Paintless dent repair: What is it and what are it’s pros and cons
**A contributed post as written for The Safe Driver.
For those who treat their automobile like a temple, dents can be a real headache. Regardless of how careful you are, there are external factors that can cause dents, such as other vehicles bumping into your car while parked, or your vehicle bumping into posts or concrete islands. Repairing dents the traditional way can cause you a lot of time and money. If you don’t want the conventional way of repairing your car dents, you can opt for the alternative of paintless dent repair or PDR.
What is Paintless Dent Repair
A PDR or paintless dent repair is a way of repairing dents that involves manipulating the dented metal parts in your car using specific tools such as specialized hammers, clamps, bars, and an attachable light source if needed, to reshape dents back into its original form.
Unlike the traditional way, which usually involves repainting the car, the color of which can still fade, PDR only restores its original shape, and the process does not use harmful chemicals such as auto paint.
To learn more about PDR, read the following:
Pros
1. Faster
After an automobile accident, you want your car to be running smoothly to catch up with your job or avoid inconveniences, especially if you have an appointment. A proper new paint job can take days or even weeks to finish before you can get your car. A paintless dent repair, however, can take you only a single day or a few even hours. You can even wait and witness the magic at work if you’re not under a tight schedule.
2. Do-It-Yourself is Possible
Not only is this method cheaper and faster, but you can also do it yourself. You just have to avail of the tools needed. However, it doesn’t mean that you’ll get the same results compared to when you let a professional mechanic do it as it takes a lot of practice to get a perfect paintless dent repair.
3. Environment-Friendly
Repairing dents the old way requires the use of paint that contains substances and chemicals deemed harmful to the environment. For example, chromium, which is widely used in automobiles, is not only hazardous to the environment but highly toxic to the human body. Applying paintless dent repair is not only cheaper and quicker, but in a way, you’re also doing your part in saving the environment from pollution.
5. Nonintrusive process
PDR is a nonintrusive process, meaning it does not change or add anything for your dents 
to be repaired. If the repairing process involves adding another object to your car, then this process is already intrusive. It could possibly damage your car in the long run. PDR is only manipulating the dented metal parts in your automobile to bring it back to its original form. That way, nothing is changed or added, which makes the process better and non-intrusive.
Cons
In order to better weigh in your options, knowing the pros is not enough. You also have to know the disadvantages of paintless dent repair. Here are some of its cons:
1. Ability Dependency
If you decide to take it to a mechanic for a paintless dent repair, it’s not a 100% guarantee that it will look as good as it was before it was dented. It depends on the ability of the mechanic to manipulate the damaged metal to make it look as if it has never been dented. Since PDR is dependent on the technician’s ability, you have to look for a reliable and experienced PDR technician.
2. Limited
Although paintless dent repair is already proven to work and is highly recommend, it’s only limited to metals in your car. It can’t be applied to plastic materials. So if your plastic bumper is dented, which is highly common, a paintless dent repair will not work for you. It’s also limited to areas where the mechanic can perform this repair as there are some spots in your car where the mechanic won’t be able to do this.
Most of all, paintless dent repair does not apply to scratches and chips in your car. If you have scratches and chips on your vehicle, then you would have to settle for a repaint or respray.
Conclusion
If paintless dent repair applies to you, then it’s highly advisable that you consider this option for repairing dents in your automobile. It’s faster, cheaper, and you don’t have to ruin the original paint of your car. Moreover, you can avoid being exposed to harmful chemicals when you do it by yourself.