About the service
Every job starts with light and a hand on the metal. I walk a lamp along the panel at a low angle and watch how the reflection breaks, then feel the damage from the inside wherever there is access. That tells me what actually happened: whether the steel is only pushed in, whether it has been stretched, whether there is a sharp crease, and whether the folded edge or a spot weld has been torn. The answer decides the work. A soft dent under sound paint gets pulled and tapped back; a torn or double-folded edge is honestly cheaper to replace than to chase with filler. You hear my opinion, the price and the days for each option before I touch anything.
Straightening is slow on purpose. Where the back of the panel is closed I work with the spotter: studs welded on, slide hammer, small pulls from the outside of the dent towards its centre. Where the metal locks up I warm it in short passes to release the tension and shrink the high spots, so the surface comes back to its own shape instead of being buried. Filler goes on thin, in several skims, and is shaped with a long board across the plane — a short block leaves a wave that any torch will find. Then primer and a light guide coat, and I sand until the guide coat is gone: while it still sits in a scratch, the scratch is still there.
Colour comes from the code on the body plate, and it is always proved on a spray-out card before anything is sprayed on the car. The same formula lands differently on a panel that has stood in the sun for eight years, so I dry the card and read it against the panel in daylight and under the booth lights, adjusting the tint if it needs it. Then the panel is painted with a blend into the neighbouring one so there is no hard line, clear goes on in two coats and is baked to schedule. After the cure I de-nib, polish the repair up to the gloss of the rest of the car and seal it.
What is included:
— inspection and an honest pull-or-replace answer
— straightening with spotter, shrinking and controlled heat
— thin filler and board sanding across the plane
— primer, guide coat, full preparation for paint
— colour matched by code and proved on a card
— painting with a blend, two coats of clear, baking
— polishing, sealing and cleaning of jambs and edges
Straightening is slow on purpose. Where the back of the panel is closed I work with the spotter: studs welded on, slide hammer, small pulls from the outside of the dent towards its centre. Where the metal locks up I warm it in short passes to release the tension and shrink the high spots, so the surface comes back to its own shape instead of being buried. Filler goes on thin, in several skims, and is shaped with a long board across the plane — a short block leaves a wave that any torch will find. Then primer and a light guide coat, and I sand until the guide coat is gone: while it still sits in a scratch, the scratch is still there.
Colour comes from the code on the body plate, and it is always proved on a spray-out card before anything is sprayed on the car. The same formula lands differently on a panel that has stood in the sun for eight years, so I dry the card and read it against the panel in daylight and under the booth lights, adjusting the tint if it needs it. Then the panel is painted with a blend into the neighbouring one so there is no hard line, clear goes on in two coats and is baked to schedule. After the cure I de-nib, polish the repair up to the gloss of the rest of the car and seal it.
What is included:
— inspection and an honest pull-or-replace answer
— straightening with spotter, shrinking and controlled heat
— thin filler and board sanding across the plane
— primer, guide coat, full preparation for paint
— colour matched by code and proved on a card
— painting with a blend, two coats of clear, baking
— polishing, sealing and cleaning of jambs and edges
