Dent body and how do you deal with it?

Good morning everyone. I hate hit and run so much. My rig-only 1 year old with so much love-got a body dent yesterday in Cambria coast, CA. My blood was boiled, and it really spoiled my last vacation this summer. Should I go to body shop and fix it or just leave it there and look at it as a scar. My OCD blood drives me crazy but my brain tells me just leave it their and and love it more. This a small dent and noticeable if we look for it. I just want to ask how do you deal with that situation, and what are your retrospective after 5 or 10 year look back.

 

Not sure how big it is, but I have heard a lot of people having good experiences with dent pullers. They are able to get a lot out for pretty cheap 150-300.

 

Had a very small door ding in our Crosstrek. We bought one of those paintless dent puller kits off Amazon. Worked amazingly well.

 

Why would you need a puller for a dentless dent?

Sorry, I couldn't help it...

 

That dent looks like a good candidate for paintless dent repair. It’s not very expensive. I know a lot of folks do it themselves with kits from Amazon, but it strikes me as one of those things that requires some technique to do well. I’d choose to have it taken care of by someone who knows what they’re doing.

No insurance?

 

Take the jack and tools out and see if you can apply pressure or use a plastic tool & rubber mallet to pop it back?

 

Second on paint less dent removal if you feel uncomfortable attempting this repair yourself.

 

I'd try pulling it myself. No b.s,. try a plunger (smaller suction cups work too) I've pulled several dents doing that with good success.

 

No idea what you're talking about. My post looks fine. You just quoted me wrong.

 

PDR, then buy a plate bumper with treesaver tubes, for the next guy that hits your 4Runner, and the next guy, and the next guy...

 

I put moldings on doors for some protection…they are almost invisible. Paint is exact match.

 

Did you add the moldings yourself? Were they from Toyota?

 

I did. Sportwing.com OEM quality, excellent matching paint. Template to line up. Extremely strong 3m adhesive.

 

Having difficulty finding this on the site, probably due to my tablet. I have the same paint as you, so a link would be greatly appreciated, thanks.

 

Any paint damage i.e. down to the metal? I would take it to a PDR and pay cash so it won’t hit your insurance. They can fix it fast and cheap. They will also do a much better job then you can without the chance of screwing it up.

 

that should be pretty easy to pull. if that was mine, I'd do the hot glue/wooden dowel bit but ya gotta be comfortable doing that stuff

 

https://www.sportwing.com/FE2-4RUN-...-Side-Molding?search=4runner&description=true

 

My mistake. I was thinking of the door edge molding, not body side molding. But thanks!

 

Door edge molding is oem Toyota.

 

If you do any suction or dent removal, just make sure it's done in warm weather. Panels are much more pliable then and the paint is too. I had a paintless dent removal company take something out of my daughter's fender, right on a contour line. Really impressed with it, no indication that the dent was ever there.

If you have dash cam system that caught the incident or a witness that saw somebody do it with a non-vehicle (somebody pulling a kayak off their roof, dumb brat practicing his karate kicks or something) while you were parked, you can make a comprehensive claim with no worry about it raising your insurance rate premiums.

 

Try this.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vzo4aJuahJ4

 

I think that panel can also be reached from the jack and toolkit area. Maybe a gentle push on a warmed panel might put it back into place...

 

PS a hair dryer is also wonderfully effective. Remember to heat the whole panel.

 

Not really visible clearly from the angle of your picture. But a PDR shop should charge around 150 to take care of it.
I have had good experience with Amazon PDR kits. They remove the dent up to 90% of what a professional would do if you are patient and careful.

 

I got the PDR service and it’s 90% fixed. I’m still feel bad. It maybe the last generation of old school V6. I just love the feeling when I drive it.