So the passenger side door on my car was impacted/rubbed up against the side of my garage door opening while my wife was backing the car out (don't ask) and it left a series of dents from the impact points. I had the dents removed by a paintless dent removal guy, but upon looking at the door from an angle there are still visible waves/ripples apparent where the dents were removed.

He told me there's nothing he can do about it as the dents stretched the metal so the door cannot be repaired to perfection. Is this true?

I have no experience dealing with body work as none of my vehicles have ever been damaged before so I'm not sure. It's not too noticeable when looking at it from straight on, but from an angle the waves/ripples really bother me. My car is black so it especially stands out.

Is there anything I can do or is getting a new door skin the only option at this point? This really sucks as the car is in perfect condition aside from the door.

Thanks guys.

 

This is God punishing you for letting your wife drive your S2000...... Just kidding. I'm sorry about your car. The dent removal guy was correct. Once it has been stretched, it won't go back. If it were mine, I would replace the entire door with a used one. If you can't get a door, then skin it.

 

A body shop can fix it. It will require repainting.

 

Thanks for the replies guys. I will have a body shop take a look at it but I imagine it will probably be a fair bit of labor to fix it if it is even possible? I didn't know repainting would be necessary.

On the other hand I suppose a used door is always an option but I am lukewarm to the idea of replacing a panel on my otherwise pristine car.

And believe me the wife will NEVER be touching the car again! At least she was honest with me about what happened to it.

 

For a shop to fix it, they would have to push the "high" areas in, use body filler to smooth it out and repaint it. IMO, large patches of body filler on a door panel is no good. If it were a fender or a quarter panel, I see no problem, but moving parts such as hoods and doors flex too much. Filler will eventually crack.

 

So your recommendation would be to either live with it or get a new door/skin? Doesn't sound like it's worth trying to fix it.

 

I was just about to post a similar question before I came upon this thread. I have almost the same situation with my s2k. My right-rear quarter panel was dented by a cart, just behind the passenger side door. I took it to my local Honda dealership, and they called an outside 'specialist' to perform paintless dent removal on the damage. At first, I was so impressed because the dent appeared to be totally gone! However, shortly after, I noticed the same wave/ripple effect under most lighting conditions and different angles. I'm wondering if it is even worth it to find some other PDR places in my area to see if they can achieve better correction... I really don't want to paint just the quarter panel. I've seen different PDR company websites showing before/after pics, where the dents were way worse than what I had, yet it looked as though the correction was almost 100% (even when looking at extreme side angles of the damaged panels). It makes me sad/angry every time I see the small ripples - reminds me of cellulite lol

 

Yeah a body shop would be able to fix that for you, but it would require filling and re-painting which would be pretty costly. As stated before if it's on a door or something, it would be best to just replace the panel, but for your quarter panel it would be best for you to get it filled and re-painted since the filler most likely won't crack right there unless impacted again.

So for your quarter panel, either go get it filled and re-painted to have it perfect, or just live with it. I know things like that can be very irritating, but sometimes best if just left alone and just deal with it. A car is meant to be driven, and when you drive it will get messed up no matter what.