Car Denting: How are Car Dents Repaired? Types, Reasons, Fixing, Preventive Measures

In this article, we will learn about car denting along with how are car dents repaired, different types, fixing, reasons for dents and preventive measures. Keeping your car clean, sharp, and tidy is as important as keeping anything else you own. Nobody who owns a car would like it if it always looked like it had just been bought. I am sure you agree. Moreover, like any other thing, it requires a little bit of time and effort on your part to keep it looking new all the time.

If you love your car, then you enjoy taking care of it. You check the car every day after you get home to see if there are any dents or scratches on it, and if there are, it might make your heart ache a little.

It is inevitable that you will eventually get at least a little ding on your car, no matter how you treat it, whether you treat it like a pack mule or as a precious child. The small dents on our cars are easy for us to ignore, as long as we don’t get too worried about them. If this is your attitude, then you should think about keeping your car for as long as possible, because one there is a dent in your car

Car Denting: How are Car Dents Repaired?

A dent refers to any kind of deformity that may occur on the surface of your car which can be fixed with the use of this technique. As a result, there will be no bulging or pressing of the surface and everything will be evenly spread out over the area.

In particular, if you have been involved in a road mishap or have been involved in an accident, you are likely to be left with a dent on your vehicle and those dents usually are visible and it is usually longer than a ding in diameter and can easily be seen from far. 

Expert technicians are the best people to handle denting because it is a delicate process. Although there are a lot of days available on the internet, some may work and others may not, and usually they do not work and most of the time they do. If you do not have tools, you can try as you may correct the deformity, but it will be a waste of time. You will need appropriate technical knowledge, support, and tools to counter the deformity.

Additional note: In my opinion, it’s always better to hire an expert to fix your car from the dents because you will be able to learn some tricks but you won’t be able to receive the satisfaction of having a car that is neat, clean, dent-free, and scratch-free afterward. As there is a high possibility that fixing any major dents from your car could go wrong.

Whenever you think that it is just a scratch or just a dent that is causing the problem, it is quite easy to take it for granted. Well, it will only be a small issue as long as it is addressed in a timely manner, and the service is not delayed for a long period of time, or if the rust is not addressed immediately, it will only be a minor problem.

Types of Car Dents

Dings in a car

Despite the fact that the term is sometimes used for all types of dents, it is actually a very specific type. As the name implies, it is less severe than a round dent, but it is a difference between the two.

Dings are, in general, very small damages to the paint of a vehicle that is not large enough to damage the paint or cause the paint to corrode, and that are limited to the area of around an inch in diameter. In most cases, this occurs as a result of a shopping cart, a carelessly opened door, or hitting a nearby rock or a footwalk. 

A shopping cart, rock, or another door hitting your side are common causes. It can also be caused by hitting an object on the side of your car or slamming your car door against it. Most of these types of dents can be easily repaired and shouldn’t cause too much trouble compared to many major dents.

Circular or round type car dents

An example of this is a dent that is often found on the body of a car, which is one of the most common types of car dents. There are many reasons why round dents happen to cars. The most common is when a round object or piece of debris runs directly into the car, as the name implies.

Due to their round shape, these dents are also some of the easiest to repair because they are often compared to funnels with a point at the top, but they may also resemble shallow pools or look like funnels with a point at the top.           

There are also hail-related round dents, which can often be found on the bonnet, roof, and boot lids of vehicles suffering from hail damage. A hailstone that is particularly large or sharp can cause huge amounts of damage, so it is recommended that you contact your insurance company right away after you have received the hailstone so that you can get it to a professional as quickly as possible.

Creased type car dents

There are several types of metal dents found on the side panels of cars. Usually, they are caused by an object dropping and striking the metal surface, which then drags along the surface following the impact.

Having the ability to differentiate between a crease and a round or sharp dent needs a high degree of skill. It’s a good idea to turn to a professional who is well-trained to detect the creases around the dent, which are generally caused by objects like bicycle handles, sharp edges on trailers, or door handles that made the dent.

A car’s exterior metal surface might be damaged and give a bit worn-up appearance if it has numerous creases on the surface. Crease dents not only damage the metalwork, but they can also damage the paint finish that was initially applied to the metalwork.

After the paint-less car dent removal technique has been applied, the subsequent damage repair demand would not be met by the use of paint-less car dent removal techniques, but would instead need professional tools and a professional approach in order to be accomplished.

Sharp type car dents

A sharp dent on the body of your vehicle is the kind of dent that tends to stick out a little of the surface of the dent, which is what is known as a swage for its appearance. There are many types of dents on our vehicles, but the most common one is a deep, tight ding, which can be extraordinarily difficult to fix, especially if the ding is located in a difficult area.

It is easier to identify and locate sharp dents due to the way that they appear after they are formed after they have been formed. Due to how sharp dents sink into the surface of the car, professional dent removal techniques are recommended in the case of sharp dents.

There is a tendency for these dents to occur when the vehicle collides with a sharp object. It has been observed that sharp dent marks are often the result of car accidents where the point of impact is where the dent was created. There is a good chance that sharp dents will have steep sides that tend to leave the rest of the panel relatively untouched.

Multi dents in cars

Unlike single-point dents, multi-point dents also have multiple points of impact that are responsible for the dent. As the result of vehicle accidents, these kinds of dent damage often result in larger and more complex dent repairs than the others, however, these types of dent damage can be easily repaired with professional-quality repair techniques, such as paintless dent repair, regardless of how large or complex, they are.

Possible Reasons for Dents in a Car

There are many other ways a vehicle can be dinged and dented besides accidents, such as debris falling onto the car or being blown into it by a strong wind, weather events like hailstorms, and many other possibilities. Below mentioned a few possible causes of dents in a car:-

By chance parking too close to something

You should always leave plenty of clearance between your car and other cars when you park near them, there is a reason for that. The most common cause of car dents is a ding that is caused by the door of the car. The next time you are in your car, you may find yourself in a hurry or in a careless state of mind when you open your car door with a strong enough force to hit the side of your car if someone is in the car next to you.

Upon returning to your vehicle, you discover that there is only one thing left to show that anything bad has happened to it. In order to avoid this from happening, you should choose the most open part of the parking lot where you can park your vehicle.

Hit by a grocery cart

It is not only car doors that can cause damage to a car. There are other things that can do the same. The truth is, grocery carts may look harmless from the outside, but if you leave them inclined enough to roll at a high speed, they are capable of hitting your car and causing a dent if they roll into it. The majority of grocery store shoppers don’t care where they leave their carts, which means you have to make sure that your car is out of harm’s way before you leave your cart unattended.

Effect of the weather

Other debris from the surrounding can easily blow into your vehicles just by the force of the wind and can possibly create a major dent. If you live in an area that is prone to hail storms, then there is a good chance that you will have experienced some hail damage to your vehicle. Hailstorms that are particularly wild can result in extensive hail damage if they are particularly severe.

Keeping up with the news of the weather is one of the best things you can do to keep yourself prepared. Keep your car safe and undercover if it is predicted that there will be hail anytime soon in order to prevent or minimize hail damage to your car. Other weather events, such as windstorms or tornadoes, are also subject to the same principles as other weather events.

Dingy space for the vehicle

The attempt to squeeze your car through a tight space can cause it to dent as you try to squeeze it through. You can do this while attempting to pass another car in a parking space, while you are in the garage, or before one’s own garage door.

You can avoid dents if you ensure that you have plenty of space to move around when maneuvering the vehicle. Make sure your garage is decluttered so you will have plenty of room to park your vehicle and open the doors of all of your vehicles.

Some Facts about Dents in the Car

Just simply sucking the dents with the plunger is not the remedy

There are umpteen social media posts and videos showing a plunger pulling dents from cars, but because of the number of posts and videos on social media, customers have a great deal of confusion and misconceptions. There is a possibility that pulling a dent with a plunger could make the dent worse rather than making it better.

During the process of pushing down the plunger, there is a possibility that the suction generated will magnify the dent instead of removing it. Furthermore, the size and extent of a dent can vary significantly and for this reason, a dent puller that is designed to remove these dents is almost complete, while still preserving the strength of a car’s body panel is the best method of removing these dents.

Using a hot gun recklessly will not do the job

Due to the variability in the size and extent of the damage, heating a metal part does not guarantee that the dent will completely disappear. In addition, it is worth noting that the heating process can result in residual stresses that may negatively affect the life of the body part as a whole.

It is only necessary to use heating for fiber or plastic parts like bumpers, for example, where the heating will be able to assist in bringing the part back to its original state. 

Simply applying the paint job does not fix the dent

Car manufacturers use only a few coats of paint on the exterior of their vehicles for a reason. As much as the paint is hardened, it won’t be as hard as metal, so applying the paint to a dented car might not prevent the dents from occurring even if the paint has hardened. Whenever you paint your car, it is very important to remember that the more paint there is, the more fragile that paint is.

There is no place on the vehicle where this fact is more important than on the edges of the body panels, such as the edges of the doors, fenders, trunk lids, and hoods, as well as the edges on the body panels, like the edges on the door frames. This area is more susceptible to chipping than other parts of the house.

After every application of primer, some shops sand down the edges almost to bare metal in order to keep the paint from getting thick, so as to keep it from spreading across the surface. It is very delicate to build up paint on a sharp edge as it is very prone to chipping.

Fixing the car dents by yourself

Here are a few best ways to fix your car dents:-

Applying hot water (only works in the plastic areas of the car)

In most cases, applying heat over the dent will allow it to return to its original shape, although this works better if the dent is not widespread. The dent might pop all the way back if you try working with boiling water, but with some luck, you may not be able to do so. Despite the fact that this might seem too good to be true, there are a number of testimonials and scientific evidence showing that it actually works.

It is important to remember, however, that the boiling water method is only efficient with plastic bumpers and not with metal bumpers. Then, after it has cooled down and recovered to its original shape, you should splash cold water on it, allowing it to set and cool down completely before touching it again.

Properly applying the plunging techniques

The suction properties of a bathroom plunger can be extremely useful when it comes to sucking out a dent in a car. It might sound a bit crazy but we are not unclogging anything; we are just taking advantage of the suction properties of this device. 

Using a plunger, you need to gently pull out the dent using a slight pull and a strong force to remove the dent, and you can loosen up the metal by splashing hot or boiling water on it to loosen it up. There is no question that this method will be successful if the dent is small to medium-sized, as larger dents are not going to be able to be popped back with a plunger alone.

Make sure you don’t be too aggressive, and you need to push something more than once or twice to achieve the desired outcome.

Use of vacuum pump

Similarly to the plunger technique, the vacuum technique also makes use of a suction mechanism that utilizes the same mechanism; however, it generates more force than the previous method. This technique will require you to use a bucket and a vacuum cleaner, as well as tape to attach the bottom of the bucket to the vacuum cleaner as the bottom of bucket needs to be attached to the vacuum cleaner.

Steps:

• The bucket’s bottom must have a hole large enough for the hose to pass through.
• Then, tape around the dent with the bucket.
• Activate the vacuum cleaner by placing it over the hole.
• Therefore, it creates a suction power and pops up the dented area.

Cooling techniques

Although dry ice cannot be considered a household item, it can be very effective at getting rid of small dents on a car – just make sure that you are wearing gloves to protect your hands.

Steps:

• To fix your dent, hold the dry ice over it, and rub it around until you hear your dent pop back out.
• Dry ice can be applied multiple times, and you would be able to see the desired result after you have applied it several times.

Preventive Measures to Avoid Dents

Be attentive while parking the vehicle

Most scratches and dents are likely to be caused in parking lots, which is a fact that can be considered to be true. All of us have experienced the kind of people who open their car doors recklessly without caring whether they may cause damage to the vehicle next to them.

It is always a good idea to park in an empty part of the parking lot if you want to avoid getting dinged up in the lot when you get there. The extra distance you have to walk to your destination may mean you have to walk a little farther than you would like, but your car will thank you for doing so.

Avoid parking the car in any open space

There is no question that your car is better protected from the elements and other people if it spends a larger amount of time inside a garage or carport. It is always recommended to park your car as much as possible in a garage if at all possible.

Stay away from extreme weather conditions

The exterior of your vehicle can be damaged if you drive your vehicle or leave it outside during extreme weather conditions, which can cause the vehicle to suffer from corrosion. There are many forms of weather events that can damage your vehicle, from hail storms to windstorms to severe thunderstorms this can lead to a great deal of damage to your vehicle as well, kicking up dirt, dust, rocks, branches, etc. which can cause scratches.