Insight And Options Into Having Your Vehicle Body Damage Repaired
When your vehicle has been in an accident or collision that has caused any type of damage to its body, depending on the severity of the damage, it can affect your vehicle's performance and appearance. Most vehicle body damage can lead to rust and corrosion that will cause deteriorate to your vehicle more quickly. You have several options on the type of repairs you seek to restore its appearance, so here is some insight into your options and what you can expect with a professional vehicle body repair.
Choosing a Repair Option
The severity of your vehicle's body damage can be anything from a dent or crumple to its body panel or more serious damage that has caused one side to your vehicle to become crushed into itself. If the damage to your vehicle is minimal and only affects the appearance of the paint, you can leave the damage as-is and continue using your vehicle for transportation. This type of damage may include a dent in your bumper or side panel, and you can try to repair it yourself with a touch-up primer and paint kit, or removing the dent with a toilet plunger or heat and cold.
A more serious type of damage can cause the body to become dented inward with paint chipped off and the vehicle's utility affected. This can cause, for example, your door or window to not seal fully, or your hood to not alight right. This is the type of damage you can have repaired with a professional auto body shop, or you can use the necessary tools to pull the dent out.
You can find a do-it-yourself dent pulling kit at most auto repair stores, which includes plastic pulling tabs, hot glue gun and glue sticks, and a slide hammer. This method allows you to hot glue the plastic tabs onto the area of damage, then when the glue has cooled, use the slide hammer to pull the tabs and pull out the dent. This repair kit does not repair any missing or damaged paint, so you would need to complete the repainting separately.
Hiring a Professional Body Repair
A professional body shop has several options to use for repairing your vehicle damage. They can either replace the damaged panels with a new section, or sand off the paint and primer, then pull the dents smooth with a stud welder kit.
A stud welding kit uses a stud welder gun to weld metal pins onto the dented area, which they use to pull the dent from your vehicle. This requires the auto body shop to sand down the area of damage to remove the old paint so the welder gun can complete the weld. Removal of the paint first is also an optimal choice because your vehicle will need to be repainted anyway once the dent has been repaired.
With either repair, your vehicle body will be restored to its former appearance with the vehicle panel no longer carrying a dent. To learn more, visit a website like http://www.achesonautobodyandservicecenter.com.