Some advice, please, about Paintless Dent Removal...

[Stroppy]

This is a cross post so I have reposted here because I don't think the post was being seen in the repair thread. Apologies if I have broken any rules.

Original post:
Happy New Year to all first off.

I HATE rats! Why? Because they have invaded the ceiling area of my garage! I smelled their particular odour last month so I went out and bought one of those ultrasonic thingames to scare them away. I thought it worked. It didn't. The other day I open the garage to find two boxes stored in the garage ceiling had fallen onto the roof and bonnet of my new VF Commodore Sportwagon (Evoke). Why? Because the little b@stards had obviously had a fight up there and knocked everything around!

The roof was okay as the box that landed there was light and it landed square on to the roof. The box which hit the bonnet was heavier and it hit on a corner because now I have a tiny new pockmark about the size of an old cent coin. I polished out the scuff in the paint with Turtle anti-swirl polish...no problems there, but the pock remains. Now most people would say "It's nothing...not worth worrying about" but I know it's there and it has really pissed me off. Needless to say that I have now put baits down and removed any other moveable objects!

When I bought the car I bought this special "keep your car pristine" panel work insurance policy through the dealer which allows you to have three years of PDR and interior cosmetic repairs on your car for a simple call-out price of $55. I've booked the car in to be fixed but I am worried about the fact that the bonnet is aluminium. I know that PDR is possible on aluminium...it's just trickier to do than steel. I'm also concerned about the repairer having to pop the sound deadening off the underside of the bonnet. Are the clips reusable? Anyone here have the experience of PDR being done on aluminium panels of their VF Commodore???

 

[ndwalters]

I had hail damaged remove from my VF S1 SV6 bonnet, they didnt say anything about it being more difficult, and now you'd never know it was there.

 

[Stroppy]

I had hail damaged remove from my VF S1 SV6 bonnet, they didnt say anything about it being more difficult, and now you'd never know it was there.

That's what I am hoping for my car...that the dent will be gone. Aluminium PDR is a bit more difficult as I have discovered by Googling and reading about it. Many of the discussions on Youtube say the same thing. It can be done and done as well as steel repairs but it takes more time and effort as aluminium does not have a shape memory like steel panels do. I'm happy your repairs went well...I hope mine do too. I'll find out in the next few days.

 

[Stroppy]

Update: A very polite gent is coming to my house on Monday to fix the dent. I'll update you all with the results.

 

[chrisp]

Could you post some before-and-after pictures?

 

[Stroppy]

Could you post some before-and-after pictures?

Chrisp... I'd love to accommodate you but things went a bit pear-shaped and the guy rang me this morning to switch the repair to today. The camera in my phone is not the best and I was going to use my good camera but the battery had no charge and it wouldn't have charged in the short time before the young man turned up....however....

The verdict on the repair is this: The guy did an excellent job. Despite the searing heat he was very careful and worked on the bonnet for a good 30 minutes to make sure that the pock mark was no more. He used a combination of glue pulling and working on the mark from underneath to get it out. It was fascinating to watch. He had a special light with lines projected out from it which allowed any rippling to be easily seen. As he worked underneath the pockmark you could see the panel levelling out. He also picked up a shallower mark near the lip of the bonnet I hadn't seen because of the plastic bonnet protector. He volunteered to remove that one as well which came out first go with the glue puller.

The young man was professional, courteous and polite even though it was getting on to 34 degrees outside! For my part I kept passing cold drinks and water to him (and for me as well) so the both of us didn't pass out! I can only recommend this young fellow's work ethic, attitude and, of course, the quality of his repairs. I'm quite happy to pass on his number to anyone in the suburbs of Melbourne wanting a PDR repair.