DIY PDR - What should I know?

[Li'l Work Truck]

My truck's body's got a little damage. I know, whose doesn't, right? Mine's got a bit of hail damage on the hood, a subtle long, shallow indentation that's not quite a crease going down the driver's side between the rear wheel arch and tail light, and a pretty solid dent in the top of the tailgate that I think I could fix with a C clamp and some metal plates. I'm not great with camera settings, so all I could get were kind of a general idea, but the dents are not deep. I was thinking about getting this kit from Harbor Freight because it looks like it has what I need, but...

I have 0 experience with body work, and I don't want to turn a pretty damn good example of an older truck into a solid payday for a professional body shop. What should I do? I'd really appreciate some advice from people here who know more than I do. I have thought about getting my hands on a loose body panel at a junkyard and either putting small dents in it to fix, or find one that already had different kinds of damage to try my hand on before going mano e mano with Truck Norris.

 

[lil_Blue_Ford]

So, I’m going to move this to the appropriate section…

Body hammers and dollys are not PDR tools for the most part. People that do PDR repair mostly use different probes that they can reach the back side of panels with and massage out the dent. Usually some rubber or plastic faced hammers too on some dents.

That bed rail smash is not a PDR dent. You can already see the cracked paint.

I have a book around here somewhere on the key/art of metal “bumping” which explains about how to work dents out by understanding how the dent was made and basically working backwards to remove the dent.

 

[Li'l Work Truck]

So, I’m going to move this to the appropriate section…

Body hammers and dollys are not PDR tools for the most part. People that do PDR repair mostly use different probes that they can reach the back side of panels with and massage out the dent. Usually some rubber or plastic faced hammers too on some dents.

That bed rail smash is not a PDR dent. You can already see the cracked paint.

I have a book around here somewhere on the key/art of metal “bumping” which explains about how to work dents out by understanding how the dent was made and basically working backwards to remove the dent.

Thanks for shifting this over. Seems I have a lot to learn.

 

[lil_Blue_Ford]

Thanks for shifting this over. Seems I have a lot to learn.

Despite all of the stuff I know, I still have a lot to learn.

 

[Curious Hound]

Body hammers and dollys are not PDR tools for the most part.

For small bumps, they are. If the metal is pushed out, it can sometimes be tapped back in. I see it done every day at work on empty painted bodies that haven't even been assembled yet. Though these are tiny blemishes. You wouldn't believe how picky BMW is with their bodies and paint jobs. It amazes me to walk past the inspection booths in the paint shop and see people tapping on car bodies with hammers, pishing from the inside with long probes, pulling metal with tools that they glue on temporarily. PDR is truly an artform.

 

[SenorNoob]

Unpopular opinion I'm sure, but I suck at bodywork and I know it. I'd leave those alone...

Maybe try to reach the crease in the bed from the inside and work it out a little.

 

[Li'l Work Truck]

Maybe try to reach the crease in the bed from the inside and work it out a little.

That was my idea, too! It's accessible from the underside.

For small bumps, they are. If the metal is pushed out, it can sometimes be tapped back in. I see it done every day at work on empty painted bodies that haven't even been assembled yet. Though these are tiny blemishes. You wouldn't believe how picky BMW is with their bodies and paint jobs. It amazes me to walk past the inspection booths in the paint shop and see people tapping on car bodies with hammers, pishing from the inside with long probes, pulling metal with tools that they glue on temporarily. PDR is truly an artform.

I love watching those body repair videos. Some of them come from other countries, and it's amazing to see them pull and stretch the metal back into place from an accident that, here in the US, would've totaled a car. Sometimes they go so far as to de-weld the panels and work them out on the bench. I would love to see what those BMW employees can do!