Learn How To Remove Dents On Your Car The Paintless Way

By Mario Goldstein

For most car owners, the thought of restoring a car after a collison is daunting. It can be very pricey if the car has been severely damaged. However, these can be easily fixed without the expensive paint jobs and bodywork repair involved

Most minor bodywork issues can be repaired in a matter of minutes, when done by a well-trained, skilled professional. Understanding the process will help you to know what to look for in these unfortunate circumstances.

Usually, collision shops don't do these smaller repairs themselves they outsource them to a smaller mobile service or they will offer paintless dent removal as an additional service. Dents from the size of a dime to 2 to 3 inches in diameter and larger can be handled by a qualified professional in anywhere from 5 to 15 minutes.

In many cases the dent is so completely gone it will look like nothing was ever there, and in some other instances, all you would see to know that work had been done is a small black plug in the door end. Paintless dent removal is often the best way to retain the integrity of a custom paint job. In the hands of a qualified professional, 10 to 15 vehicles a day can be done with amazing results.

Not Always the Answer The main concern in paintless dent removal is how much the metal was stressed (stretched) by the accident. The reason for this concern is that if the metal is stretched too much, then pushing it as it?s done in paintless dent removal can distort the metal and ruin the paint. The other consideration in paintless dent removal is the nature of the coating. Its age can make the coating brittle, or simply its condition as it left the factory. The reason that this is a concern for paintless dent removal is that a heat gun needs to be applied, and the above conditions can be very susceptible to heat ruining the coating.

Light is also used to determine all of the intricacies of the dented surface, so that there are no flaws showing when the job is complete.

Training, Techniques, and Tools It takes more time than you might think to train as a paintless dent removal technician, it takes about 12 months to train to be a good one, and that?s because you need to know all about access to the dent. Paintless dent removal technicians need to spend around $3,000 on tools because specialized tools are needed to access difficult areas in different makes and models.

So the next time you have a dent, ding, or crease, think about the paintless dent removal system, and ask if it can be done, if it can your pocketbook will thank you. - 21396

About the Author:

Discover how to spray paint your car in 2 hours or less with SprayPaintSecrets. You can download free videos on car spray painting and bodywork repair lessons in the official site now.

How do you Evaluate Used Trucks?

By Amy Nutt

Purchasing any used vehicle comes with its share of risks. You never know if you are getting value for your money. When it comes to buying used trucks there are a number of steps that can be taken to ensure that you get a quality vehicle.

Evaluating a used truck can include the following:

There are a number of helpful internet sites designed to educate the consumer about specific used vehicles. For instance, Consumer Guide Automotive provides reliable information, reviews, and ratings on thousands of used cars, trucks, SUVs, and minivans. Doing research beforehand can really help when selecting a used truck.

Read reviews about used trucks that include an evaluation of a truck's specifications. As well, there are many online sites that rank used vehicles which can be very helpful when selecting a used truck. Some makes and models are a better quality than others. You should find out which used trucks are the most reliable. Look for details about brakes and suspension, radiator and cooling system, and the gearbox and clutch.

You should request a vehicle history report. Auto dealership sites provide this type of information and used truck sales companies should also be able to provide you with the information. When dealing with a used truck dealership, make sure you know how much you are willing to spend. When calculating your budget, make sure you include insurance, registration fees, and any taxes you will have to pay.

Mileage is an important aspect of evaluating a used truck. Used trucks that average more than 12,000 miles per year are considered 'high mileage' vehicles. It is important to ask if the truck's accumulated mileage is from highway or urban driving. Town and city driving tend to cause more wear and tear on a truck.

The condition of the exterior of the vehicle is an important factor to consider. You should look for dents, scratches, paint touch ups, rust, and any extensive body work that has been done on the truck. Ask for a history of maintenance work that has been done on the truck. If new parts have been installed, make sure there is a warranty. Don't purchase a truck that has not been recently inspected.

Don't buy a specialty used truck. You want to make sure that your used truck is common so that you do not have any problems acquiring any used parts.

The mechanical features of a used truck are another aspect that should be considered. Stick shifts tend to be rougher on a cars engine and performance. As well, diesel fueled vehicles have motors that last longer than gasoline fueled engines. Make sure that you test-drive the truck at different speeds so that you get a feel for the quality of the engine, transmission, and breaks.

Incidental factors that affect the value of a used truck include how well certain features operate such as the air conditioning, heater, radio, seat belts, gear shift, and windows.

Look under the truck for fluid spots. A puddle of fluid can indicate there is a leak somewhere. Also, make sure that you look underneath to check for rusty pipes and mechanical devices.

Each year, more than a million used trucks are put on the market. The chances are that you will not have a problem finding a truck in your price rage. However, the key is to arm yourself with the right knowledge so that you don't get stuck with a lemon. - 21396

About the Author:

Find reputable car dealers Edmonton to buy with confidence. Buying used trucks Edmonton can be hassle free.

Used Cars For Sale: What You Need To Know

By Ira Benet

There are literally thousands of used cars for sale on the Internet and the trick to getting the one the suits both you needs and budget is to have a strategy and a used car buying checklist of some sort that will give you some guidelines. Used Cars And Financing

And of course one of the best places to start your search is with one of the car buying sites that you can find online. There are however some preliminary steps that you'll need to take and the first of these involves finding out what you can spend.

Well before you start looking at the used cars for sale in your area, you need to take a serious look at the financing that you can get. If you're a high school student or someone still in college, it could be difficult to get the money that you want form a traditional financial institution.

So before you get your heart set on any of the used cars for sale that you see, you might want to take a look at bolstering your credit rating. If you haven't got one this could be easier than you think. By starting out with a credit card with a reasonable limit or another type of card that only allows you to take out up to your limit in a predetermined account, in as little as six months you can start building a good credit rating. Used Car Buying Tips

And once you get the financial matters straightened out, you can start looking though the used cars that are for sale online. One of the first things the experts suggest you do is consider what you'll want the car for.

Take a look at your traveling time. Will you be using the used car for a daily commute to work or will it just be for traveling the grocery store and doing other small errands? Are you looking at a vehicle that you take you traveling on the weekends or one that will only be used by certain members of the family for specific purposes? These are a few of the items that you'll need to look at when you put together a used car buying checklist.

Finally, remember that most used Ford cars for sale have been around the block so to speak and that means that youll need to look at the mileage as one of the first concerns before you buy. - 21396

About the Author:

Ira Benet has been a watching the developments with used Dodge cars for sale for years now. He specializes in used cars online.

Big Repair Bills - A Large Dent In Your Bank Account

By Rand Stuck

Consider these numbers: $1500 for an insignificant scratch on the bodywork; $3500 for a new exhaust valve; at least $150 for a new trunk-release switch cover. These aren't figures from the realm of fantasy, but actual repair expenses that drivers have provided to AOL Autos after having coughed up these amounts for repair jobs that only seemed small. The alternative is to do the job yourself, or buy a new car. That seems extreme, right? So just pay up like a good citizen and suffer in silence, seems to be the mantra.

Bumper Damper

Deana May of AC Auto Finishing, Los Angeles, knows the nasty shocks that customers can face even with a minor matter like a bodywork scratch or scrape. Its a scary thing " looks can be deceptive. You can calculate an estimate on a front bumper, take it off, and behind it there's all kind of damage. Particularly with low-profile cars with low-profile tires, they often need a whole new front end if they go over a bump or up a driveway, or don't take an angle. May says she sees a lot of this in her shop and recalls how a Lotus driver was quoted a staggering $5,400 to repair his car, though from the outside she couldn't see much that was wrong. May also warns of the dangers " and expense " of drivers getting incorrect quotes for repairs that involve high-performance parts, such as an AMG or Brabus for a Mercedes, and receiving stock components in their place.

Cracked Grille and Fender Bender

Willy Stroppe, the president of automotive engineering firm Bill Stroppe and Sons in Paramount, California, says that once he had seen a minor damage to the front of a Ford pickup truck turn into a major repair bill. "It looks like the front plastic grille got broken with a light hit, but when we got into it the housing behind the grille was cracked and broken all the way up. Replacing everything from the fenders forward, the headlight vessels, a new front end, it all adds up. In a lot of cases you gotta pull out the radiator. That's not something you can do in a couple hours." Stroppe, who works mainly with Fords, has seen similar problems on a Ford Explorer and the pickups repair bill was more than $1200. "It's not like the old days when everything was steel," he adds. In his nearly half-century of experience in the car business, he has seen a lot of instances where a car whose frame and shell are in good condition but it needs a lot of work on its suspension is bought and sold off to an unwary buyer after doing a shoddy repair work on it. This leads to a gigantic repair bill in the future for the unsuspecting customer when the repair work crumbles.

$150 Cover Up

Mark Essig, is a writer in a small town in North Carolina, who was surprised with a bill of $150 by a local repair shop for altering a lost cover for the trunk-release toggle. It was terribly shocking in his ten years repair history of Mercedes 320 CLK. As pricey repair bills are not unusual for posh European marques, Essig says, repair bill charging $2,000 was a real shock for him. He also noticed that it arrived as an added cost that was not at all mentioned in the estimate. He says: "It was part of a $2000 repair bill that included valve cleaning and brake work, and I was so sick to my stomach that I couldn't quibble over $150. Best part was, I didn't ask him to do it." Meanwhile, Michael Russell owner of Porsche 944, an AOL Autos friend, discovered that bringing in an old-school German car charged a lot more than he negotiated for. Replacement of a $15 exhaust valve charged him $3,500 as work was recorded. Fundamentally, he says, they needed to split out the engine to reach the valve, that was burned out, an ordinary ailment in older vehicles. He says, however, repair was essential to get to work.

Air Wear

This is a first-hand experience. I took my wife's 1995 Nissan 240SX S-ER to my local mechanics to fix the air conditioning. However, Id already taken it into the shop the week before, to be told about a leaking gasket that had depressurized the system. So they fixed the gasket, re-filled the system with Freon coolant and pressurized it, for a paltry $300. I thought Id got off lightly, until two days later, when the system began blowing hot once again. At the shop, they told me another seal had broken, but it more complicated this time, meaning extra labor. When I was handed an estimate of $800, I pointed out that the original fix was under warranty, and my mechanic agreed but pointed out in turn that a different component had was to blame this time and therefore the warranty was not valid in this case. Having failed to negotiate a lower repair cost, Im poorer by $300, and my wife faces the prospect of a long, hot summer. Lesson learnt: get a second opinion, and evaluate general system integrity when replacing individual components on older-model cars.

Chilling Coolant, Hot Cost

Ken Lavacot, of online mechanics 2carpros.com, says its better not to ignore a little steam coming out of your exhaust, which could seem like nothing initially but it can blow into something major and cost you later on. He says: "Coolant is used to cool the engine during normal operation. If coolant is allowed to enter the combustion chamber, the engine will burn the coolant creating white smoke and steam. He says the gasket replacement is among the most expensive solutions. "If the gasket that seals the intake manifold to the cylinder head fails it can allow coolant to enter the intake port and then the combustion chamber. To check for this condition the intake manifold will need to be removed." Most of your money goes in getting to the gasket and reassembling the parts after its replacement. Lavacot says that the engine must be taken apart if nothing is wrong with the gasket and there is coolant in the combustion chamber. He adds: "This can be tricky because it is difficult to tell which is causing the problem. For example: A repair shop has told you the cylinder head is cracked, and as they start disassembly they can discover it was the intake manifold gasket that has failed. It's up to the honesty of the repair shop to alert the customer the repair will be less. Or the opposite can happen. A repair shop has told you your engine has a blown head gasket, once the disassembly is complete they inform you the head gasket is OK, and the cylinder has been pressure checked and is OK. This only leaves the engine block as the failure and must be replaced to repair the problem, and that can be costly."

Silver Scratch, Green Fix

My brother-in-law had lent his Jaguar convertible to a family member who took it to a wedding. He returned it with a scratch in the back panel on the driver's side. Generally, a good repair or bodywork shop can erase scuffs at minimal cost, but the Jaguar XK8's aluminum shell demanded a costly adhesive to repair the scratch to prevent further corrosion or damage of the car's monocoque shell. The whole repair work was as costly as $1500. The technician told him that he was blessed the scratch was light otherwise repairs might turn out double or triple in cost, an increasingly general incident as more luxury carmakers counting Audi, Mercedes and BMW harness the aluminum-shell technology (taking advantage of its increased strength and lighter weight). So, it is better to get several estimates for the paintwork. It is also better to think twice before you lend your precious car. - 21396

About the Author:

Rand Stuck is a BMW master technician with over 12 years of experience. Rand is the manager of the online parts department of a BMW parts retailer. You can find more information on car repair and BMW parts and accessories at AutoWerks.

Motorists on Country Roads: Cornering

By Ethan Melandri

When the weather is warm and the sun shining, there is no better feeling than going for a pleasant drive in the countryside. The fresh air and scenery certainly beat the normal daily commute and if you are keen driver you can enjoy the performance of your car within the legal limits on relatively uncongested roads.

When driving on country roads there is a danger- the tightening radius bend that is well known for creating several accidents. On a normal corner the radius will remain the same as you make the turn, thus you will leave the steering in the same position. With curves the tightening radius bend may vary, thus you have to change the steering lock as you move further into the curve.

A good illustration of this is when a car crashes because the driver did not properly reduce their speed or consider that the curve may change as the bend continues. Often times a corner will change in the bend, tightening and thus requiring a lower speed.

The driver may attempt to correct for the speed by applying more pressure to the steering, tightening it up, but the speed is normally too high and the car begins to under- steer. The driver may try to fight this phenomenon by using the brakes, but this can cause the vehicle to hit an oncoming car or go into the ditch.

The countryside offers another challenge to drivers, especially in the summer. Since the bends can be quite tight it can be difficult to see the changes in the road. In the summer hedges, bushes, or trees can also obscure the curve. A driver can easily be caught by a sudden corner.

In order to avoid becoming another countryside crash statistic you need to use extra visual clues if the bend is obscured, and ensure that all of your braking and gear changes have been done before you enter the corner.

Light poles or telephone poles are the best visual cues you have in regards to a curve that is obstructed. The poles can indicate a change is going to occur in the road, thus giving you warning. At night these types of cues can be difficult to see, so using an oncoming car's headlights for warning is also acceptable. You should enter a bend at a safe speed to remain on your side of the road and avoid an unbalanced car when you hit the middle of the curve.

After the curve begins to dissipate you will be able to increase your speed again. There are other dangers in the country besides bends in the road for you to be watchful of. Mud, slower moving vehicles, and even livestock can create accidents. If you think "What If" when driving, you could avoid an accident. - 21396

About the Author:

You can improve the chances of being seen by other road users by switching on your standard headlight bulbs, even if you are driving during the day. You can now also upgrade them to brighter xenon bulbs like the bulbs here, as studies have show daytime running car light can dramatically lower the chances of a road traffic collision.