Today I took my MINI to have a door ding removed. I used Dent Wizard. The nearest location was in Torrance. It cost $99 and took about 30 minutes. They didn't have to remove any panels, and the results are superb. I had a slight crease in my paint from when it got dinged so I was told the repair job wouldn't be 100% perfect but close. From what I could tell, it was about 99.9999% perfect--with only an ever slight hint from an angle.

Granted my ding was pretty easy to fix, but I went in with a bit of hesitation. I knew there was a slight paint crease and wasn't sure what they would do about it. I also wondered about whether they would have to remove panels, etc..

Turned out for mine, they just slid the tools down the door in front of the glass. They put a protective piece of metal in between, and used this tool that looked similar to a tire iron, and he just slid this down between the door, and angled it to produce pressure to push the dent back out. He used another tool that was basically a white board with a black stripe in the middle--attached to a flexible arm and suction cup. He moved this around to provide a reflection--and he just looked for where the reflection bowed, and he knew where he needed to press to remove the dent.

Once the dent was smooth, he said he would have to color sand the crease to minimize it, and said it wouldn't be 100% out but would be close. I said ok. In case you don't know the term "color sanding", it's essentially using fine sandpaper and scuffing the paint, then using a mild abrasive to polish it further before buffing it out fully. The end result is something that looked 99.99999% perfect. I'm so pleased with the results.

It cost $99 and worth every cent. If you have additional dings in the same panel I think it's another $25 per dent. If they have to move to a different part of the car, it will be another $99 charge.

Now I was also told that the rear quarter panels and bonnet are pretty hard to fix on the MINI. If you damage there, you need to bring the car in for them to check it first.

They were extremely professional and would recommend them highly.

Now one more thing. They do this referral thing, once you become a customer when you refer somebody new, you get $25. Sounds great and all, and I could sure use the money, but there are others that could use it even more, so I'm using any moneys that come to us to go directly to our Katrina fund. Whatever club you belong to, might consider doing the same thing.

Here are a bunch of pix..I wish I took a before. The one I took today didn't come out---but it was located about midway down the door panel, below the door handle.

http://www.dentwizard.com




Color sanding paint crease.




Can you see the dent? I can't. Any shadowing or discoloration you see is from the reflection off the ground.

 

Wow. Richard do you have a closeup before pic? $99 seems very reasonable to get rid of a bad ding.

 

I'm looking. Sadly I've been living with this ding for the last 6 months, and have hated it, never wanting to take pictures or dwell on it!!! So today, I'm all happy to get it removed, and realized I needed atleast one pic! Argggh, I shot it in a hurry and you can't even see it in my pic.

I think I have some other pics somewhere that document it---I'm looking--but it was about the size of a nickel, and they can do all sizes. They do charge by the size--but anything smaller than a quarter I believe is $99.

 

Here's the best picture I could find. Sorry, still searching. I posted the original picture so you can see how far away I was, but even from there you can see the door ding shadow.



I drew a circle--ding in center to highlight ding.

 

Richard thats is AWESOME. I'm glad you posted this, because now I now where to go if that dreaded thing ever happens to me.

 

hey richard,
exactly how does this referrel thingy work? i'm interested in taking my MINI to the dent wizard in san francisco. if i can get u that 25 towards your katrina fund that would be an added plus to getting my ding fixed. and if u can give me more details on your fund raiser i would like to match the dent wizard donation.

 

They gave me these generic cards---PM me your mailing address and I will get it out in the mail to you. Just take it in when you do your ding repair, and as far as I know--4-6 weeks later they will cut a check to us. I know pretty slow, but Hurricane Katrina victims will need help for quite awhile.

Here's a link that describes our fund raising goals. We're applying all event raffle money to this cause--which we do every month.

http://c3club.org/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=243

PM me if you have any other questions!

Thanks

Richard

 

I'm in Boston, but I used Dent Wizard for a massive ding in my bonnet resulting from a large van pushing their door mounted spare onto my car. They did a flawless job. Huge ding = $149 for me.

 

I think $149 is still very reasonable. I think any ding a quarter (25cents) or smaller is like $99. Good to know!

 

I went to Paintless Dent Repair shop to get an estimate on removing a dent similar to yours and a nearly invisible ding on my right rear quarter panel ... $125 for the panel. They told me they remove the taillight for access to the dent, and that I lucky it wasn't on the gas filler side.

I'll have to check out Dent Wizard for a comparison quote.

 

Oh, believe me, I was thrilled with the result for that price. Can't tell anything was ever there.

 

I've got a little ding in the door of my brand new mcsc. Very upsetting, but I don't know if it's worth fixing. Maybe it's better to wait until I get a few (unfortunately, seems likely since there is no moulding on the cooper). Also, no dent wizard in Syracuse. I sure wish people were more careful when they open their door.