If you park your car in crowded parking lots, I am sure you will be familiar with car park dents and dings. Not to mention big destinations during the summer months such as the beach and amusement parks. You get a large influx of people and unfortunately many people it seems to do not seem to think twice about opening their car door and banging the car next to it.
Over the last twenty years or so there has been a huge increase in car owners having to get their cars repaired due to these inconsiderate people. Going to your traditional car body shop however is a rather costly way of getting these dents repaired. So what is the alternative? Well you can use the dry ice dent removal process in your own home; let us take a look at what you need to do to remove a dent with dry ice;
- Check The Dent Over
Make sure you inspect the dent thoroughly. Ho bad it is, the intensity of the dent etc. Small light dents spread on a large area while a deep impression within a small confined area are more difficult to repair. Depending on the size of your dent you may need to repeat the dry ice process several times until there is only a small trace left.
- Got The Right Tools?
This is the easy part, ensure obviously you have some dry ice, which is easy to come by and some protective gloves. Some aluminum sheet and lastly a hair dryer to ensure the paint softens evenly.
- Soften The Paint
Where the area of the dent is, ensure you use your hair-dryer on this area for a few minutes to soften the paint. Take care whilst doing this though as if you get the heat on too wide an area, you will make more of a problem for yourself. Ensure you heat only the dented area to soften the paint.
- Dry Ice Time – The Fun Part!
Okay, now we have heated up the affected area, now we need to cool it down rapidly. Ensure you have your protective gloves on now. Apply the dry ice to the affected dent area, with the focus on the indentation of the dent/ding. As you are applying the ice to the surface, the big dip in temperature will mean that this will force the dent to pop back out and the panel will be leveled.
This is a process called PDR (Paintless Dent Removal) This has become a big business in the last 15 years or so with many bodyshops and garages offering this service as it is environmentally friendly, cost effective, cheap and produces great results. Ideal for this kind of repair. If you need glass repair, however, be sure to call Ace Glass in Richmond, Virginia. We are a full-service glass shop, so call us for any of your car or home glass needs!