Can I DIY paintless door ding repair?

Have a couple that didn't harm the paint. Is this difficult?

It's an art.

Could be worth a try as DIY, but you can easily make it worse.

I've been thinking about trying my hand at this too. If you can get at the back side can you just make sure the paint is warm and flexible and use a hammer and dolly (maybe with a soft cloth or something on the dolly)? It can't be that easy right?

I have set of the tools. If you have access to the back side of the dent, it's not that hard. You need to be very patient though. There is incredible temptation to rush and then it doesn't work that well. You're trying to shrink the metal, not push the dent back out. If it's near a crease or a seam, you might make it better, but it will be hard to make it disappear. It's always bothered me a bit that you will wear the inside of the panel down to bare metal.

Spend some time on Google and YouTube seeing how it is done. If you can wrap your head around the theory of why it does or does not work, go ahead and give it a try. If you are just going in blind, your chances of making it worse are high.

Anybody used the glue-on type like this: https://youtu.be/sqZ3mlmXsxc

In reply to bgkast:

That looks cool. And chemical magic too

Here is the harbor freight equivalent: http://m.harborfreight.com/crossbar-dent-repair-kit-66957.html

I wonder if there is a danger of ripping the paint off the panel with the glue pulling technique.

My damage is more of a sharp crease than a dent. I'm gonna have to hit the tubes.. see how this is done.

I have one in the hood of the Miata from a baseball. I'm tempted to fix it some days but I'm tempeted to leave it others.

I was in the car about to launch at an autocross when it hit!

Wont work on a crease but since its being discussed in general one method which really does work quite nicely on "smooth" dents is to heat the area, best to start on a hot day where its already heated well by the sun, then heat it more with a hair dryer or heat gun, be careful not to burn the paint. Once you have it nice and hot take one of those canned air dusters turn it upside down and spray it on the dent. The blast of the cold liquid in the duster on the hot metal will rapidly shrink the metal and can in many cases cause the dent to pop back out.

In reply to Datsun1500:

Dumb question.. is that really the going rate?

In reply to OHSCrifle:

Sounds about right. I had a crease removed from the rear of my dad's Mazda 3 recently and that's how much they wanted. Of course this is a business my shop uses regularly for the last decade, so a bit of a discount was applied.