DIY Dent Repair Techniques: Do They Work?
Posted by on Jun 30, 2018 in Blog
One thing worse than finding unwanted dents or scratches on your car – which is, unfortunately, an inevitable occurrence in life – is having to pay somebody else to fix them. Of course, like with anything, there are a number of DIY techniques floating around the web that claim you can save a few dollars by taking care of it at home yourself. What these step-by-step explanations and YouTube tutorials typically fail to mention is that these methods are often more difficult to do than they let on or that they just don’t actually work.
The DIY techniques we’ve highlighted here do work (hurrah!), however they still may take a few tries (especially if you’ve never attempted such a feat before) and they may not give perfect results – hey, if you want perfect just bite the bullet and call a professional. If a cheap, quick and – relatively – easy fix is what your looking for, keep reading below to find out more about the DIY solutions we’ve chosen and whether or not they are really worth your time.
DIY #1 – Using A Plunger
This may sound like something from a cartoon – but a plunger can actually be an effective way to pull a dent out of your car. This method really only has one catch: the plunger will only work on dents smaller than itself, so if the dent is too large you may as well skip this method all together. The results may not be perfect, but this is by far the simplest DIY method and there is really no risk of damaging the paint job on the car – sounds like a win, win to me!
DIY #2 – Hot Water
Seems easy enough right? Well yes, actually, it is – even the worst DIY’er in the world could handle this one (we’d hope). All you have to do is pour boiling water over the dent and pop the dent out from behind. Yes, really, that’s it. This technique really is great for bumpers, but that’s about it. Any other location on the vehicle and it can be quite difficult to get behind the dent to push it back out. The problem with this technique is that the boiling water can, unfortunately, cause your vehicles paint to crack. Give and take, right?
DIY #3 – A Hair Dryer and Dry Ice or Compressed Air
This method will require you to go out and buy either dry ice or a can of compressed air, unless you so happen to have such products lying around your house. It’s science, guys – first, heat the dent with the hair dryer, and then cool it with the dry ice or compressed air. This – should – cause the dent to expand and pop out. Will it? Maybe, maybe not. The success of this method depends on the material and how bad the dent is. Whether or not the method works, you can at least be sure that no further damage will be done to the dent or the paint.
Your Call
As you can see, the most common methods for fixing car dents at home are mediocre at best. They will not provide perfect results and may take a few (or more) tries, but should give you the cheap and easy results you are looking for. Of course, there is always the potential for things to run amok, so if you’d prefer consistent and quality results, your best option is still to let the professionals do what they do best. Give Freeway Auto Body a call if you have any questions about dent repair.
