Dealing With Dents, Dings And Scratches On The Body Of Your Car

The body of your car is one of the first things people notice when you drive up, and if it has a lot of dents, dings, and scratches on it, it is not great to look at. Keeping your car looking great may mean taking it to a car body repair shop to have the dents and other blemishes fixed.

Dents and Dings

Small dents and dings in the body of your car are often not hard to remove unless they are on a body line. Many times, a car body repair shop can remove the dents with a process that doesn't even require repairing the car and will leave the body looking as good as new. 

If the dent or ding has a chip in the paint, pulling the dent out will leave the chip in the paint and may even chip more. If this is the case, the body shop will have to send the old paint down, prime the area, and repaint the panel. Often, the body shop can match the paint, and you will not be able to tell that the dent was there once the work is completed. 

Larger dents may be harder to remove, and if the car was in an accident or struck by something substantial like hailstones, the car body repair shop may need to replace the dented portion of the body with a new panel. The technician working on your car will evaluate the damage and let you know if they can repair the dents or need to replace parts so that you can submit the information to your insurance company and get approval before the work on the car starts.

Scratch Repair

In most situations, scratches on the surface of the car body can be removed easily. Unless the scratch is deep enough to cut into the actual paint layer, most of the time, buffing the car with a buffing compound is enough to remove the scratches. Any car body repair shop can handle the job for you quickly and easily.

For scratches that are deep and cut through the paint to the metal surface, the technician will need to sand the paint down to the metal and then feather it out to create a smooth transition from the paint to the steel. Once the area is smooth, the tech will apply some primer to seal the metal, and the area can be painted to match the existing paint on the car. Once the paint is dry and the car buffed and waxed, it will look as good as new again.