Aagh....door panel small dent - advice?

[Arianne]

Dear All,

I have picked up a dent - see attached image. It's a calling card left by an unknown stranger. I always park my car away from all of the others if possible but clearly someone has managed to seek me out

I want to get it repaired and I have posted the image to ask you guys if it's something that those people at Dent Devils (or similar) can fix. There was another thread on a similar topic a few weeks back. I have checked the Dent Devils website and will use them, subject to what you good people tell me.

So here are my questions, if anyone knowledgeable would be kind enough to respond:

1. looking at the image, is this something that the people like Dent Devils can repair? It's not big and it's about 1/2 of the way up the rear offside door panel near to the B- pillar.
2. how do they repair it?
3. if they need to take the interior door panel off to push it out from the inside then would this cause issues with the refitting of the door card, moisture membrane etc?
4. what would you do if you were in my shoes (doing nothing is not an option though)?

Thank you, in advance.

Arianne

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[Stevelimabravo]

Have used a dent removal company before on my wife's old yaris after someone had kicked the door @ 6 inch circular dent, they guy who did it was recommended by the toyota dealer and after his magic there was no sign left. Would only use someone who has been recommended, work was done without removing door card. See if your volvo dealer uses someone.

[mike95]

I have also had some done in the past with perfect results. The normal method is to apply vacuum to the outside whilst teasing out the dent from the inside with some special tools. These tools normally slide down between the door skin and internal panel.

I would also advise asking your dealer. They usually have them visiting regular to do sales cars so you could maybe arrange to be there on the same day. That is what I have done with my Saab dealer in the past.

Good luck. It really is annoying, I know.

Mike

[JGEM]

Sorry to hear that my bad luck with door dents seems to be contagious! I think a reasonable number of dents are caused by children opening doors impetuously. As a parent of 3 children I can vouch from first hand experience of seeing this sort of thing happen. Children excited by an impending visit to something they can see when the car pulls up (like a beach, park, pool, toy shop etc) are the worst as they just want to get out of the car ASAP. Lest you think my children were a bunch of hyperactive delinquent door denters I only know of one dent they caused in 21 years.

Some Japanese cars I've worked on only have the door trim and then a layer of heavy plastic underneath which is sealed around the inner perimeter of the door with some tar like substance. To access the inner door this membrane must be pulled back and in the process sometimes tears and in my opinion is never quite as good again when it's replaced and often requires repair with duct tape etc when reinstating.

The XC60 doors are different and have:
1) the outer door trim panel you see, which is held on with 2 screws under the handle pull and then a series of push on / pull off type fasteners
2) the inner door carrier which carries the electric window motor and some electric modules and sensor. This carrier has a rubber seal which gets compressed when the 10 screws around the perimeter of it are tightened up.

Providing sufficient care and attention is taken in the removal / reinstatement process things can be put together again without any reduction in the integrity of the door assembly sealing.

I recently disassembled my drivers door to an empty shell and reassembled it and the trickiest part I found was the reinstatement of the glass without damaging the layer of plastic window tinting when the glass was slid back into its track. I was rushing a little as I had to get the car ready for an appointment and ended up damaging the tinting in one part of the window on the edge but luckily the small amount of damage is not visible when the window is closed.

Good luck with your dent removal. As long as your dent is not directly over the inner safety intrusion bar you should be OK.

[Pitvar]

Another vote for getting a recommendation of a dent man from local garages - I used one I found myself on a previous car who got around 90% of the dents out and then found a different bloke locally who did all the dents on Jags and Land Rovers as they came off the production line. He was a miracle worker and removed similar dents to your with no trace and very quickly! I met him at the local Audi garage where he was to do all theirs.

[craigv60]

A friend of mine's Focus RS had a door creased in a car park by someone opening their door onto it.

I didn't actually see the repair being done, but apparently the Chipsaway agent glued 3 or 4 small rods to the crease, attached a sort of slide hammer to the rods and tugged the crease out. He then removed the rods, and buffed up the panel. Took a couple of hours apparently.

I can tell you that there wasn't a trace of the crease afterwards.

[kdscot]

After the turtle issues you've had I'd be tempted to speak to your dealer.It's almost zero cost for them as they'll have someone in regularly and it's higher value to you?

[Chief inspector]

That should be easily removed by a competent mobile PDR guy without disturbing the door card or membrane.

Special tools go down the side of the window glass and gently push the dent out, it's a skilled job, you or I would end up pushing it too far.

Your dealer will definitely be able to reccomend a guy to you, or tell you the next time he is due in to tidy their used stock.

[Ninja59]

Even if they cannot go down the door a slide hammer with pins should get that out fine as long as the paint has not cracked which it appears not in this case.

Although the depth could mean slide hammer first to it to get the worst out.

[Arianne]

Originally Posted by kdscot

After the turtle issues you've had I'd be tempted to speak to your dealer.It's almost zero cost for them as they'll have someone in regularly and it's higher value to you?

Sorry, I forgot to mention that the dealer did indeed do the wheel swap-out at no charge. They just did it and, because everyone was so focused upon the turtle issue, we never spoke about the cost of the wheel changeover. I must thank them.

Thank you to everyone for your advice and the information. Much appreciated.

Arianne