Cracked or chipped paint
If the impact broke the clear coat, the panel needs refinishing regardless. We can still do the metalwork paintless and then paint only what has to be painted — often a much smaller repair than a full panel.
Paintless dent repair
Dents out.
Factory paint
untouched.
PDR works the metal back to shape from behind the panel — no filler, no sanding, no repaint. For hail, door dings and most creases it's faster, cheaper and better for resale than bodywork.
How it works
A dent is stretched metal. We unstretch it.
When something hits a panel, the metal doesn't disappear — it moves. The steel or aluminum stretches, and the paint on top of it, if it didn't crack, stretches with it. Paintless dent repair gets access to the back side of that panel through an existing opening — a window channel, a tail light cavity, a door jamb, sometimes a drilled access point in a hidden brace — and pushes the metal back to where it started, a fraction of a millimeter at a time.
It's done under a reflector board or a line light, because you can't see a dent well enough to fix it by looking at it directly. You read the distortion in a reflected line. The tech watches that line straighten as the rod moves, then works the high spots back down with a knockdown and hammer. A single hail dent might take ten passes. A hood with ninety of them takes a day.
Because nothing is sanded, filled or sprayed, the original factory finish is still on the car when it's done. That matters more than most people realize: factory e-coat and clear are applied before the panel ever went on the vehicle, baked at temperatures no body shop can replicate. Any repaint, however good, is a step down in corrosion protection — which up here, with mag chloride on the roads five months a year, is not an academic concern.
- Hail damage. The most common PDR job in Colorado, and the one it's best suited for. Dozens or hundreds of shallow dents across horizontal panels.
- Door dings. Parking lot damage on doors, quarter panels and bed sides. Usually a single-visit repair.
- Creases. Longer, sharper dents from a shopping cart, a pole or a ski edge. Harder than a round dent, still often paintless.
- Body line dents. Damage that crosses a styling line. Takes more time because the line itself has to be reset, but it's very doable.
- Pre-sale and lease return. Cheap insurance against a reconditioning charge or a lower trade offer.
The honest version
When PDR isn't the answer.
Any shop that tells you everything can be fixed paintless is selling you something. Here's where it stops:
Sharp dents on a body line edge
Metal that's been stretched past its limit on a hard crease won't come all the way back. We'll tell you how close it'll get before you commit.
Dents with no access behind them
Some panels are double-walled or fully bonded. Structural adhesive, foam and reinforcement can put a dent out of reach. Glue-pull tabs handle some of these from the outside; some they don't.
Very large or very deep damage
A dent the size of a dinner plate with a two-inch depth is bodywork. PDR is a finesse tool, not a substitute for a panel replacement.
Hail season
What to do after a hailstorm.
Colorado sits in the most active hail corridor in the country, and Summit County gets hit regularly between May and September. If a storm catches your vehicle, a few things are worth knowing before you call anyone.
First: don't sign anything with an out-of-state hail chaser. After a big storm, teams show up in the county, set up in a hotel parking lot, take the insurance money and leave. If there's a problem with the repair in six months, there's nobody to call. Second: your insurer cannot require you to use a specific shop. You pick. Third: comprehensive hail claims generally don't raise your rates the way an at-fault collision does — worth checking with your agent before you decide to pay out of pocket.
We write estimates adjusters can work from, handle supplements when the dent count comes in higher than the first look, and we're here next year and the year after.
Questions
Paintless Dent Repair, answered.
How much does paintless dent repair cost?
It depends on the number of dents, their size, and which panels they're on. A single door ding is usually the cheapest repair in the industry. A full hail claim across a hood, roof, and both sides runs into the thousands, which is exactly why it's an insurance claim. Send photos and we'll give you a real number before you bring it in.
Will the dent come back?
No. Once the metal is back to its original shape it's stable — it isn't being held there by anything. A properly finished PDR repair is permanent.
How long does it take?
A door ding or two: an hour or so. A moderate hail job: one to three days. A severe one with panel R&I to reach interior dents: up to a week. We'll tell you which one you have when we look at it.
Can you tell it was repaired?
On a correctly finished repair, no. Under a reflector board a trained eye can sometimes find the work. A buyer, an appraiser, or a Carfax report cannot, because no paint was disturbed and nothing gets reported.
Do you do mobile dent repair?
Yes, for smaller jobs. We can work at your house, your office or your fleet yard as long as there's reasonable light and shelter. Large hail jobs go better at the shop where the lighting is controlled.
Also worth a look
Related services.
Free estimate
Send a couple of photos.
Fastest way to a real number. Text them over or fill out the form and we'll come back to you — usually the same day.
Serving Silverthorne, Frisco, Dillon, Breckenridge, Keystone and the rest of Summit County.