Door Ding with a brace…
Today we had a 2020 Chevrolet Colorado come to us with a dent on the drivers front door. Upon initial inspection it looked like a straight forward repair; access the dent from the backside and push it out. However, once we got started we found that behind that dent was a brace. So, how do we push out a dent when there’s a solid piece of steel blocking us from accessing it?
Access is everything when it comes to paintless dent repair. In general a tech needs a way to access the back side of the damage and something to create leverage off of. Wide open access without something to create leverage for accurate and strong pushes is just as bad as having no access at all (most bed sides are like this on pick up trucks.) The other side of the coin is no access at all, but auto manufacturers are becoming more and more aware of the paintless dent repair industry and are getting better and better at making sure they give us access on most panels- though I'm not holding my breath for cab corners.
In cases where there is absolutely no access glue pulling is our only option, but that isn’t the case for this dent. So what do we do when we have some access but it’s obstructed by a brace? Here’s where we turn to our trusty whale tail. What is a whale tail? It’s a flat tool that paintless dent repair technicians use to slide into tight areas and push dents out. Areas like hoods, trunks, and roofs have multiple braces for support and safety, and this applies to doors as well. Our whale tail of choice is this one from Dentcraft. At 24 inches it proves to be a length that’s versatile enough for everything from a door to a hood. A technician will slide one of these back behind a brace and push using a twisting motion. One side of the tip will be used for leverage on the brace, and the other side of the tip will push out the dent and reshape the metal back to it’s factory condition.
”Is it a harder repair when a brace is involved?” Absolutely. Limited access makes even small repairs more challenging and requires a higher degree of skill and experience to repair properly. Naturally these repairs come at a higher cost, but nothing beats keeping your factory paint and getting a flawless repair on your vehicle. But what is truly difficult about performing a repair that involves a brace is delivering an accurate estimate. Looking at this dent from the outside no one would ever know that a brace was there preventing clean access for a repair, and every year, make, and model is different. So many estimates get delivered virtually or over the phone now, but no one can really know the true cost until they see the damage in person- measure it, test it to see if it’s aluminum or steel, and check for access. Whether you choose Southside Dents and Cosmetics for your needs or go with another company, if you made it this far into this post, please keep these things in mind. Surprises happen, and we do our best to inform our customers up front about all the possibilities.
And there we have it! If you’re interested in watching this repair you can follow this link to my Youtube Page.
