I have couple of door dings 2-3 on driver side door and a big ding on the lift gate on my LX570. What is the best way to get these dents out? Does any of the DIY kits work on LX body? Greatly appreciate your help and suggestions.
Dent/Ding repair kits?
- Thread starter Diytech123
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ceb is right, I’m a Pdr tech in Colorado, DIY repair kits don’t work . I could help if you where a little closer .
I thought about doing this myself and In the end it was less expensive and risky to just have it done. PDR expert went around the entire vehicle and removed 6-10 dings, many I didn’t even know where there. Well worth finding someone and paying to have it done.
What was the cost of your PDR job? Just curious. I’ve never looked into this before and my LX has a considerable amount of small door dings.
I paid $350 and it took a morning(after asking around this was the going rate to do the whole vehicle). Dealerships use these guys all the time and keep them busy. I wouldn't hesitate to have this done again they removed a ding from the hood i could see while driving, it was along the crease and really bothered me.
- Thread starter
- #7
Thanks. I wish I could take your help. I am far away in Chicago land!
- Thread starter
- #8
Which metro we are talking here? Looking for similar help in Chicago area.
I would get a PDR pro rather than trying to do it myself.
I'm a big fan of professional PDR, and I believe the pros are worth their weight in gold.
That said, the DIY kits do work, to an extent. The DIY kit is a primitive tool placed in the hands of an amateur, but sometimes that can be good enough. You just need to have the right expectations. Your expectation should be that the repair won't come out perfect. There is even a chance you could make things WORSE if you're not very careful.
Honestly, I've gotten pretty good results with my DIY kit and have saved myself thousands of dollars versus having a pro fix my dings. I've fixed many dings of various sizes over 6 different cars, including a Porsche (which was actually the easiest of the bunch). I can't always get the ding to come out perfectly, but I can almost always make it much, much better to the point it is no longer noticeable.
For easy dings on an older car that doesn't have to be 100% perfect, the kits can be a nice option. When perfection matters, there is absolutely no substitute for a pro.
That said, the DIY kits do work, to an extent. The DIY kit is a primitive tool placed in the hands of an amateur, but sometimes that can be good enough. You just need to have the right expectations. Your expectation should be that the repair won't come out perfect. There is even a chance you could make things WORSE if you're not very careful.
Honestly, I've gotten pretty good results with my DIY kit and have saved myself thousands of dollars versus having a pro fix my dings. I've fixed many dings of various sizes over 6 different cars, including a Porsche (which was actually the easiest of the bunch). I can't always get the ding to come out perfectly, but I can almost always make it much, much better to the point it is no longer noticeable.
For easy dings on an older car that doesn't have to be 100% perfect, the kits can be a nice option. When perfection matters, there is absolutely no substitute for a pro.
- Thread starter
- #11
Do you have any recommendation for a good DIY kit? My only concern is that the body of LX seems little sturdier than a regular car and hence those DIY kits may not have enough suction to pop them out...
Sounds like you've made your decision, but for the benefit of anyone else interested, here's the answer to your question.
I don't have a particular kit to recommend, since I use a combination of several different kits. I use the hot glue type with the puller that has a large trigger (search Gliston PDR on Amazon). It's good to have a wide variety of shapes and sizes of glue tabs. You also need some rubbing alcohol and a little brush, as this makes the glue release very easily. I also like having a tap-down tool.
Otherwise, you need time and lots of patience. This isn't a quick fix, regardless of what the ad says. You also need good eyesight, hand-eye coordination, and an inclination for DIY projects. If this kind of thing isn't fun for you, don't bother.
FWIW, there are different color glue sticks, but frankly, I can't tell any difference between their behavior, at least with the consumer grade stuff on Amazon.
The biggest risk is that you could pull the ding out too far, and then you'd have a reverse ding (which IMO looks much worse than a regular ding). If you go slow and cautiously, that is unlikely. I've done that a couple times and was able to correct it both times.
I never started with a beater. The first car I attempted was a 2010 TSX. That car was a boring piece of s*** pretending to be a luxury car, but it wasn't a beater. The easiest sheet metal to fix was on the 2009 GX470 and the 2011 Porsche. The 200 Series does seem tougher to fix than the others, but I've gotten most of the dings out of the 200 completely. The only one that is still mildly noticeable is on a crease. Creases are tough for the pros and nearly impossible to fix completely with this kind of DIY tool.
- Thread starter
- #16
Thanks for your detailed response and advice. I will keep that in mind and proceed accordingly.. I will keep posted.
