Insomnia

Ok Guys need your help... a tree bark fell on the roof of my car and has put three quarter size dents on the roof . The paint did not scratch, chip or crack. Paint is still in mint condition but the roof is slightly indented in like a door ding. I took it to a Dent Pro shop in Santa Clara, where a YOUNG kid (probably in his early twenties) looked at it and goes oh there are braces where the dents are so I need to take it to a bodyshop get the whole roof repainted. Now I am not sure if this kid has any experience with lexus's ... what do you guys think? I was hoping they could simply take the headliner off and tap it into shape. The dents are about 1 - 2 inches from the rear windshield and almost in the center. Any of you guys ever had such a dent repaired? or can give me any advice? I am so damn pissed right now....

Thanks in advance.

chuckb

I'd find out who has a good rep in your area and get a 2nd opinion from them. maybe ask the Lex dealer who does their paintless repairs. e-man just had some dings removed(not roof) from a dealer's guy and had great results.

blacksc400

iTrader: (4)

I had one on my Ls430 before, and the dent shop charged my 120.00 to take it off, and it was perfect job done!!! And my dent was a quarter size.

Insomnia

anyone from the bay area (california) have any paintless dent removal recomendations ? Someone you know is good?

BLAZE

iTrader: (2)

There are roof braces in the roof as part of structure, and if the dent(s) are directly over them it would be very hard to get them out completely. It can be done if they cut a small section (or drill a big enough hole) to acess the damage. It would probably be a bit more work, and the guy might not be experienced enough to handle that. If u want it done right , i would go for the body work and paint on the roof. It will cost more but the out come will be better. Oh.... and i have been in the autorepair bussiness for 15 years. Those dent guys are very good but some jobs just have to resort to traditional bodywork and paint. Try another dent guy for 2nd opinion,it can't hurt.

BklynGS

iTrader: (2)

If the dents really bother you... maybe its a good excuse to get a Ugo roof spoiler. It will cover the small dents above your rear windshield, and probably cost about the same as getting the whole roof repainted.

Insomnia

You got any close up pics that I could look at to see if it will cover my dents ?

BklynGS

iTrader: (2)

I don't have the pics right now, i just put it on last week. i gotta get my friend's camera to take pics with. But i can tell you the the spoiler sits right above the rear window and is exactly 3 and 1/4 inches wide at the base. I actually had some dents in the same place, and it covered them perfectly. If interested see if you can get one from carson toyota.

Insomnia

Hmmm.. I wonder how it will look on my car as I dont have the trunk spoiler. What do you think? will it look ugly?

e-man

Hey Insomnia. Like chuckb said, I had a door ding removed by a paintless dent repair guy a few weeks ago and I literally cannot detect that there was anything there. As someone else mentioned, the key with this process is that you must be able to gain access to the dent from beneath. The roof of the car is a tricky area because of the moonroof casing. If you pull back the headliner and see the underside of the roof, your golden. If, however, there is an extra layer of metal or reinforcement bars, you might have to use traditional bodywork. Hope this helps.

Insomnia

OK so I called up this local dent guy, comes to my place and does an AMAZING job removing the dents WITHOUT ripping the headliner out or requiring a paint job. The average eye CANNOT tell that there were any dents whatsover. This guy was amazing, polite and charged a very decent price. If anyone in the Bay area ever needs to get dings removed... let me know and I will give you his contact information. I HIGHLY recommend him.

chuckb

glad to hear it

e-man

How did he do it?

Insomnia

He went through the moon-roof!

rominl

iTrader: (4)

yeah i would like to know too. where did he go through, the sunroof?