HOW TO BECOME A PAINTLESS DENT REPAIR TECHNICIAN

In recent years, paintless dent repair, or PDR, has become the standard for fixing automotive dents and dings. More effective than fillers, PDR uses a gentle reshaping method to actually fix a dent rather than just masking it.

Thanks to the popularity of PDR in the modern automotive industry, many people are wondering how to make the transition to becoming a paintless dent repair technician, and why it is a smart career move.

WHAT IS A PAINTLESS DENT REPAIR TECHNICIAN?

Paintless dent repair technicians are professionals who have gone through PDR training to learn the tools and tactics of the PDR industry. Typically, these training programs involve plenty of hands-on time fixing automotive dents in a controlled environment.

Once a PDR technician is fully trained, he or she will work in the real-world environment, removing dents and dings from vehicles of all shapes and sizes. Common dents may include hail damage, door dings, and larger dents from shopping cart collisions and similar events.

HOW DO YOU BECOME A PAINTLESS DENT REPAIR TECHNICIAN?

The first step to becoming a PDR technician is to find a PDR training program in your area. There are two main ways to do this:

First, you can conduct a simple Google search with the query “paintless dent repair technician training” and the name of your city.

One of the best ways to learn PDR is to shadow a master PDR tech and learning in a hands-on environment. Once you’ve secured your training, it’s time to go to work performing paintless dent repair in San Antonio!

If you prefer not to attend a formal program, you can study at home by purchasing a PDR course and buying test panels from a local automotive shop. This is a great way to practice your skills at home, but this approach won’t offer the benefit of instructor feedback, though, and you may pick up bad habits due to lack of supervision.

WHY YOU NEED A PROFESSIONAL PDR TECHNICIAN

In the world of PDR, there’s no substitute for repetition and experience. In the event that PDR is performed improperly, it can cause more damage to your car rather than fixing it!

Because of this, it’s critical to find a professional paintless dent repair technician who can fix your dent from the inside out and leave your car looking as good as new!

Where can you purchase pdr tools online?

https://goo.gl/aKKuJV

Article from: 

http://www.primetimepdr.com/how-to-become-a-paintless-dent-repair-technician/

How To Choose The Right Paintless Dent Repair Shop For You

You can be the most careful person in the world, but hail happens. If you did not park your car under a carport or in the garage, the first thing to do next day after inspecting your vehicle is to call your insurance company and file a hail claim as we suggested in our last article. Next, you have picked a body shop and this is the heart of this article because it can be tricky. What is the difference between a good paintless dent repair (PDR) shop and a bad one? In this article, I provide a framework to identify the body shops that are more likely to meet your expectations so that you can make better decisions for your car. Research that I have done suggests that a great customer experience stems from customer service and technical expertise.

Screening through customer service

Customer service is the first thing to look at when you choose your body shop. If you contact one particular body shop because a friend referred them to you, ask how the customer service was and check online reviews to see if the average feedback is good. The reason why you want to look at the average is that it is impossible to please everybody. Every company has few bad reviews and it is normal. One bad review is not enough to decide not to go for one particular company. However, if you observe a recurring criticism then this is a red flag. Here are some questions that you can use to assess the body shop’s customer service:

-Does the body shop offer free hail damage estimate?

-Does the body shop offer free rental?

-Does the body shop offer a free pick-up and delivery service?

-Does the body shop know how long the repairs will take?

-Does the body shop offer a warranty on repairs?

If the answer to each of these questions is “yes”, then you can proceed to the technical test.

Screening through technical expertise

Paintless dent repair is very technical, as a result, you cannot become a PDR technician overnight. You learn as you go, so in the beginning, obviously, you’re going to make some mistakes. Does the customer care about that though? Will the customer deploy empathy because the technician is a beginner? No. Why? Because he/she paid for a service and expect the best outcome. Yet, you would be surprised to learn that some body shops hire beginners because they don’t have the capital or the brand power to attract experienced technicians.  Guess who will pay the price ultimately? Hence the necessity to do your due diligence with the technical test. It does not take long: all you need to do is to go to the body shop’s website and look at their technicians’ years of experience. Usually, PDR shops with experienced technicians disclose this information. Keep in mind that a good PDR technician has at least 7 years of experience.

Equipped with the customer service screening and the technical expertise screening results, you can safely choose a body shop that will meet your expectations.

Happy driving!

Article from http://autodentcompany.com/hail-damage-paintless-dent-repair-shop/

How to Fix Dents With a Slide Hammer

Dents can be repaired in multiple ways, but the only sure way to repair any dent, no matter the depth or size, is to use a slide hammer. A slide hammer is also called a dent puller and is used by every body shop to remove dents. The slide hammer can completely repair a dent when used in conjunction with a few other materials, including body filler and primer.

holes in the dent in various places. Drill one hole in the center and more holes a few inches apart, scattered throughout the dent.

• Place the tip of the slide hammer in one of the holes. The tip of the slide hammer is threaded and works like a screw. Turn the hammer until it is screwed into the hole.
• Hold the slide hammer with two hands, placing one hand on the sliding handle and the other at the end on the solid handle. Slide the weighted handled of the hammer down toward the car and quickly pull it back toward your body. Do this several times until the sheet metal inside the dent is pulled close to surface level of the car.
• Unscrew the slide hammer and place it in a different hole and repeat steps 2 and 3. Alternate the holes so that the sheet metal is pulled out as evenly as possible.
• Grind the sheet metal in and around the repaired area to remove all paint and primer. Get the area down to the bare metal. The holes drilled into the sheet metal are jagged and need to be grinded flat.
• Cover the bare metal with auto body filler to smooth any wrinkles left in the metal. Allow the filler to dry for an hour.
• Sand the filler using 80-grit sandpaper. Use a block sander or a dual-action sander to speed the process. Sand until the area is flat and smooth. Go over the area again using 180-grit sandpaper to smooth the deep scratches made by the 80-grit sandpaper.
• Spray a coat of primer over all areas of body filler and bare metal. This protects the bare metal from rusting and seals the body filler from moisture. Now the area can be painted or taken to a paint shop.