Paintless dent repair...minor rant

flyinion

flyinion

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Is it normal for PDR places to do any buffing afterwards? My gf used a Groupon today for PDR for a couple dents someone put in the side while she was parked downtown one day. We went to dinner and in the setting sun I took a look a the repair job.

I quickly realized someone who had zero clue how to use a rotary buffer used one on about 2/3's the drivers door and 1/2 the rear passenger (drivers side had the dents along the bottom 1/4 of the vehicle). Not only were there nasty holograms but at the right angle it almost looked like sanding scratches it was so bad.

I'm going to have to take my Wolfgang TSR and FG to it now to fix it (and Nissan already has thin & soft paint). I told her to call the company on Monday and complain (she paid 150 over the 100 the Groupon covered to have the stuff removed). What really sucks is just a couple months ago I had polished the car with the FG and sealed it, now I'm going to have to fix that side. :mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad:
 
I've never seen a PDR guy buff anything. I have a friend who does pdr and he never buffs, maybe some guys do but I've never seen it.
 
Thanks guys, this is what I thought. I'm not just "seeing things" either. There is "compound" splatter in spots on that side of the car. Really makes no sense that they would do this.
 
I've had PDR a few times and they never buffed, nor did I want them to.
 
Maybe the dent had a scratch or scuff on it, and it needed to be removed to "read" the dent, and see the bottom of the dent when he was pushing the dent up. The only time I buff after doing PDR is when you have a nasty dent that can't be finished "perfect" so you wet sand and buff the area to level it and hide any remaining damage. It is rare that PDR techs buff the paint, and we only do so when its necessary. Alot of dent guys are not detailers and are clueless on how to wet sand and buff properly.
 
cleanmycorolla said:
do you have pics?
Click to expand...

I will next weekend when I fix it. I understand the comment about maybe they had to buff the dent, but when I take the picture and circle relevant areas you guys will see just how crazy the dude went with buffing.
 
Had a few personal cars PDR'd by two different guys and also when I worked in the car business for many years witnessed many PDR repairs. Don't ever remember any of them doing any buffing other than a little by hand. I too can see a need in certain situations for it to be done. The guy may have butchered it but I would bet he was well intentioned. IMO I would just fix the damage myself and move on but defiantly let them know about the horrendous finish they left!
 
yes some do use a buffer. the one we use now has a dewalt in his van. he said some dent have scuffs that he polishes out when done
 
Another "pro" doing a bang up job I see. Have GF Take pictures done to the shop let them pay for a proper repair by someone. Don't mention you are BF. Provide your estimate for repair to shop and have them pay you to fix it correctly.

They probably caused damage, panicked, grabbed a buffer and hacked it up.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I997 using AG Online
 
So we got sort of an answer, she finally called them today. They said they would have used a buffer to try to remove any stuck on paint left from what caused the dent. There definitely was some of that so now I understand why. However, as stated, the dents, scraping, and paint, were along the bottom 1/4 to 1/3rd of the vehicle's doors. So it's really weird that they ran the buffer all the way up to the bottom of the windows. Anyway I think Wolfgang finishing glaze on a white pad will fix it. Supposedly it will take out 2500 grit sanding scratches so that should be good enough for holograms/buffer swirls I hope.
 
What's really amusing in a bad way about this is that someone could be so bad with a rotary like this. I mean, me who had no experience with one, ran a friends DeWalt 849 (older model not the newer dual speed down to 600rpm ones) on an old junkyard Honda door with M105 and 205 and put NO swirls in it or holograms while trying to learn how to use a rotary. I suspect this place used a wool pad and some kind of compound and didn't even bother trying to use a filler glaze at all.
 
I could understand some polishing to remove scuffs or paint transfer but if I were a PDR guy I'd limit it to some light hand polishing.

If we're talking about something that can be repaired by PDR its going to be a small enough area that there is absolutely no reason to use a buffer.
 
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