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Teddnet Product Review:

Lets face it, if you off road chances are you are gonna get dinged up every now and then. A relatively new product is now on the market that claims to be able to help remove "soft" or non-creased dents from your vehicle using a non invasive (i.e. no drilling), paintless, do-it-yourself method to remove those unsightly dents. I first saw the product in an Infomercial and thought that it may be something helpful. If you check out their Website you will find a nifty sales pitch proclaiming the virtues of the product, complete with how to's, a video and a FAQ section. Also present is a disclaimer section that discusses the potential limitations of the system. Probably the most important of these is that the vehicle (or at least the area where the dent is) must have the OEM (Original Equipment from the Manufacturer) paint finish.

Well, I felt that my situation fit the bill (even though my dent was a bit bigger than a grapefruit!) so I decided to give the tool a try. Here is my review of the tool in its application for a dent to my rear quarter panel.

Ordering through their website was a snap (sorry for the pun!) The kit arrived at my doorstep only 2 days later. So far so good! Since the instructions say that it is best to use during cooler weather (to help let the glue set), I gave it a whirl that evening. The kit comes with a glue gun, 3 glue sticks, glue removing solution, 2 pulling tabs, one large and one small, and the pulling bridge.

The first pull with the tool was disappointing as it wasn't even a pull! Using the small pulling tab, while setting up the pulling bridge, the tab got knocked off. Switching to the large tab yielded much better results: solid adhesion and a good pull that ended in a loud SNAP. Because it was dark out, I did not have a good photo of the first pull, but I waited till morning before continuing on.

Here is are shots of the dent after a few pulls. The glue blob sticks to the paint and comes off with a bit of prying and use of some of the solution. Since you only get about an ounce of the stuff I used it sparingly, which worked out well.

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The is no doubt that this tool will pull out a dent. However, the size of a treatable dent is definitely a limiting factor. What I found is that the tool will pull up a section of sheet metal, but will leave a little "peak" in the center where the pull tab was located. For smaller dents this is probably a good thing, but for larger ones it creates "ripples". Trying to do multiple pulls will help some, but ultimately will not yield a completely repaired surface. Another phenomenon I noticed was that sometimes the pulling bridge "foot pads" will cause dents when the pull tab is pulled up to pop out a dent. Thus, you fix one, but could get 2 new ones in the process. Here is what my dent looked like after about 10 through 25 pulls:

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To get this ding even close to a smooth finish, I will need to use a cross-over tool to pinpoint the remaining valleys and push them up. Despite my less than perfect results, this may be helpful in a small "soft" dent. Some other problems I found with the kit was that the bolt for the pull tabs are not strong enough and can bend. This happened to me after about 4 pulls. Next, the twist handle for the pull tab is to small. The force required to yield the release of the pull tab from the glue is significant and you fingers get sore quickly.

The good news is that the glue provided doe not mar the paint surface at all. The glue tabs stuck to the paint 98% of the time and were pretty easy to get off, but some prying with a fingernail was needed to get the removal process started. With a bit of the solution under an edge of the glue blob, it will start to come off fairly easily. One trick I found was that less glue on the pull tab will yield a stronger pull, but also is more difficult to remove. Another thing that helped was the use of a flexible ice pack to cool down the glue as the temperature during the day was getting very warm, causing the glue to not set up properly.

The entire repair session lasted 10am - 3pm, with some off time in between while the glue was cooling down. I ended up using 2 of the 3 glue sticks, and 90% of the removal solution. I found that the small pull tab did not do much at all as it pull off far too easily. Here are the views from farther away after I had maxxed out my efforts:

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Up close you can see the remaining ripples, but from far away, it does look better than it did with the dent untouched.

Teddnet score for the Ding King (out of a possible score of 5 smileys):

Ease of use-

Effectiveness-

Durability-

Price-

OVERALL RATING-

Post Review Notes: On smaller dents this setup works pretty darn well. I've had occasion to use it two other times with excellent results