Dent

Dings pushed out from behind the panel, factory paint left alone

Door dings and shallow dents worked out from the back side of the panel, so the original finish stays on the car when the paint is intact and the metal allows it.

Call (401) 461-9200 Request an estimate

Which dents come out clean and which ones do not

Paintless work lives or dies on two things: the paint and the metal. A shallow ding in a door, a crease from a runaway shopping cart, a round dimple from a parking lot. Those are the dents that tend to come out clean, because the paint flexed with the metal instead of cracking. If you can run a fingernail across the dent and the finish is unbroken, the odds are on your side. Ray looks at each one under good light before anybody promises you anything.

Some dents are not candidates, and Ray will tell you so. Paint that has cracked or flaked, metal stretched sharp at the center of the hit, or a dent sitting right on a panel edge or body line all push the job toward regular bodywork. Call (401) 461-9200 and describe the damage, or bring the car by 299 Allens Ave, and you get a straight answer about which side of the line your dent falls on. Estimates come back within 24 hours on average.

Working the metal from the back side

The technician gets behind the panel, sometimes through a gap in the trim or by pulling an inner liner, and works the dent out with slender rods in small passes. Nobody is hammering. The metal is coaxed back a hair at a time while a reflection board or a strip of light shows the low spots as bends in the lines. A good tech reads those bent lines like a map, and the dent shrinks until the reflection runs straight across the panel again.

Because nothing is cut, filled or sanded, the finish that came on the car stays on the car. That is a real advantage on a vehicle you plan to keep, since a respray is something anyone can spot by looking along the panel in strong sun. It also means no masking, no spray booth and no cure time to wait out. The slow part of this job is patience, not process.

Why a small fix is worth doing right

A dent that never gets fixed rarely stays harmless. A sharp ding near a seam holds dirt and moisture, and a hairline crack in the paint is a place for rust to take hold. Pulling the dent out early keeps a cosmetic annoyance from growing into a body repair. If you are not sure it is worth bringing in, call Jenn at the front desk and describe it, and she and Ray will tell you.

And when a dent turns out to need more than a push, you are already standing in a full collision shop in Providence. Paint and refinishing, frame work and the insurance paperwork all sit under the same roof, so the car moves from one step to the next without you chasing a second shop. Anything that becomes a body repair falls under the lifetime warranty Ray's gives on body repairs for as long as you own the car.

A technician working over a blue body panel with masking tape at its edge

I-CAR trained technicians, a computer paint station and a lifetime warranty on body repairs, all at 299 Allens Ave in Providence.

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