The service bench at 91 E 600 N Unit A
Every job in this workshop begins the same way: a light stand is rolled into place, the panel is studied from a low angle, and the reflection tells us what the metal can tolerate. Northern Utah PDR LLC offers six lines of paintless dent repair to drivers across Tooele and northern Utah, and each one is described below in the detail we would give across the bench during an inspection. If you want the short version, call +12319772350 and describe what you see.
Service oneHail Damage Repair
Hail is the loudest problem we see and the one most often misdiagnosed. A storm does not simply press round holes into a panel. Ice strikes at an angle, dents cluster along body lines, and the inner structure behind a hood or roof absorbs part of the blow, which leaves a shallow crater with a wide, soft rim. We photograph the vehicle under a grid light, count and classify every dent by depth and panel, and then work from the inside outward. Most hail panels on steel are pushed with rods of increasing width, starting narrow at the center of the crater and finishing wide across the crown. Where a brace blocks access, a glue pull lifts the low spot and a tap down settles the high ring that the pull leaves behind.
A typical northern Utah storm pass leaves between fifteen and eighty dents on a passenger car. We schedule hail work in blocks so a vehicle is not sitting in the yard waiting for a free bench. Most light passes finish in a single working day, and a severe roof and hood job runs two to four days. Before the vehicle stays with us you receive a written estimate that names the panels, the approximate dent count and the expected finish. If we find cracked paint during the reading, we stop and explain the alternatives, because paintless repair cannot promise a result on a panel that has already lost its finish.
Service twoDoor Ding Removal
A door ding is small, specific and irritating in a way that is hard to explain to anyone who has not owned a car in a busy lot. It usually comes from another door edge, a shopping cart, or a bicycle handlebar, and it lands on a flat or gently curved section of the door skin where there is almost no access from behind. We open the door, work a thin rod through the window gap or the drain opening at the bottom, and press the low spot up in small, measured steps. The crown around the ding is tapped flat with a soft-faced hammer so the repair does not leave a shallow bowl in the reflection.
Most single dings take between thirty and sixty minutes. We do not remove door trim panels unless the access route is genuinely blocked, because every panel clip that comes off is a small risk to the vehicle. Once the metal is level, the door is closed and the reflection is swept from three angles to confirm the finish is clean. Pricing depends on access and panel shape rather than on the size of the ding alone, and we tell you the price before the rod goes in.
Service threeCrease Repair
Creases are longer than dings and they usually cross a body line, which makes them the most technical work on the bench. A crease begins as a sharp fold and then spreads tension into the surrounding metal, so pressing the fold back out can oil-can the panel in the opposite direction. We relieve a crease from its shallow end and work toward the deepest point in stages, checking the reflection after every few passes. Where a crease sits along a character line, the original contour has to be rebuilt rather than simply flattened, and that calls for a mix of push rods, tap down work and occasionally a glue pull to raise the edge without over-stretching the center.
Crease work is slower than ding work and priced accordingly. A short door crease may clear in under two hours while a long quarter panel crease can occupy most of a day. If the paint along the fold is cracked or lifted, we will not attempt a paintless repair, because the result would look worse under sunlight than the original damage. In that case we quote a conventional body repair or refer you to a trusted paint partner, and we make the reason clear in plain language.
Service fourAluminum Panel Shaping
Aluminum hoods, doors and liftgates are common on newer trucks and SUVs, and they behave in ways that surprise technicians trained on steel. Aluminum work-hardens as it bends, so an area that has been overworked becomes stiff and refuses to move, and heat from a glue tab can soften a spot that was never meant to flex. Our bench keeps separate rods for aluminum with softer tips and we keep pull temperatures low, measured and brief. The goal is to move the metal enough to restore the reflection without pushing the alloy past the point where it will not return.
Not every aluminum dent is a candidate. A crease that has stretched the panel heavily or a dent on a bonded seam may be better served by a conventional repair. During the inspection we test the panel with a magnet and a light touch, confirm the alloy where possible, and give you a clear answer about what paintless work can achieve. When the answer is yes, the result is a factory finish that many shops would have repainted by default.
Service fiveInsurance Claim Support
Paintless repair is often cheaper than a conventional repair, and many carriers accept it as a preferred method for hail and minor dents. We support that process without taking over your claim. Before work begins we photograph the vehicle in good light, record panel counts and dent dimensions, and prepare a written estimate in the format most adjusters recognize. If your carrier wants an inspection, we schedule it at 91 E 600 N Unit A in Tooele and walk the adjuster through the findings on the vehicle rather than through paperwork alone.
After the repair we provide a short completion summary with before and after images and the panels addressed. We never bill for work that was not performed, and we do not add line items to inflate an estimate. The final decision on a claim always belongs to the vehicle owner, and we are comfortable answering questions from both the owner and the carrier in the same conversation. If a claim is denied, we will still quote a self-pay price so you can compare options honestly.
Service sixFleet and Dealership Programs
Lots around northern Utah hold trucks, vans, rental cars and dealer inventory that collect dents between services. A single ding on a lot vehicle can cost a sale or a rental upgrade, and sending every unit to a body shop is slow and expensive. We run scheduled rounds for fleets and dealerships, arriving with a mobile bench, a light stand and a documented process for each unit. Every vehicle gets a shared log entry with the panels worked and the time spent, so the program manager can see exactly what was done and when.
Volume pricing is arranged per program and per panel class so the accounting stays predictable through hail season. We can prioritize units that are listed for sale, prepare a vehicle for delivery, or clear a whole row after a storm. Programs are reviewed each season so the schedule matches your lot traffic, and the same written documentation that supports a retail customer also supports a fleet invoice.