Nooooooooo!!! *Fender Bender*

[HX_Guy]

Damn it damn it damn it!!! #rage

My inattentive dumb ass gently side swiped another car earlier today. Freaking sucks.
Have Xpel clear bra on the hood and fender and apparently the hood will need to be redone as well as they have to blend it to match the new fender paint. Also need a new refinished wheel as that got scuffed up too.

 

[Destiny1701]

Oh that sucks!! Can the fender not be repaired or popped out and repaired? If your hood paint was covered by xpel from day 1, your paint wouldn’t have faded much if at all. Not sure they need to blend it in this case as a new painted fender and re xpel’d should match perfectly. How old is the car? 2017?

 

[HX_Guy]

Hmm good point, Ill mention that to the body shop. The Xpel was done within days of getting the car. It's a 2016 bought last December, just about a year ago today actually.

One body shop said they could fix the current fender and paint it, and blend the paint within just the fender itself without touching the door and hood. I have doubts that the fix would look perfect though since its right on the crease - you think it might look perfect?

 

[Destiny1701]

Hmm good point, Ill mention that to the body shop. The Xpel was done within days of getting the car. It's a 2016 bought last December, just about a year ago today actually.

One body shop said they could fix the current fender and paint it, and blend the paint within just the fender itself without touching the door and hood. I have doubts that the fix would look perfect though since its right on the crease - you think it might look perfect?

If they are a good paint shop then yes they can blend within the fender only and you’ll never know the difference. In terms of fix there are body shops who know how to repair aluminum instead of steel. They’ll be able to let you know if they can pop out the dent, compound, sand and paint. Ask your shop if they’ve dealt with aluminum.

 

[HX_Guy]

Both shops I went to are Tesla Certified.

I think the concern with the fender is that it buckled a little too, so it has to be stretched/straightened which is why shop #2 was saying new fender.

 

[HX_Guy]

What is your guys' thought on trying Paintless Dent Removal?

I took a quick stab at it myself with a hammer!
Ok I did not expect to fix it, but wanted to see what improvement there would be and it gives me hope of a PDR pro having success.

Check it...I only messed with the dent on the right side (the bigger of the two)

BEFORE








AFTER








The paint looks like it may be undamaged as the Xpel clear bra I think took the brunt of it and its only a surface scuff to the clear bra.

 

[DC Autocraft]

Glad that it's a minor bump!

 

[Destiny1701]

Don’t bang any more lol! Let the professionals do it. What you may perceive as a good bang out may actually do worst for someone trying to fix it completely!

Lucky it looks a a bit better and no paint has started to peel or flake!

 

[mongo]

Devil's advocate here. Does it have to be fixed?

 

[HX_Guy]

Devil's advocate here. Does it have to be fixed?

Um what? Are you crazy?

Of course it has to be fixed, I cannot stand dings in the car. Hell, I go get a new refinished wheel ($250) every time I get a curb rash (has happened just once in the past year, this accident being the second).

 

[HX_Guy]

Don’t bang any more lol! Let the professionals do it. What you may perceive as a good bang out may actually do worst for someone trying to fix it completely!

Lucky it looks a a bit better and no paint has started to peel or flake!

Haha yeah not touching it anymore...wanted to see how flexible/pliable it is and it gave me hope that painless dent removal may work.
Contacted someone I found online with great reviews, sent him photos and he promptly replied...

"I can fix that. Need to peel the clear bra off the area first. 200$ mobile service."

SOLD! He's coming out next week Wednesday to take are of it. I think the clear bra really helped here otherwise new paint would definitely have been needed (still hoping that it's not needed, will see once he removed the clear bra).

 

[lunitiks]

 

[gjunky]

I am amazed and glad to see that the protective film protected the paint even in this case (we have ours wrapped too).
So sorry to hear about your car though. Hope the paintless dent repair will work. Mind PMing me the contact info? Might need some work done on our other car.

 

[BMWLover]

I've had great success with paintless dent removal if you deal with the right people/shops. Really saves a ton if it can be done to look like it never happened or close to it. Good find on mobile dent repair guy, keep us posted!

 

[jelloslug]

Call a PDR service. They should be able to fix that with no issues.

 

[HX_Guy]

And fixed! Just about perfect and unless you know it was fixed, you'd never know anything happened.
The Xpel did a really great job of protecting the paint, love that stuff!

Before...

After...

 

[croman]

Looks great. Congrats!

 

[SMAlset]

Nice! We did a full body Xpel wrap right after delivery. We were told, and as you found out, it would keep the paint from fading unevenly such as in the case you did a partial wrap and the rest of the car with a paint coating. Glad your dent removal guys made it look like new.

 

[WannabeOwner]

I am amazed and glad to see that the protective film protected the paint even in this case

I was side-scrapped by a Range Rover at relatively low speed. Absolutely no damage to paint through the protective film, which impressed me a lot (hadn;t thought about it until then, but seems likely that if I have to snuggle up against a hedgerow the car/paint will be fine ) although it looked horrendous until I just washed the car some minor dents to doors and Tesla-bodyshop said they needed replacing (strength loss on Aluminium). Other party's insurance paying, no quibble, so I went ahead but I do wonder if the dents could have been pulled - the returned car has wind noise at 40 MPH, let alone 80 MPH, and I can barely get my hand down the side to adjust the seat anymore, so clearly the new doors have not been well fitted. Still waiting for them to come and sort it out (not helped by the holidays of course ...)

 

[sakimano]

PDR guys are amazing. My Audi RS4 had a couple of minor dents on an aluminium panel and a PDR guy got them out as if they never happened. Which is incredible...if you've ever crinkled up a ball of aluminum foil and then tried to straighten it out you will understand the difficulty.

Incidentally my PDR guy didn't use any hammers...