PDR Skills

[Dave]

Anyone doing PDR? I don't know much about it myself but it's seems like it would be a nice service to offer once trained.

[Bob]

I looked at taking training but could never find any local training in my area and I was going to take a couple of weeks off work to go get trained in another part of the state. LOL I'd like to learn it though. I think there can be a lot of money in it. I know most body shops don't do it, they just contract that sort of work out so if you could do it and hook up with a body shop or even an insurance guy you could probably do really well.

[doctordon]

I, too, would be interested in learning more about PDR. Difficulty, insurance issues, tool cost, etc. If there is anyone doing this full or part-time please let us know your thoughts.

[detaildoc]

Big money in doing mobile PDR. I've had to call this guy about 3x already to take care of dents induced by a****les in parking lots. Two calls cost me $75 and one $100. He did a great job each time and didn't take very long and had several jobs like that the whole day.

[Dave]

I am going to try and get a PDR guy on the forums.....

[Bob]

We used to have one. He was from Dent Genie which is in Detroit. He never post anymore though. He does excellent work.

[Dave]

I found this on youtube and emailed this guy yesterday with hopes on getting him to chime in and enlighten us :) His business name sounds familiar but I don't know him personally.


nqy2pKVHXA4

[Dave]

This is kinda cool, it's a 93 RX-7 rear quarter panel. I actually had this same dent once and wish I would have known more about PDR or even this simple process! I think this only works on certain kinds of dents though.


ILVWPzO_swY&feature=related

[rwisejr]

Thats cool

[Ron Harris]

Wow! a heat gun and an upside down can of compressed air!

I wonder if he likes his paint. Doing this you run the risk of fracturing your paint of even worse de laminating it.

Quick story.

A guy calls and says he got a dent in the A pillar of a rental vehicle. He didn't get the insurance on the car when he signed the papers. So he wants to know if I could come out and look at and possibly repair the damage. He sets an appointment for me to come out.

Well I show up and it's about the size of a quarter. I tell him I can only glue pull the dent. So I set up to start the repair and he goes in the house. after my glue gun gets to operating temperature I glue my first tab on the dent. I waited about 20 seconds, then pulled to tab with my slide hammer. To my horror the paint came right off with the glue and the tab. It was factory paint and a new car. I couldn't understand it. so I call him out and give him the bad news. I tell him that it is very very unusual that the factory paint would come off. He begins to tell me how he held dry ice on the dent for a complete inning of a baseball game the night before. Then gave it heat from a heat gun.

This explained every thing to me.

Back to the Q and A

As far as the money goes it's in the retail side. It takes years to build your name and client list so you starve in the beginning. Wholesale is so full of low ballers undercutting each other you might as well get a regular job.


If your seeking training one on one is the way to go. I would stay away from the mills that crank out guys week after week.

If you took golf lessons from Tiger Woods for a couple weeks you wouldn't play like him. so don't expect to be trained and then go out and be a great tech. It is an art and a skill. It takes time to hone your craft.

Tools and accessories will cost you around $3000.00

Insurance $800 to $1200 a year.

Looking for local training? Good luck Ever heard the phrase don't s*** where you eat. If a local guy wants to train you he probably sucks and is going broke because he relies on price to sell a job and not his skills.

PDR is a great add on if you have a shop. You really don't even need to know how to do it. Just price it right. Contract it out. Find a good local guy and he will give you his wholesale rate and you mark it up from there.

Your going to have the car for a day anyhow why not add a little extra revenue to the ticket.

[Dave]

So maybe compressed air isn't such a good idea after all :?

Very good info here! There are only a handfull of guys that do PDR here and from what I've seen and heard they are not the best so personal training is not an option for me.


A few things I have been wondering are:

What are the limitations of PDR?

How do you deal with areas that have body fillers and such?

Are there other steps involved such as light removal, panels, etc?

How long would legitimate training take? It sounds like one would benefit from an actual apprenticeship vs a crash course.


Thanks for signing up and willing to answer questions Ron!

[Ron Harris]

What are the limitations of PDR?

Cracked paint, body edges damaged, stretched metal and access are the bigest challenges we face every day. Your skill leval would be the next limitation

How do you deal with areas that have body fillers and such?

You really have to stay away from these areas.

Are there other steps involved such as light removal, panels, etc?

Lights, interior panels, wheels fender linings if it can be removed to gain access or give you better tool position then we do it. We do charge accordingly if we need to do this.

How long would legitimate training take? It sounds like one would benefit
from an actual apprenticeship vs a crash course.

Prior to the training mill method guys would apprentice for 6 months at a time. The better the training the higher level of success. Imagene if you crammed 4 years of College into one.

You can find some good one on one trainers that you can spend a couple of weeks with. Your going to spend the money up front for every thing but it will continue to pay you back for the rest of your life