@@MrEricoperico619 San Francisco Bay Area in California

Well thanks man and I don’t see how you can do Pdr without finishing in the “natural reflection” because ultimately that is what you show the customer. I tell students in my #pdrtraining course that you have to or else you can get stuck in wholesale an entire career. Going to people’s homes for repairs is not easy, they want to watch everything and I’m good with that because I studied hard in dealerships for 12 years first. Full retail is highest level no doubt, especially when #pdr is now worth more than the conventional strip and repaint method. Study the natural reflection instead of being addicted to the lights and boards, it has a huge secret to reveal but you must commit. Thanks!

@ thanks! I’ve been doing detail , tint , and dents. So I’m definitely not at my optimal level. Especially with needing tools. Would like to do just PDR. But definitely would not make much for a while. Till I fully transition over to PDR. It’s not fun giving an estimate on a dent when I know it could be done better.

@ that there shows high integrity and we need more techs like that in this trade. The best and worst part of Pdr is you can’t fake it. You have to truly hone or approach that works every time and you keep doing same over and over. Many methods out there but the worst is peppering up the dent with narrow pushes and then spending decades cross checking it to a flawless finish. It literally adds years to your life unless you get good at the cut and buff. What I teach is opposite, you push wide and inline with the crevices in the dent to raise it literally showing what the impact mark looked like. Don’t study this method where you randomly just start in the middle of the dent and slowly with “gathering of pushes” you lift dent out and then tap down 50 million high spots haaaaaa don’t do it. That method alone has stifled so many its crazy and it was derived from pushing dime and nickel hail damage. Whatever it takes learn a #pdrmethod where you push 30% of the time and tap 70% of the time. You want to control the outer waves of pressure and impacted dents are like a large wide rock impacting water. It’s more displacement and there is this donut ring of pressure around the depression that you must relieve to raise the middle. If you try to raise the middle while this almost invisible pressure is surrounding it you will force dent up and it will look pizza quick. My philosophy is push very little but slap the waves where they need to go and the dent comes up on its own mostly. Anyway just some info to digest. Please check out my #pdrcourse online. I know it’s expensive but great knowledge is not always cheap. Be well!

@@MaxWilliams-z8q since factory clear coat can withstand Death Valley at 120 degrees I figured the underside of my forearm is just right. Think of it this way. Black car in hot sun over 100 degrees, you can still touch it quickly with your hand and why I don’t use my hand. The skin under the foreman seems perfect and what I use to test the heat. So far 31 years in Pdr, I haven’t split paint using torch heat and always tested with underside of my forearm. Hope that helps.

@@jejejei274 hey thank you for your feedback. It’s hard to know if this is working sometimes the way they set it up. I’ll get better at it and I appreciate your feedback.

@@dentexperts Yes sir

@@rbproductions78 91% rubbing alcohol is what you use for glue. Since the clear coat is technically plastic it can withstand the glue and the alcohol. Lacquer thinner is good for cleaning surfaces so it all engages well.

@ awesome, thank you

Thank you !! The pull was so solid I’m excited to use it again.

@@ronalddean3630 hey thanks for the comment and unfortunately there is a deep shortage of skilled retail technicians in this trade. People don’t want to go to your home and work right in front of you, when the dealers line up 20-30 cars, pay well and they don’t need it perfect. I’ve found many prefer the cheapest fare to get training and yet spend almost all their money on the tools. When it’s the opposite, you need to spend great money on the knowledge and make your own tools. I teach in my course how to make the first essential tools for this work. Fabrication skills is very important for slightly altering the tool face and how it is showing itself through the reflection. I teach to not use LED lights and boards reflectors upfront when studying Pdr, few want to do that. I know my course is expensive for an online course but the knowledge is gold. Sorry I don’t have names to offer in your area. I can only recommend that you personally interview each technician who offers a price, don’t ask someone to come do the work from a price online. Last thing you want is someone working on your car and they’re secretly unhappy with what they quoted online from photos. Thanks and good luck with your project.

@@dentexperts OK, I appreciate your in-depth response. I don't think your course is expensive for online only. Teaching value comes in many forms. Thanks

Oh man thank you for the comment, really appreciate it. Subarus are no joke for how thin the metal is, glad to get it done with that live event too. Yeah I started out working dealers like many of us and working down rows of cars is a lot harder than this cramped space, it’s just something you get used to. All the best bro see ya later !

Thank you appreciate the feedback and i’ll get better at showing the repairs live. I don’t use many tools and I believe many people from the skill craft already know that. It always comes down the details and why you want to see them in clear video. Thanks !

Thank you for the help. I pushed that button to do it sideways and it didn’t take or something. Not easy doing these lives as you can imagine, really throws you off your natural rhythm in repair. When I spot the right dent to do a live with, it means no editing 😊and you gotta love that once in a while. I gotta get a logo card to keep in the background so I truly am represented and once again no editing.

@ my pleasure! I like the live vids for that reason too! The thought of editing 🫣 Keep up the great work and see you in January 🙌🏼

@@straightlines7432 no way it was repainted, this had to factory paint to hold up to this repair. This was truly factory paint and it is surely a myth that old lacquer paint will crack during Pdr. I use leather on all my tool tips and never push with raw steel. Plus I heat panel up quite a bit and paint gets pliable to move it well. This car was on its way to a judging show and with 24k on it, I knew this paint was original and wouldn’t crack. I had a great experience about 20 years ago with an original Cadillac and realized that it’s a myth that original paint is weak. It’s awesome and I tell people it’s like first paint on stucco, it’s not coming off and it’s all about how you push it and how you set up your tools.

@@dentexperts your work is good. I recently got rejected for PDR on a 1985 Mercedes. I have some paint damage and the sheen has dulled in some places. I am torn between letting it go and keeping it because of the rust in certain places, but the dents are not so bad, no holes and just one distorted area over the left front wheel area, about 114 inches or so. I want to try out some of the tools you are using. Thanks

@@FrancescaGarofolin I’m in the San Francisco Bay Area but I can fly anywhere to work on any car. Just look me up under DentExpert in San Mateo, California. Thanks

@@chadparker8890 thanks for the message send pictures of damage to me and i’ll take a look. It’s possible to travel to you just depends on severity of damage. You can send email to [email protected] for assistance with evaluation.

@@bahaha2927 yes I took bumper off a bit and used a torch carefully to heat backside and reform it. Thanks

@@dentexperts thanks. How did you reform from behind? Looking for tips as I am from Sydney and have the exact same damage on my Model Y.

I pushed the dent out and showed it at 03:33. This process takes many hours and couldn’t possibly fit that part into a short video. What’s important is showing the video, that’s hard to do in itself.

thank you and yes exactly, I even prepared the customer for paint crack but was pleasantly surprised. You can't use narrow tapper though because there always is some layer of skim coat. My method of Pdr is different where I don't make a new texture in or around the dent. I always raise the bottom unmolested, then lay it down for the finish. It goes by much faster when you don't have to fix the texture or do heavy polishing. Thanks !

@@pizza_Lady0713 it is called The 24 LightDuty and thank you for asking about it. Here’s a link and I make them myself now dentdial.com/store/ols/products/22-light-duty