There is nothing worse than finding an unexpected dent in your car. Caused by a multitude of different things, dents can occur to even the most careful of drivers, and it isn’t uncommon for drivers to return to their car to find a blemish on the surface. Whether caused by an unexpected bollard, a runaway football, or an act of nature, dents are a fact of life.
When a dent occurs on your car, you are going to want to get it fixed. Here at ChipsAway we are experts in car dent removal, helping car owners up and down the country repair their vehicles to pristine condition. With that in mind, we have put together this guide exploring car dent removal in more detail. Throughout the course of this page we will explore the various different causes of dents, types of dent that can occur to your car, and several car dent removal techniques.
If your car has been dented and you would like a free no-obligation estimate to get it fixed, then you can find your local specialist today. Alternatively, feel free to call us direct on 0800 145 5118.
Car dents can come in a variety of shapes and sizes, from a wide number of different causes. Anything that comes into contact with your car, especially those objects that come into contact with force, can leave a dent. That being said, there are a few causes that are more common than others. Some of those causes include:
Car parks are obstacles that most drivers have to navigate on a daily basis. Due to the sheer density of cars parked in a relatively small space, it is possible for accidents to happen. In fact car parks remain, to this day, amongst the most likely places to damage your car.
Whether this is through a mishap when reversing or the bump of car doors opening, it is more than possible for one car to accidentally ding another. It is important to take extra care when opening your doors in a car park just to ensure that accidental damage is not caused to the car next to you.
Alternatively, inanimate objects can cause accidents within a car park. Unexpected bollards, columns, and barriers are all known to cause damage to cars. Accidentally bumping one, even slightly, can result in a dent.
For tips and tricks for avoiding accidents in parking lots you can read our handy guide here.
Another large contributor to car dents includes a wide variety of potentially out of control objects. Whether a runaway shopping trolley, or a piece of sporting equipment such as a football or golf ball, these accidents can leave dings and dents within the body of your car. Items such as shopping trolleys can also scratch a car if they scrape past, catching the clearcoat layer of the paint and potentially digging deep.
Objects such as footballs can not only cause damage to the core body of the car, but they can also dent alloy wheels. Denting the wheels can ruin their aesthetic. The good news is that specialist dent removal techniques also work on alloy wheels, so you can get your car looking as good as new in no time.
Acts of nature are hard to avoid, and there are unfortunately a wide variety of ways that nature can damage your car – from kick back from the car in front of you, to hailstones and falling objects. No matter how careful a driver you are, sometimes nature will find a way of damaging your car regardless.
One of the most common causes of car damage actually comes from debris on the road itself. Whether it is a static branch, poking out in an unexpected place, or whether stones are fired at your car via kickback from the wheels of the car in front, debris can cause the body of your car to get damaged. Unfortunately, this kind of damage is hard to avoid; however, when it does happen you are going to want an efficient, effective, and economic dent removal service.
Even harder to avoid causes of dents in cars come from falling objects and natural weather phenomenon. Branches or debris from trees can often fall on top of cars, causing damage, and heavy hailstones can also damage the car.
When an object dents your car it can be done in a number of ways. There are several types of dent that can be created by objects striking your car. With this in mind there are actually four core types of dent for us to explore – sharp/angular, creased, round, and ding.
Sharp or angular dents are the most defined dents in regards to how they look, and they are easy to spot.
Sharp dents come in all shapes and sizes; however, they are distinctive because of how the damage sits on the body of the car. Careful dent removal techniques need to be used on angular dents due to how they sink into the surface of the car. Sharp dents usually have steep sides, leaving the rest of the panel relatively untouched.
Crease dents are slightly different to sharp dents because, unlike where a sharp dent can be incredibly localised, a crease dent can cover the entire panel of a car. Creases can come in a variety of shapes and sizes, often following contours in the car body.
Creases are unsightly, often warping the car body and potentially stretching the metal out of place. It is also possible for a crease to have both a smooth depression and a ridge at the edge of the dent.
Round dents are amongst the most common dents that can be found on the body of a car. Often caused by a direct impact hitting the car, usually from a piece of debris or item like a football, round dents are amongst the easiest dents to fix. It is often the case that, when a round dent occurs, the paint around the dent won’t be broken. When this is the case, the paint won’t need to be repaired, and this the dent can be massaged out using a paintless dent removal technique.
When your car gets a ding it can come from a variety of different causes. Common causes include hail or other small objects landing on the car. Beside small objects, dings can be caused by door collisions and other small bumps.
No matter how big the dent, you will want to get it fixed as soon as possible. If the paintwork has been damaged it needs to be fixed in order to prevent further damage to the car, otherwise it is possible for the body of the car to be left vulnerable to rust.
When it comes to removing a dent from the body of a car, there are a few methods that are effective, depending on the type of dent that you have on your car.
Although there are several home methods out there for repairing dents to your car, these methods can, if used incorrectly, do more harm than good. Using a dent puller is the safest and most reliable way to repair dents at home, although they do have their limitations. Dent pullers work on shallow dents, on flat and flexible surfaces. Where they can improve the appearance of the dent they are unlikely to cause the damage to disappear entirely. This is especially the case when the dent has creased or scratched the car. Dent pullers also have limited effectiveness on areas where the dents are on thicker metal and they won’t work on dents on the edge of bodywork.
If using a dent puller it is important to make sure you use it correctly. Using a dent puller on damaged paint can result in additional damage.
Professional car dent removal is one of the surest ways of ensuring that any damage that exists on your car is repaired quickly and efficiently.
Here at ChipsAway we specialise in car dent removal, scratch removal, bumper repair, alloy wheel repair, and Supagard application. Our dent repair process is thorough, ensuring that any damage is fully cleared up. By using a SMART (Small to Medium Area Repair Technology) technique we can localise our repair and do not need to replace entire panels in order to get the best possible result. This often makes us both faster and cheaper than traditional body shops.
In order to create a flawless finish, we use a combination of both technology and process. By merging the two together we can provide a service that not only removes dents but that can also repair paintwork. This ensures fantastic results.
Unlike with store bought solutions, that are restricted by both the size and type of dent, we can fix any small to medium sized dent. We are also able to repair any paintwork with colour matching technology to ensure the damage isn’t visible once the repair is complete.
With specialists all over the country, we are poised to help. Our mobile repair specialists can come to you. ChipsAway can ensure that your car is fixed quickly and efficiently.
To find out more you can contact us using our form to request a free no-obligation free estimate. Alternatively, you can call us on 0800 145 5118 to discuss your needs today.
We are so confident in our repairs that they come with a lifetime ownership guarantee.
