FAQ's

Q:		How good are the results of this process?
A:		They're excellent - so good, in fact, that PDR has evolved into the repair process of choice for dealerships and insurance companies nationwide. The dings are removed, the original factory paint is undisturbed, and the vehicle usually looks like nothing ever happened to it. There are several before and after examples on the other side of this page.
Q:		Are the dings repaired with dry ice? Suction cups? Pulled out with a vacuum machine?
A:		These are all very common misconceptions about the ding repair process. The actual process involves slowly "massaging" the dings away from the inside of the damaged panel. Small, controlled pushes are made with various handheld tools, sometimes hundreds of times, to slowly craft the metal back into its original shape. The entire process is done manually.
Q:		Are the dings going to "fall back in" over time?
A:		No, they won't do this at all. The metal is reworked into its original shape, not just "popped" back into place with a single push that can be undone easily. This misconception was started by the body shop industry years ago, as a way to avoid losing high-dollar repairs to PDR shops.
Q:		Won't the dings just pop out on their own if I leave the car parked in the hot sun for awhile?
A:		No, they won't. While it can be harder to see a small ding when a vehicle is parked outside in the sun, no amount of intense sunshine has ever caused a ding to just repair itself. Car dealerships are among the biggest users of PDR, and their vehicles sit out in the sun for sometimes months at a time.
Q:		How long does it take to repair a ding?
A:		Most dings can be repaired in an hour or two. The most common approach is to coordinate the repair with a trip to your dealer for regular maintenance on your vehicle. Repairs can also be made at your home or workplace, or at the repair technician's facility - whichever option is most convenient for you.
Q:		Can't I just buy one of those do-it-yourself kits and fix my own dings?
A:		It's more likely that you'll further damage your vehicle than repair it when using one of these kits. PDR technicians are regularly asked to fix dings that have been made worse for the attempt. To quote Tom Martino's website review of the leading do-it-yourself product: "We were never able to make it work "as seen on TV."