Do those suction cup dent removers work?

I got that DENT KING to use on my dad's SUV, the back door was hit by a handle of a shopping kart at Home Depot, the kart was just leaning against the car when we got out there. So I followed the directions and everything and it didn't work ONE bit. It sucked. Not a bit of good. The glue kept coming off wouldn't pull or nothing. We tried to return it but, "We used all the glue sticks up" as the women said.

 

umm them things are garbage according to my brother in law... but he is an autobody mechanic and could just be protecting his future work load.

he does use something similiar at work for minor dent removal with some not so slight differences.

his machine is computerized since depressions in order to be removed completely must have a net positive force applied to accomplish this. iow, if a dent creates a depression of factor of -5, then a pull of +6 or more is required for a net result of zero to be achieved. so when the dent puller works (his has 4000 lbs of pneumatic pressure behind it and will pull any dent that is at least 1.5 cm across)

a beam is used to align the puller with the rest of the surface being matched. all he does is pulls the dent up past flush slightly and releases. the machine tells him if its aligned correctly so he doesnt have to eyeball it. if its not enough, he does it again until its perfectly flush. (or within parameters. ive seen him do it and on larger dents of more than a few inches, the machine will say its not right but we couldnt see anything)

keep in mind that 90% of dent repair today is total replacement of the panel. however, there are some panels that simply are not available.

 

I had a door ding the size of a fifty cent piece removed by a paintless dent repair place for $25. That's probaly what one of the Dent King things that don't work would cost. In my mind it was well worth it and returned my car to looking like new without a new panel or repainting or anything else. Since we get a lot of hail here, there are a lot of these type of shops around.

Hope that helps.
Luta

 

I just had a quarter-sized dent (quite noticeable) removed from my passenger door by a company (Dent Doctor) specializing in Paintless Dent Removal (like Dent Wizard). It took about 35 minutes, no appointment necessary, $90, and the car looks brand new. It was well worth it to me to have it done by experts. Their process works like magic.

The dent in my case was caused by a white Monte Carlo. Unfortunately, I was nearing my car in the lot and watched as the door was slammed into my car. The owner of the other car refused to take any responsibility when confronted. It was not a good day. But, I'm over it now and the car looks great again.

Good luck!

 

We did not have as much luck. Someone hit our back bumper- I think an 1960 big honker cadillac, and left a huge ding.
We used a suction cup (Consumer Reports said they worked some). We heated it with a blow dryer and the suctioned some out of it, but the bumper is a piece of $#%^@, so not all came out.

 

dent repair

Have used DentBusters, a paintless dent repair service, in the past on three cars I have owned; Honda Accord SEI, Acura Legend LS and Acura RL Navi. All the dents were small but very noticable, especially on graphite grey and forest green cars, from rocks, door dents, shopping carts, etc. The process is non-invasive, quick and worked just great. It took years off the appearance of my Accord and when I traded in my Legend LS the dealer's appraiser wanted to buy my car himself. The cost is nominal and much faster than traditional processes; plus the paint matches because its original. So give it a go!

 

Another way

Another way Is seen is to push the dent out. If you can get to the dent either by removing the interior trim, or down the window gap, there are tools that can pop the dent out from behind. The tool looks a bit like an allen key, but longer. Your local body shop should be able to do the dent in a few minutes if its accessable.

 

The thing to do in that case is write down the other car's license plate number. If the other driver is not acting aggressive, you could ask for his insurance information. Then go to your insurance company and report it as an act of vandalism, with whatever information you have. On my insurance there is no deductible for vandalism, so the insurance company would pay the full cost, and then would go after the other driver.

 

Good suggestions to remember. I did ask about the owner's insurance, but was met with resistance. Then I forgot to get a license plate number. In this case, the $90 and 35 minutes at a friendly shop was less agony than dealing with my insurance company and this particular person. Maybe I'll check my insurance policy on vandalism for future reference. Thanks!

 

Just pay someone....

The best thing to do is just pay someone to do it. The only thing is finding someone.

I found a real good guy through the Federal Credit Union that financed my car. They do a lot of leases so they often get cars back that need some dents fixed. They recommended a guy, he was great and I even got the FCU's rate for the work since I found him through them.

 

I've played around with pulling dents in people's cars over the years and have found that with the Prius pushing works much better.

Someone hit my car when it was parked and left a nasty dent in the left rear quarter panel. I was able to push it out with my thumbs and clean it up with a bit of touch up paint.

The Prius body metal is pretty thin compared to what I'm used to (Old Saabs and Volvos), and it's easy to push out dents.

Thumbs seem to work great because they are soft and you have the most control over them. Do not use any hard objects when pushing out dents. It's a bad idea.

Good luck everyone.

~Andrew