Dang Door Ding... Already!

[DaveTinNY]

I've had my MCS for less than two weeks and already I have a door ding roughly the size of a nickel... it's small and it didn't pierce or scratch the paint but MAN it pi**ses me off to no end. I know dings are a fact of car ownership but this is especially painful seeing how much I love my Coop.

Are there any easy ways to get them out -- easily?

TIA

[gokartride]

My advise? Climb every mountain, ford every stream, follow every rainbow...to find the best paintless dent repair (PDR) person in your town. Ask around....check w/ local owners.

I have a guy here who is a god! He drives an MCS, is super nice, exceptionally reasonable, and does flawless work. He understands MINI owners (no small feat) and, early on, knew his way around a MINI better than anybody.

He has helped me out so much. I had some (2) small dents in my bonnet (left by some drunken idiot, I think ) and this guy delt with them for about $35 each (if I recall)...while I waited.

Find somebody like that and you'll be hooked up!!!

[mataku]

dang.. .that stinks. I often hear people recommending paintless repair where they use some sort of apparatus and massage the area to get it back into shape.

Although i'm not too knowledgable, I can give you some tips on not getting them in general. I'm into 8 months of ownership with no dings. Basically I just park safely:

I don't park near the entrance where the masses do. I mean a 1 minute walk is not big deal, helps me stay in shape.

Don't park near large vehicles. They generally take up more space, making them closer to you.

Park where only one other car can park next to you. These spots are really nice because not only is your chance reduced by 50%, but you can park as close as you can to the non parking side.

For parallel, pay attention to who has more room, the guy in front of you or behind you. Park closer to the guy with more room. Also sometimes good to park closer to the guy in front of you as most people back into you rather than just ram you.

I know these are obvious, but it doesn't hurt to remember them.

[911Fan]

Be careful who you ask for though. You don't want to end up with the Dentless Paint Removal guy...

[BaldBikerGuy]

I always like the last spot in the lot...it's a nice walk and if it's raining I look like the good guy because I drop my wife off at the door.

The Paintless Dent guys are something else! I've seen what they can do and it's worth every penny to not have that ding in your car. I saw one take a HUGE ding out of my buddies MB before he turned it in on lease...not even a mark, I was amazed.

Prevention is the key though

[The Short Bus]

And never ever take your car in for service. Gag.

I park in the empty lot at work (as does every mini in our office park ) I park almost curbed or other ends of lots when i go shopping.

When i go to places with small lots where i HAVE to park near people, and the end spaces are taken by lard vehicles that just can't park up between people, then i remember every car around me's plates and make things quick while inside the place, or stay close to windows.

But no matter how anal i am, and how much i hate to see my poor mini get a owie.. the day i drop my car off at the dealership for alot of work, is the day it comes home with me dinged. I'm not blaming them, but that car has brought out the obsessive compulsiveness in me to make a full walk around that car looking in awkward angles to make sure i have nothing before, and nothing after hurt on that car when i go anywhere.

Dings happen. People don't care if their door hits your car, or if the cart they put in front of/beside your car rolls into yours... even though there's a place to put their carts two spaces down. People don't care if you're the only person in an area of a lot within a mile around you... they're going to want that one space beside you. I'm hoping the one day a car dings me is the day i can see it, run over to my car, and open my nice big door and bash a nickel size ding in to theirs. "How do YOU like it?"

Which reminds me... i was going to the store one day with my boyfriend in his miata. Of course, when i'm in that car other miata's pop out. I saw one parked, and as we were driving by looking at it, a couple kids got out of a van, and one girl was rubbing and touching the miata all over... mom didn't do a thing.

/rant. You found my weakness.

[DaveTinNY]

Thanks for all of your advice.. I try to park carefully but just like bad drivers there are bad parkers... (I park very well, thanks). I also work at the IBM facility in Fishkill, NY where parking spaces are a PREMIUM these days... Oh well. I'll look for a good Paintless Dent shop if one exists here in NY. Just yesterday I noticed a ding where the paint was removed on the bonnet, near one of my stripes. I do a lot of highway driving so I know my poor MINI's gonna get hammered by small flying objects... Ugh.

[DaveTinNY]

Follow up... I put a picture of the ding in my Gallery. You can't miss it.

[buzzy]

Dentwizard will be able to get that dent out. If they've not worked with mini's you might want to remove the interior trim before they arrive though so they won't have to drill through the door jam to get to the dent.

Luke