My rear panel above my rear tire got a door ding. Anybody know the best way to get it out without taking it in to a body shop??

 

I'm interested too, as i recently got caughtin a HAIL storm just south of Ammarillo. At least the two tornadoes missed us.

I've heard of products, but don't know anyhting of their effectiveness. Interested to find anyone who has used one of these DIY dent poppers.

 

I've used the "Ding King" befoe... the do-it-yourself kit that you can buy for about $15-20 at auto supply stores. It would probably help for a bowl shaped, shallow dent... the kind of thing where your Big-butt Aunt Margarate bent over too near the MINI and left a dimple 4-8 inches wide. It is NOT going to help much with a door ding where the impact happened over a very small surface area... like the edge of a door bouncing into a very small area on a large panel.

You should be able to find a paintless dent repair place that will massage this out from behind (as long as there is no paint break or crease in the metal). It will cost less than $100 (more than likely... I'd guess around $75) and should make the ding dissapear. It should require no painting, so no possibility of missing the shade and having a 2-tone car.

If you give your city location here, someone just might have a place to recommend for paintless dent repair or you can check with your local MINI club or yellow pages for info (try the former first).

Good luck!

 

www.dentwizard.com

 

Best thing I ever did for my MINI is to find a REALLY good paintless dent repair (PDR) guy. I've been through one hail storm, one door ding, and two bonnet dings (in addition to one wreck which was not a PDR job). Strange as it seems, I was also recently graced w/ another small ding above the rear wheel arch, driver's side that'll be going in for PDR soon.

I recommend checking w/ local MINI owners, inquiring around the MINI dealers, and asking other area car enthusiasts. Some PDR guys are better than others, so be picky. The guy I use is a MINI owner himself and works on a lot of local MINIs as well as other really nice cars. He knows his way around the access points on a MINI, is extremely reasonable, and understands MINI owners attachment to their cars (...no small feat). Establishing a relationship based on common enthusiasm helps, too.

My MINI's been through a lot but you'd never know it. Let the pros do what they do best I say. Experience, know-how, and raw talent are worth their weight in gold.

Now if I can only find someone who can deal w/ paint chips as flawlessly (on my MINI's side...I do have a clear bra).