Beetles are too cute to have dings!

May 26, 2006 5:00 PM

At-home autobody: Does anyone have experience with the ding king dent repair kit or anything similar? I got two small (less than quarter-sized) dings in my less-than-one-month-old (to me) car that are making me quite sad.

Do they work? Is it relatively easy? Should I just pay the (insert large amount of cash here) and forget about trying to do it myself?

posted by ferociouskitty to Travel & Transportation (5 answers total)

Yep, I used it to pull some minor dents out of a motorcycle tank. We couldn't get it perfect, but we got more out than we thought we could.

The glue isn't anywhere near strong enough on well-waxed paint to pull out a dent. We ended up doing about 20 or 30 attempts and only got it down to the size of a quarter. Admittedly, we were working on a curved surface, and that probably didn't help things. We 'cheated' a bit by using a body hammer covered in a t-shirt to pound lightly around where we were pulling out the dent to help 'loosen' the metal as we pulled out the dent.

Save yourself however much they want for the kit and find a local dentless repair guy (your dealership can also do it, or can refer you to someone). You'll end up doing that anyway if you really want it perfect.
posted by SpecialK at 6:18 PM on May 26, 2006

I would definitely try the kit for the $21. But then, I'd prefer to do it myself and keep the tools for future need even if the shops charged a similar amount (they don't).
posted by IronLizard at 7:50 PM on May 26, 2006

My dad bought a dent remover kit a few years ago that involved putting small holes in the car to pull the dents out. Not only did it not work, but when he was done the car was full of small holes. Meh.
posted by croutonsupafreak at 8:16 PM on May 26, 2006

That would be the basic purpose of a slide hammer, crouton. Those are definitely not something you'd use without at least some body work experience. What ferociouskitty is talking about requires no holes, but uses hot glue to give you leverage. This technique, along with a wire to yank on instead of the suction cup tool, is something now popular at many body shops. It's simple and doesn't require damaging your paint or the underlying sheetmetal. This won't work for all dents, but hail damage is one of the more popular applications. SpecialK: The wax, man, you have to get rid of the wax first. Wax that spot again when you're done.
posted by IronLizard at 2:14 AM on May 27, 2006

my boyfriend got the ding king for a few small, quarter sized dings. they just pop right out (the kit is basically just a hot glue gun and a twisty crank with a suction cup)

the results made him pretty excited and he had fun doing it. he said he wished there were more dings to unding. hes obviously very easily amused.
posted by c at 8:36 AM on May 27, 2006