Paintless dent repair

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Paintless dent repair (PDR), also known as paintless dent removal, describes a method of removing small dents, dings, and minor collision damage (paint unbroken) dents from the body of a motor vehicle. A wide range of damage can be repaired using paintless dent repair as long as the paint surface is intact. Paintless dent repair may be used on both aluminum and steel panels.

Common practical uses for paintless dent repair is the repair of hail damage, door dings, creases, body/feature line dents, and minor collision damage.

The method can also be utilized to prepare a damaged panel for repainting by minimizing the use of body filler. This technique is currently known as "push to paint" or "push to prep". Less is certainly more when it comes to the integrity of damage that is repaired with body filler.

Paintless dent repair can be a very beneficial repair given that the damage qualifies. It can save the factory finish of a vehicle which cannot be replicated nor reproduced. However, PDR does not replace a traditional body repair shop. Factors such as paint damage, stretched metal or an already re-painted panel can inhibit the success of a PDR repair.

Stretched metal is when the impact that created the dent pushes the metal beyond the form it was stamped into. One way to illustrate this is similar to how if one presses a finger into the plastic packaging covering a case of bottled water. If pressed in so that the plastic film stretches inward, but not punctured, a similar effect to that of stretched dents is achieved. There is simply more surface area there than was to start with. While putting that material back is generally unlikely, tech and industry advancements have shown great strides in fixing damage that was previously believed to be irreparable via PDR. Glue pulling, tension methods and power boxes have opened the realm for even deep stretched dents to be repaired to as close to factory spec as possible.