in a while!).

[Morpheus]

^ Since it's a LFF, you would need to insure it for.....

ONE HUNDRED MEEEEEEEELLLLION DOLLARS!
http://robertkaplinsky.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/drevil_cover.jpg

[DMCMW Dave]

^ Since it's a LFF, you would need to insure it for.....

ONE HUNDRED MEEEEEEEELLLLION DOLLARS!
]

Yeah - might be cheaper just to drive the whole car to the shop. . . .

[Rich_NYS]

Are you going to DCS?

Chris N. was at DCS 2014 and was available for stainless work.....might be a similar opportunity this year.

[NJP548]

Yeah - might be cheaper just to drive the whole car to the shop. . . .

In bubble wrap...

[Delorean3610]

I had an almost identical dent in the same place, a guy from Dent Wizard gave it a try and did a pretty good job. I then regrained it myself.

[Soundkillr]

Go to my profile, and check in the folder called dent work. The are a few examples in there, before and afters...I need to update it with more current work, including a left fender with a 11 inch crease. Came out like new ...
The point of all this, is guys that know how to repair stainless correctly can make it look like it never happened.

[Michael]

Go to my profile, and check in the folder called dent work. The are a few examples in there, before and afters...I need to update it with more current work, including a left fender with a 11 inch crease. Came out like new ...
The point of all this, is guys that know how to repair stainless correctly can make it look like it never happened.

And the guys who can't will stretch it and knot it up to the point of no return. I gave a Left fender to one of them to mess with and he (in the words of James May) cocked it up.

[Soundkillr]

And the guys who can't will stretch it and knot it up to the point of no return. I gave a Left fender to one of them to mess with and he (in the words of James May) cocked it up.

Please tell me it was a left fender from anything other than a delorean....
Is there any hope for it?

[Michael]

Please tell me it was a left fender from anything other than a delorean....
Is there any hope for it?

No it was a DeLorean fender. Long gone as it was several years ago. He just took a body hammer to it. I do have one that isn't so bad that I have been meaning to get fixed.

I know two dent guys now that are just astounding at the craft but I am hesitant to entrust a left fender to anyone. He has done my Infiniti and it looked awesome.
4204142042

[Soundkillr]

Yeah, I can understand the hesitation. Of course the good news is there is no rush for you to fix it, so you can pick the vendor of choice at your leisure.

[Michael]

Yeah, I can understand the hesitation. Of course the good news is there is no rush for you to fix it, so you can pick the vendor of choice at your leisure.

This thread may be the catalyst to get that thing fixed. The world needs more LFF's

[Rich_NYS]

This thread may be the catalyst to get that thing fixed. The world needs more LFF's


Send it to me, brah....I'll take a whack at it!

[Michael]

Send it to me, brah....I'll take a whack at it!

The exact words of the PDR guy who "fixed" the first one.

[PJ Grady Inc.]

Would I be better off to remove the fender and send it to a DMC facility? I don't even know if they do that sort of thing.

If you send it to us I could take care of that dent for you for the same price. You could get away with an appropriately sized box filled with good packing or "peanuts".
Rob

[DL4567]

If you send it to us I could take care of that dent for you for the same price. You could get away with an appropriately sized box filled with good packing or "peanuts".
Rob

After a windstorm knocked a basketball hoop onto my hood in 2005, I sent it to Rob Grady (remember the huge wood box Rob?, hehe), and Chris Nicholson repaired it there in NY and did an amazing job. When it came back, they also sent another hood and a left front fender with it that another Atlanta person had sent it, and it all looked great. It was hard for me to hand over that fender when the person came to pick it up! :)



To be honest, the way sedoc is though, you have a better chance of them pulling the stamping tools from the ocean, restoring them, and stamping new fenders, before sedoc meets any time soon. Anyone from sedoc wanna back me up on this? :)

Hahaha, this is 100% true.

[Rich W]

Are you going to DCS?

Chris N. was at DCS 2014 and was available for stainless work.....might be a similar opportunity this year.

Chris N. is planning to attend DCS 2016, if he survives completing the restoration of VIN...530 (Legend Twin Turbo) and driving it to and from EuroFest 2016.