Saw in Halfords at the w/e a range of body repair kits, one of which was a dent removal pack in association with ChipsAway. Involves heating the dent with a hairdrier and sticking on a stick which melts a bit and you cool it with iced water. You then tie some string to the stick and a rod and "pull" the dent out. Melting the stick again gets it off.

I know ChipsAway are well regarded, but wondered if anyone had braved the kit. "We accept no liability....etc" on the box.

Visions of me falling on my **** having pulled off a lump of paint! Have got some dings, so looking for a braver soul to have experimented, before I potentially trash mine!

 

Ive tried it. The kit works quite well and will pull out dents that havent creased the metal. Ive not had a problem with pulling off big patches of paint and so far have used it on an ERST, Cavalier and a Toyota with sucessful results every time. But then Toyota paint isnt Scooby paint is it

You can use the kit over and over and over again so its good value for money. A tip: After getting the panel hot and sticking on the glue stick, pour on the cold water as per the instructions but then leave the stick for 10 mins to cool and youll find it will bond to the panel solidly.

Bren

 

Not used it, so can't really comment on it. BUT the idea of using glue to pull the dent out sounds like a recipe for disaster; or rather it would if I did it.

Professional dent removers, use metal rods to tease the dent out from the inside and so don't run the risk of ripping the paint off.

I paid 45 quid to get a couple of small dents out from my drivers door. It took the guy 90 mins to do it, and was very thorough and careful. I used

 

On the other hand Neil....

My MR2 has a resprayed patch on the bonnet, with a barely noticeable dimple in the middle (can only see respray, and dimple, in certain light etc).

The Toyota chaps told me that something must have been dropped on the bonnet - the dimple is the result of spot-welding a rod to the large dent and pulling it back into shape. They then sand it all down and respray it. So, similar technique.

DW

 

Thanks chaps,

Share your reservations Neil, but Bren's experience sounds promising and you cn reuse it. (might try it on the wife's car 1st.

 

I purchased the kit and could not get enough heat into the panel to melt the small
rod onto the door panel with the small dent I wanted to remove (usual dents from doors of other cars. I used my wifes 1200w
hairdrier and although she has a 1600w hairdrier I decided I would wait a while and
see if other Subaru owners had any success.
I am a bit concerned about heating the panel to much, as I have experienced paint problems with my Impreza. I had a strange blistering problem happen to me twice a few years ago when washing the car on a very hot day ( by our standards anyway and the panel affected had been in direct sunlight for a while). The dealer was baffled by this and it was repaired, but both times that the blistering occured it was in July and blisters appeared on the same panel (not resprayed.)

The method used by the Halfords tool sounds like a good idea, but I personally am a bit wary about potential paint damage and cannot work up the courage to have another go at repairing the dents until others have tried it and proved it to work.

 

If you can't get the panel hot enough try heating the glue thing instead. The worst outcome if that doesnt work is that it dont stick.

 

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:<HR>Originally posted by JKJ2:
<B>Be very careful if you take your car to Halfords for any work to be done. Mine went in for a CD player to be fitted and I had reports, from a part time worker who is a friend of my sons, of the car being taken out for a 'test run' in which they bragged that had achieved 110 mph out of it.

When the guy who worked there told them he was a friend of my sons he said that went very quite and looked a little worried, unfortunately no proof of guilt.

They took the car past a local college which I knew had video surveilance, and I did try to obtain CCT footage of their 'test drive' but to no avail, pity really because someones job was going to be on the line or failing that the test pilot was going to get a leeson in 'customer relations' that I think may have stuck in his mind the next time someone brought a performance car in to his workshop. Apparentlly they had also done the same thing with a customers TVR.

So moral of the story, keep away from Halfords for all work that involves leaving your car with them, failing that note your mileage and insist that they do not take the car on a test drive. [/quote]

Where ever I leave my car for work I make a note of the milage. Had a Ford garage do over 100 miles of 'test drives' - you should have seen the look on their faces when I questioned them about it Still only managed to get the value of a couple of gallons off of the bill though

 

Be very careful if you take your car to Halfords for any work to be done. Mine went in for a CD player to be fitted and I had reports, from a part time worker who is a friend of my sons, of the car being taken out for a 'test run' in which they bragged that had achieved 110 mph out of it.

When the guy who worked there told them he was a friend of my sons he said that went very quite and looked a little worried, unfortunately no proof of guilt.

They took the car past a local college which I knew had video surveilance, and I did try to obtain CCT footage of their 'test drive' but to no avail, pity really because someones job was going to be on the line or failing that the test pilot was going to get a leeson in 'customer relations' that I think may have stuck in his mind the next time someone brought a performance car in to his workshop. Apparentlly they had also done the same thing with a customers TVR.

So moral of the story, keep away from Halfords for all work that involves leaving your car with them, failing that note your mileage and insist that they do not take the car on a test drive.