Helly everyone!
I have a 2007 Jeep Liberty Sport with approximately 52000 miles on it, yeah, I don’t drive it all that much. I have about 4 dings that are not very deep and you have to look at the car pretty closely to be able to see dings. I have dings on the driver side and front passenger door, both at almost the exact part of the door. I’ve shown them to a local PDR guy, and I was told that the dings are at the reinforced steel part of the door so they can’t remove the dings without actually taking the doors apart, which costs quite a lot. The PDR tech also said he can’t use the “glue method” as it’s at an angle and he can’t just pull it out. So, I learned to live with those two dings.
Recently, while loading groceries, I put another couple of dings right behind the left rear passenger door, less than 2 inches to the edge. I think these two can be removed using the “glue method”.
My question is this, since this is almost a 6 year old car, and I live in the city where car dings are almost unavoidable, should I spent the money ($100-$200) to have them removed? Or just learn to live with it? The wife says to leave them alone, save the money since they are not huge dents and it’s really hard to see them since my car is black. They bother me because I know they are there, but I know they won’t be the last dings I will get on my car.
" . . . I live in the city where car dings are almost unavoidable . . . "
Leave them unless paint is missing to bare metal. In that case, keep touching them up with matching paint available at the dealer or auto parts in your color or have the damage professionally repaired.
Fix them and you’ll just be anxious waiting to find new dings.
CSA
P.S. The car doesn’t have to come apart to fix small dings/dents, but painting entire panels would probably be necessary.
No, you should absolutely NOT spend the money to repair them. Take your wife out to dinner at a nice restaraunt instead. The only caveat I’ll add is that if one breaks paint and exposes metal, cover it with touchup paint post-haste. I keep a bottle handy just for such an occasion.
Besides, I’ve seen a dinged area repaired and becaue of difficulty matching paint it looked like the car had been in an accident when the sun hit it just right.
The only thing I would check the dings for is cracked or scraped paint layer. Sometimes there is a small area that may need a little sanding and touch up. When my son had our/his old junker after 15 years and 250 k miles, he would just put a little grease on the area till he coud get to it in warm weather. It’s hard to repair it yourself in cold. Don’ t wait to cover that up. Otherwise, , wear them with pride.
If you have the money, repair them. 2007 with 52k, has a solid decade of life left. You will be owning the car for many years, and it bugs you. $200 and a car wash to have car look like new is worth it to me.
Has anyone ever tried the “hair dryer & compressed air” method of removing dents? I’ve used about 2 cans of compressed air, and it did nothing to remove the dent.