PDR FAIL!! Took a chunk of my paint right off!!
 

I got these 3 tiny dents on the passenger door that I got from my hammer that fell from my wall. I tried to do it myself using the tools I got from Amazon but after 2 tries and failed, I called a professional PDR guy to attempt it. He first use those metal rods behind it but because there's a metal brace, he had to use the glue pulling method which ultimately took a chunk of my paint right off!!

So, what did the PDR tech do, or say? "Opps, we'll take care of re-painting that" or "Sorry dude, you're SOL"?

pretty much the second one. he knew i was planning on wrapping the car in the future so he'd just said to put body filler and wrap over it. lol

Just curious, original paint or re-spray?

Messed up, man.... go to pull dents and end up with extra bodywork to do....

tell me about it.. i'm a perfectionist and just the smallest dent bugs the heck out of me.. now i have to deal with a paint chip which is far more worse.

we found out the panel wasn't original paint after it happened.. super bummed out about it

High quality PDR techs use paint meters to check for refinishes prior to any work. They then go over the risks of the repair with the owner. Shows a clear understanding of auto paint, not just knowing how to pull out a few dings. Legit places are usually covered by insurance in such events.

you can get decent 2K primer in aerosol cans from Eastwood if you are going to attempt to fix it yourself.

be careful......some fillers will pull off during wrap process, like if you have to reposition the vinyl. Ask me how I know ;)

Some very expensive restorations/repairs use filler that is sanded to attain a very smooth and uniform surface. Of course, this surface fails when doing PDR.

The old expert PDR technicians (Juergen Holzer is someone who brought this science to the USA from Europe many years ago) recognize situations where PDR will not work.

I'd guess this is a case where taking out the "P" in "PDR" is applicable. Sorry, couldn't resist. :icon17:

But ya, resprayed cars are notorious for any type of suction method repairs. I used a guy here on one of my older cars and they did it all through the internal massage method. I recall watching him work and yes, a paint gauge was used to inspect the panels first.

^ ^ ^ My guy (an old German craftsman) won’t fully trust a digital device (i.e., a depth/density sounder). He depends more upon 50 years of experience to judge the appropriate path to a successful repair. We need more of these guys.

Wrap is a temporary solution, its more so intended as paint protection and not replacement. It doesn't last very long which is why my Z has had 6 different color change wraps. On top of that you will need someone highly skilled (costly) to complete the wrap since they won't be able to re-position the vinyl during the process. Its very likely that the wrap will pull off non OEM paint on other panels during install and turn into a costly mess. My suggestion is to take it to a good reputable body shop, have them strip everything down to bare metal or weld a new door skin on and then paint it.

Yeah I understand wrap is temporary solution. I used to be bluebat's authorized vinyl installer so I'm able to wrap the entire car professionally. I plan on switching up the colors every 2-3 years so wrapping would be a better solution. And it'll be easier to just re-wrap whatever panels that gets damaged in the future.