Do you have a dent in your car? Have you suffered from dents in the past? If you’ve ever had a small dent (or a large one), you understand just how unsightly they can become. In some cases, dents an be deep enough to puncture beneath the layers of paint and allow rust to form. Dents may not seem like a big deal if they’re small but when there are multiple smaller ones your vehicle’s value will decrease until it’s fixed. Below is a collection of the five best paintless dent repair tools.
Whale Tails
Whale tails are useful paintless dent remover tools because they are slim enough to slide in between tight spaces. Examples of this include: around a hood, sunroof, or down door braces. The lengths of the tool vary from a single inch up to five feet. For those searching for a handy addition to a paintless dent removal tool collection or if you’ve just decided to build one, whale tails are a must-have tool you need to purchase.
Knock Down Tool
Of all the tools to invest in for paintless dent removal, a knockdown tool is essential. If you’re new to removing dents on your own, you will reply to this tool a lot. If you’re an experienced technician, you may boast not having to use it frequently, but you’ll still need one of these on occasion. These little tools are used to tap down the high spots that are left behind after removing a dent. A blunt tip is highly useful for removing “eyebrows,” which form when metal is pushed into another region of the panel. This is why the knockdown tool made the list of the 5 best paintless dent repair tools.
Rods and Bars
Another highly ingenious object that is a necessary addition to any paintless dent removal tool collection is a rod and bar. These come in a variety of sizes, but their primary use is on car panels. The ones spanning four feet are most commonly used on roofs and hoods of vehicles.
The lengths and tips are what differentiate between rods and bars. Some companies that make paintless dent removal tools have actually developed rods and bars that have swivel handles. This helps by increasing angled maneuverability.
Choosing the right rod is not difficult. The tip has to be perfectly lined up with your eyesight, and the span of the rod should sit comfortably within your arms. Think of selecting pool cue, and you get the idea.
Dent Lights and Reflectors
Some dents can be very difficult to see and without proper lighting dents that need to be repaired might be missed. This is why having bright lightening designed for dent removal is essential to any paintless dent removal tool collection. Approaching dent repair on vehicles can be tricky because you can’t use the same angle every time you repair a dent in a different vehicle. Having proper lighting makes a world of a difference in the quality of the repair. What might be a good repair can be upgraded to a perfect repair job if lighting is available and if angled correctly.
Reflectors, or reflector boards, are mainly used outdoors and for working on one dent by itself. You can purchase one that’s battery powered or electric. The choice is yours!
Hammers and Dollies
Not ideal for small dent repair, technicians use these to break the shoulder off of a chunk of hail or large dents themselves. Hail can do a tremendous amount of damage to a vehicle. Chunks measuring about 4-5 inches in diameter and larger would benefit from using a hammer.
Hammers and dollies first came into play in 1999 in Sydney, Australia after a horrifying hailstorm took place. Vehicles were so badly damaged from the hail that they were literally being crushed. With all of the many chunks sticking out, the auto technicians had no choice but to use hammers to break the ice to get it out in order to repair the damage to the vehicles.
There are many other dent removal tools on the market. These five though, are the most essential to have in any painless dent removal collection. If you want to learn how to remove dents the correct way, start with these tools. It’ll make your life a lot easier.
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