Let Us Work on a Hidden Damage
A hidden tension is a little bit of distortion typically referred to as a crown. So we assess the repair and then do estimates. We really need to assess the entire panel and look for any of those distortions or some hidden tension somewhere else on the panel.
Just recently I was out doing a door dents on a Volvo, and it was a prime example of what I call as a hidden damage. So I thought I'd just do a small video to make you understand when you need to assess the damage, do estimates and quotes by paying attention to the whole panel.
A Huge Difference
Look at the overview of the repair and look for any hidden distortion and any kind of tension.Indeed iIt will make a huge difference to how you finished that repair, however if you're only working at the top and haven't spotted that there's some further damage or tension around, you're surely going to end up not entirely repairing the damage. If you are not able to bring back the panel into the right shape you will not be able to work with the metal flow and get the panel with a nice and smooth shape.
Let’s Look at this Example to Show What I Mean
So here we can see our main impact point, the dent is on the upper section of the panel. It's a bit of a crease, a bit of a dent and just below it, there is a slight sort of tail to the damage as well. Hopefully you can see the distortion of on the line board reflection.
There's actually a couple of spots where there's some tension and below there's a crown. We take a look from this angle on two separate sections. The first is here and then parallel to it is the second tension. These two sections have to be identified first and then the tension needs to be released just before we can then work on the main section of the damage.
Really Interesting Point
But what I find most interesting is just how far away the tensions are from the main impact point. As we zoom back out we can see that initial point which is the obvious part. This is the part that our customer sees. It is probably 10 to 12 inches above the lower section where we've got that hidden damage or hidden tension.
As a PDR tech, you generally must have a good eye for detail.We're trained to know what to look for and understand how to read the distortion in a panel. But remember that your customer probably doesn't have that same attention to detail or that same trained eye.
Customers may not be looking at dents in the same way that we are as PDR techs. What they consider might be a small dent is different from what our trained eyes see. So whilst it is possible to do some estimating via photos it is better to do it yourself.
Final Note
Always take a few minutes to go around with your customer to really assess the panel. Point out any kind of damage or any other additional kind of things that might be involved during the repair process. This is partly important to make sure you build up your estimate of the repair process.
It is necessary to make sure that you're not missing anything with your repair. The last thing you want to do is to be struggling in a way, trying to release the last section of a low to find out later that there is some tension down the bottom or a crown that's been missed. Looking around the whole panel, identifying any hidden damage and tackling that first will make a huge difference in finishing your repair a 100%.
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