What is PDR?
August 23rd, 2006 by Danny the web stig
PDR stands for ‘paintless dent repair‘. It’s a method for removing small dents without the need for filling and repainting. It’s perfect for the kind of small dents you get on your doors at supermarkets, and can often be used on larger dents but it does have it’s limitations. The first of these being that the paintwork must not be broken. The other limitations come from the fact that when a panel is dented, it stretches - the bigger the dent, the more the stretch. This stretch can never be put back, so it is is often impossible to get larger dents completely smooth again, there will be a bit of a ripple, but PDR is a much cheaper alternative to conventional body shop repairs.
The tools most commonly used are a set of metal rods and bars. These rods are used to get behind the dented panel in order to lever and massage the dent out from behind. The dent repair man may need to remove interior door panels, interior trim, lights, or other fitting to be able to get his levers behind the dent. In some places the panelwork of the car is double skinned preventing access, in these cases sometimes it’s possible to drill a hole in a discreet place (such as inside the door shuts) to gain access, or a glue puller can be used on larger dents.
A glue puller is a device for pulling a plastic lug which is glued on to the face of the paintwork. When the lug it pulled, in theory it pulls the dent with it - the lug can then be removed from the paint’s surface. This method can sometimes be effective but it is very clumsy compared to the use of the metal levers.
(No Ratings Yet)
Loading ...3 comments to “What is PDR?”
Leave a Comment
Related
- What is raildust?
Raildust is the common name given to ferrous metal fallout contamination. Often raildust comes from trains and is caused by the train's wheels on the rails, the electrical pick-up rubbing overhead cables - What is a Claybar?
What is a clay bar? Clay bars seems to be the big thing at the moment, everybody is talking about them, which may explain why there are so many misconceptions about them! Hopefully - What is fallout
Fallout is anything that falls on your car, contaminates it and can damage the paint or otherwise ruin the appearance.Usually when people talk about fallout, they mean industrial fallout, specifically raildust. Raildust
My sister has a dent in her rear N/S panel just above her bumper. I remembered watching a show that showed a guy using a cricket ball to massage the dent out of a car. My sister cannot afford to get a workshop to do the repair as she is a student. Does this ball method actually work? Any advise would be appreciated.
Cricket balls? I have heard that some of the old guys used to use dry ice to remove dents, but using sports equipment is a new one on me!
But If you can get a cricket ball into position, I don’t see why it wouldn’t work… its just that my ol’ man always told me to use the right tool for the job. So cricket balls are probably best for spin bowling, and dents are best removed with PDR tools.
We are currently setting up a forum at www.carcareforum.co.uk, I haven’t finished it quite yet but before long, your sister will be able to go there and upload photos of her dent so that we can have a look at it — we will then be able to advise if the damage to her car is a good candidate for PDR. We may even be able to flick through our address book and find somebody in her area willing to do it.
I’ll go and work on the feature for uploading photos right now!
Hi Dan, you should show some pictures of what dents can be removed, and what can’t.
I know you have plenty of dent photos!
Chris