Got my first ding (almost made it a full year). It's fairly round, about the size of a half-dollar and it's on the lower flat section of the rear passenger door. No crease or paint damage. I'm considering trying out the Pops-A-Dent tool to try to smooth it out again. Has anyone here had any experience with this tool (good or bad)? Reviews on it range from "works great if you follow the directions carefully" to "totally useless rip-off". I am reluctant to take the car to a body shop, since it'll just get dinged again and I'll feel like I wasted my money on this relatively harmless blemish. Maybe I'll just wait for a few dings, then take it to a shop if the Pops-A-Dent doesn't work. At $15 to $20, it's not much to risk, unless it causes more damage than I already have! - Doug
I took a quick look at the product you mentioned and the big problem I see with it is the flexible plastic bridge.. While they claim that it is better, all it really does is reduce the manufacturing costs and reduce the effectiveness of the device- a plastic bridge costs nothing to make, and being flexible, it cannot produce the maximum pulling force without the plastic part deforming first.. I've used the original "Ding-King" product with the metal bridge, and it does work, but even with the stiff metal bridge, you may have to repeat the process over and over many times to get the dent out completely... I've also used it successfully on other things besides car panels- for example, one of the airlines inconsiderately put my luggage against an edge in the cargo hold and then shoved something heavy on top of it and creased the tubing of the pop-up pull handle so that it would not open and close smoothly anymore.. A few minutes with the "Ding King", and it pulled the crease back and the handle works like new again.. Even if it fails completely, you still end up with a reasonably good glue gun that you can use for other purposes..
my car currently has a ding in the back panel from a shopping cart. my insurance will cover it completely... so I will take it in eventually.
