Small ding - repair cost expectations
 

I have a small ding on the top center of my passenger side wheel well? The ding is right on the piece of metal above the wheel itself on the curve. I went to a paintless dent guy and it's in a spot where they can't touch it. So, it will have to be taken to a bodyshop. Anyone have something similar fixed and have any idea of bodyshop cost on a dent smaller than a dime, no paint cracking or anything? Thanks!

A picture would help!

Traditional repair is not cheap, you'd be looking at metal work, filler and full paint of the panel, plus blending into surrounding panels. In my experience, close to or over $1k. You might consider living with it, or having it claimed on insurance.

Read somewhere new tech with just glue and pull out the ding...no exact details but try to research no need to access from behind

I had a few removed as per the above - was done in my warehouse on my Mini Cooper S.

Thought the guy blew some dynamite back there - from what I understand, he glues a grabber pin to the ding, and it sets up in no time, then he pulls with a vise grip or similar (not near the paint) and pulls hard enough that the ding popped right out. The glue releases at about the point where the ding moves outward, and he just wiped off the residue like nothing happened.

On your fender/wheel well edge though, I suspect it may not be as easy. Good luck.

I'll try at some point, but black car and I would probably need the perfect light and angel. We are having show here and I doubt you can see it in the garage even with a flash.

I would definitely take it to another PDR guy for a second opinion. I had a ding in the same spot that was corrected via PDR.

Thank you for the feedback. I went and tried to take pictures and it barely shows up in 1 of many. It's too hard to upload here for me. I don't have a place to upload them first, so. Anyway, I'm going to live with it.

had mine done by dent specialist. ding on rear fender lip area upper arch.
he got it out and looks perfect. check again for another quote

Third that reply. I had one in that area too that I thought would be impossible. My ding guy got it out, and it was perfection.

Get a second opinion. It's cheap.

My car came with 2 small dings on the passenger side rear wheel area right above where the wheel is on the metal curve. the "hip" as many Porschefiles would call it.

Anyways, I have friend in ding removal who is awesome at what he does (and also does all of the work for the Porsche dealer ((hint hint)) and rolled them out by taking out the rear speaker from the interior of the car. Once he rolled them to perfection he put the speaker back.

Tried to charge me $50 since we're friends but I threw him 100 for a good job. Point is, it should not be that expensive or tough. Find out who does the ding removal at your Porsche dealer and contact them privately. A good way to get their phone number on the DL would be to ask one of the detailers in the back ;)

Hope this helps -
John

Edit - if the ding is on the metal curve over the front wheel, it can still be done by removing a piece or two of plastic liner from the base of the wheel well and going in from there.

The dealer I work with has a standard list of top-shelf guys for dent removal, paint ding fixes, etc. that they use to repair cars before they put them out as CPOs or used. I've found them very cost effective on three different small-scale fixes like you have over the last couple of years. Check with your dealer.

My wife's car had great luck recently with a clever paintless repair guy on a dent I could have sworn to be unreachable. I vote for at least three opinions.

I'd hold off on the full-on body shop approach until you are absolutely certain there is no other good solution as it could easily be in the 1k+ range for a quality repair and you may end up with subtle paint-blending issues on a larger scale (that most people would never notice but you might). At least it isn't a completely flat panel which it harder for paint guys to blend. The curves help hide the blends a lot.