How Modern Paintless Dent Repair Came to Be | Mitchell Ding Repair
Dents seem to strike when we least expect it. They can be as insignificant as a small dime sized ding, or as intimidating as collision damage. Whatever the source of the damage is, one factor remains consistent: it’s going to have a negative impact on the value of your vehicle.
At the Dent Force, our Mitchell ding repair experts can handle minor body damage of all shapes and sizes. We use a minor body repair method known as paintless dent repair. The primary goal of this technique is to restore the shape of a body panel without compromising its paint finish.
Paintless dent repair is a relatively unknown, yet not uncommon practice. Here are a few mysterious facts about PDR that you probably didn’t know:
The History of Paintless Dent Repair
There are some mixed opinions on where paintless dent repair found its beginnings. Some believe that the founding father of PDR is Oskar Flaig, an ordinary staff member at Mercedes who’s job was to maintain the paintwork of their show cars. During the International Motor Sports Show of 1960 he pressed the dent out of a vehicle using a hammer handle. Others say PDR has been a practice to keep repair costs low since the first cars started being manufactured in Germany.
PDR’s Rise in Popularity
Paintless dent repair did not take off upon its inception. In fact, today many drivers still choose body shop methods to take care of minor dents. It wasn’t until Natalio Balderrama founded Dent Wizard that it really began to gain traction in the West. Before that, PDR was mostly known in Argentina, Italy, and other European countries. Now, quality ding repair is available to everyone, even in small towns like Mitchell.
Our Tools and Techniques
Most paintless dent repair tools are simple concepts with excellent craftsmanship behind them. The tools of our Mitchell ding repair company range from glue tabs for pulling out dents, to hammers that are used to press them back into place from behind.
Beware of Do it Yourself Methods
Many of our professional dent tech tools seem like they can be found around the house, such as glue and hammers. However, they lack the subtlety and precision of something crafted for our line of work. Instead, we use specialized metal tips of different material and sharpness to gain curated results as well as different glue tabs for alternate strengths.
