How Do Body Shops Fix Dents in Cars?

So many things can go wrong with your vehicle throughout its life. While major issues like engine failure will require a trip to the mechanics, you may be tempted to fix some things yourself. First of all stop. Things are never as easy as they look on Youtube and you will be surprised how affordable and simple professional help can be. Come in for a free estimate and see how much it will cost for the professionals at Quality Assured Collision Center to fix your dent.

What about minor dents and dings? Can you fix these problems yourself, or is it better to trust a mechanic? What goes into fixing dents, anyway, and what equipment do mechanics have that you may not have access to?

Let’s dive in and find out exactly what makes dents a big deal and what goes into fixing dents on a car.

Why Are Dents Serious?

For some car owners, dents are an unsightly and dreaded emergency that must be fixed immediately. Others choose to ignore dents, thinking that they’re only cosmetic blemishes that won’t hurt anything.

But dents can actually cause serious problems that become costly in the long run. These dents can cause paint to peel off, resulting in rust, serious corrosion, and damage to your car’s frame.

In the right (or wrong, really) place a dent can make it unsafe to drive, causing damage that makes the vehicle tougher to steer and less reliable on the road. This is especially true of front-end damage and dings near the tires.

So how do body shops fix these dents, and what equipment do they use?

How Do Mechanics Fix Dents?

Mechanics have a wide range of tools and careful processes to determine how serious the dent is and how to best approach the repair. First, mechanics clean up the area and use their expertise to understand whether they can pop the dent out or if they’ll need to replace the whole panel. This is a choice best left to experts, as it’s easy for even a dedicated layman to make the wrong call here.

Next, mechanics reach into their arsenal of tools and techniques to get a less serious dent ironed out. The tool kit includes hammers to bang the metal of your car’s panels back into place, pliers to manipulate the car’s materials back into shape, and a giant suction cup to pop minor dents back into shape.

All of this is specially built, costly, and nuanced equipment. Not the kind of stuff you’d have lying around in your garage. Mechanics will figure out the safest and least damaging way to fix the dent based on where it’s located, what car components are involved, how deep the dent is, and how much (if any) paint has been lost.

These are tricky judgment calls to make and require a strong understanding of car design and safety. The repair man also needs holistic comprehension of how every panel and interior part of the vehicle works to shield the car and make it safe to drive.

Next time you get a dent? Don’t try to fix it yourself. You could wind up doing serious damage to a panel or a vital internal part of your car. Don’t wait to get it looked at, either. Getting the most out of your car, truck, or SUV means tackling problems before they arise, and letting the experts help you as soon as possible.

Quality Assured Collision Center is one of Yelp’s highest rated auto body shops in the Long Beach area. To-date we have over 200 honest reviews from real customers. Many of our reviews offer real pictures from real customers. These people were not just satisfied, they were so happy they wanted others to see for themselves. You can check out our Google reviews for yourself here.