I took my daughter to a birthday party on Sunday, and I carefully parked and leave enough space on both sides of my car for people to "swing" their doors open. Anyway, I believe a much bigger SUV parked next to me after I parked... dinged my MINI and left 2 dime size "dimples" on the driver side.

Any easy way to fix it ? I know it is the cost of ownership... but it is not even a month old yet!! I am so heart broken... that I am driving my other cars for the last 2days (minivan and the Lexus)

 

Look up "paintless dent repair" in your local yellow pages. As long as there's no paint damage, those guys can usually make it look good as new for $100 or less. I've had it done three times and most of the PDR services will come to you as well.

 

Good advice. Around here, the repair costs around $70-80, and the cost is per panel. I.E., if your two dents are on the same section of the car, it may cost the same amount to fix both of them.

Don't feel too bad about getting the dents, you can be as careful as possible by parking in outer Mongolia, leaving enough room for other cars to swing their doors open. But all that effort may not matter if a careless person parks right next to you anyway and just doesnt care if he/she hits your car or not.

 

I feel your pain! When Wanda was about 2 weeks old, I was in Laramie, Wyoming on the first roadtrip, and when I stopped to re-fuel, I flung open my door right into a metal thingie (not visible from inside the MINI), giving her a righteous ding.

I had a dent doctor fix it...he came to my MINI dealership...and it looks great!


Clover

 

that's so sad that people just don't care about other's cars but i hear great things about PDR!

of course, i've had my MINI for 7 months now, and have never gotten a parking lot ding but i take my parking to an extreme... i dont mind long walks to the store besides, gives you a nice long time to keep glancing back at your mini sitting pretty by itself in the middle of no where. NICE view.

 

I second paintless dent repair. Last year, some little b*****d shot my car with a bb/pellet gun. Dent Wizards (my local folks) got the dent out in 15 minutes. It ain't cheap, but it is effective.

 

holy crap! shot your car?

 

Yep,

I think it was a Confederate raider from rural Virginny.

 

Hey, speaking of which!

I just got done at the local Dentsmith shop this morning to remove a ding that most likely came from the dealership just a short week ago when I purchased the MINI brand new. The ding was on the very outer edge of the panel that is directly in front of the passenger side door, so they weren't able to 100% remove it, but it's close. The ding itself is gone, but those that have metallic paint (as I do), may be left with a small distortion in the paint (as I have now). It's much better but still noticeable if you catch it in the right light. Regardless, PDR is the way to go in most situations. I paid $75.00 for the repair..

Also, as a FYI - dents and dings actually weaken the paint surrounding them, resulting in possible cracking/chipping/etc. later on down the road if not repaired.

Cheers,
-Justyn

 

my dealership gave me one in that exact spot

 

Wow - conspiracy!!

 

If the SUV was still there......I would have "returned the favor"

 

after about 3 days with my car iinflicted 1200 worth of damage to my car...damn raccons! and the bad thing is, i dont have that money, so its still damaged, but you can barely tell. The only thing is that the fog light fell out. Since then i have a couple dents snd dings that occurred mysteriously. So i need like 2000-2500 bucks for a complete fix.

 

I swear.. the racoons and possums are working in cohorts with the US and Japanese auto industry to cause MINI owners grief

 

if you're local and the dings aren't too deep i can push it out for you.

but im still kinda new at this.

i think tattman is up first.

 

Is there a DYI thread on pushing out dings? That could be very handy. I've been lucky to have avoided dents so far, but it's inevitable living in a crowded city. Nonetheless I wish people who are careless opening their doors would pay for the damage they cause. Basic cretinism.

 

not really. You can try those pos dingking glue pullers, but it won't give you the professional results.

I took a course in PDR and have been practicing pretty much every day
the last 7weeks. I'm still a novice..but ive fixed plenty of dings to a
point my instructor was pleased. I even have a entry-level PDR tech
diploma.

it's not easy at all. you need to have the right tools, the right eyes, and
right finess. (and practice like hell).

 

I do believe I have you all beat.

I picked up my SE7EN Saturday morning:smile: :smile: :smile: , drove it to my office. Three hours later, my cell phone rings, "Chris, excellent ride. BUT, you need to come down here right now."

I get down to my beautiful brand spankin' 3 hour old MINI, and there it is a ding on the boot hatch . I look around stomp my feet and mutter, I think every @$(*& ^%$ #@ word known to the human race.

Some ya hoo double parked behind SE7EN, and swung open their door!

These people are dastardly criminal hit and run artists! That's right 'hit and run'! So, if you ever witness one of these cowards in the act, get their license plate # and fill out a police report. It will teach them a lesson they will never forget and score justice for the rest of us.

Back to PDR, most car dealers do it, but I'm sure they are expensive. If you're in the NY/NJ area there's Dent Wizard or dentterminator.com.

 

The dealer gave me a fat ding at the top of the passenger door, right on the radius. I was bummed but they (PDR) fixed it perfectly. I still cannot find where it was. Worth the cost if the ding bothers you too much:smile: .

 

Give dentwizard a call.

Someone I've managed to avoid any side dings, but got 3 on the boot which they removed in 20mins. You would never ever know they were there.

Luke

 

I used Dent Doctor for a ding in my door. Took less than 20 minutes and cost me $90.

 

Im located in Park Ridge...but the thing is that one of my dents has some paint chipped off, and the other one is in the edge of the door, and ive been told a body shop needs to look at that.

 

yah, when there's surface damage it's best you take it into a body shop.
There are limitations with PDR and edges are one of them. There's no way
to really place the tool behind the panel when it's so close to the edge.

some of the more gifted PDR experts might be able to pull it out using
the glue tab and slide hammer technique.

Have you tried Carnica? They can do spot fixes from the outside using
some filler and spraypaint.

 

What is up with the dealership and passenger side doors/fenders?

 

I got more than a ding after about a month. We were having a BBQ at the house and my hubby took the Mini to get some supplies (he doesn't get to drive "Jack B. Nimble" very often, bless his heart). Well when he got home and was unloading all the goods he somehow dropped a 7 lb can of baked beans on the roof. (I knew I should have done homemade beans)

It took him half the afternoon to show me what he had done, it is quite a dent on the roof and has a bit of a crease in it. I haven't had time or $$$ to get it repaired yet and cringe everytime I see it. I do feel your pain, all of you.