Dinomon

Thanks Salim. He's coming to take a look at my dent this afternoon.

salimshah

Just make sure, you have the "right expectation" before you authorize repair.

Good luck

Salim

Dinomon

A PDR repair guy looked at and said it'll cost $200, but cost is not the issue here. He told me that he can only take out 75-80% of the dent out and he recommand me to either take it to a body shop or Do It Myself. He said I can do almost what he does with a hair dryer by heating around the dent and push it out from inside by removing the tail-light.

I am still waiting for another PDR guy later the day to hear his option.

Dinomon

Just now, the USA Dent guy tried to pop the bend by heating a glue and put it on the dent and pull with a handle few times, no luck. So he said he would have to remove the tail-light and then pop it out from inside, which will take about 2-3 hours and he didn't have time to do that today.

Dinomon

I removed all the panels to push out the dent.. and I was able to get my hands inside, even though it's in a rough place.. I pushed with my hands, but it didn't even move little bit.. any other ideas? also, what's main reason to use hair blower (is it to soften up the metal).. thanks a lot...

salimshah

I doubt that you wiil get the metal temp up to point that it will affect the plasticity of the metal. [metal being a good cunductor of heat]. Heating up the paint is a different issue.

Salim

Pearlpower

iTrader: (2)

To what end? It is a nice vehicle, fix it the right way and stop trying to find shortcuts. Were you hoping to push it out to perfection? If not, then why bother trying. Take it to a shop and let a pro handle it instead of wasting your time looking for the snake oil rememdy. I am not trying to come across as harsh ,but surely the hours you have already spent on it could be better used elesewhere since the only real solution would be a paint/body shop in the end anyhow.
To add, pushing it out can very easily make things worse and even more difficult for a dent guy.

Dinomon

I also took it down to Sewell Lexus (service center) & to their body shop. Their service center quoted $1400 and their body shop quoted me $1600. If you are paying out of pocket, then Sewell Lexus will do repair on small dents through their service center and provide you with a loan car. He quoted me for 18 hours of work: $75 per hour.

Dinomon

Today 3 different PDR took a look at it, and two of them said they won't even recommend doing a PDR on it.. then one guy agreed that he'll work on it, so I dropped my RX with him, buy after 3 hours he called and told me NO LUCK, so I went and picked it up. So PDR is out of my option. Now I have to get it done through body shop.. so today, I stopped by a Nissan body shop and they game me a very good estimate I got from all 10 estimates.. so u think I should let nissan body shop work on my repair because I am little bit concern about the RX Bamboo paint.. please let me know ur option ASAP. Thanks..

CK6Speed

iTrader: (1)

Have you been able to look at some of the work done by each of those body shops where you got estimates at? None of us can tell you where to take it because we can't see what kind of work they do. You have to look at their work, or at least get some good word of mouth referrals from friends or family.

Dinomon

I dropped my RX330 at Nissan Body Shop as their price was $800 cheaper than Lexus quoted and I compared both estimates, and both seems to do similar stuff for the main dent. But Lexus added so many different items needed to be done in-order to repair that dent. I will get my car today or tomorrow.

Dinomon

I picked my RX from the Body shop today after doing the re-painting. First time, the paint wasn't matching and could tell the difference. Now after re-painting, it looks much better, even though I can tell the difference a little bit if I look very closely (it has very light reddish-pinkish where they painted if I stare at it for few mins). He said if I am not fully satisfied, then he’ll paint it again. Do you think I should have them re-paint once again? Thanks a lot.

Pearlpower

iTrader: (2)

This never should have happened the first time around. Again, price is not everything. The back and forth trips to get things right is a concern. It does happen, even with dealers, but be insistent.
Curious, what did not match? To the door? The rear bumper? If you are not satisfied, have them respray it keeping in mind that clear over paint over clear over paint is not the best approach. Taking the paint down and respraying is what I would do.

salimshah

Layers of paint are not good in the long run (unless each layer is very thin). We started out with potentially a DIY repair, so what you have is by far superior to early expectations. Since you know about the problem, that can be the reason that you can spot it. Get a third person's opinion (without foretelling about the accident).

If it is resonably close, I would stop. My concern at that point would be more on different fade factor with progression of time.

Salim

2007es350

Why don't you post pics???? How can people give you informed opnions without seeing the paint job and the mis-match?