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Thoughts On The "Ding King"

Chief

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I don't want to spill too much of the beans because

1) I'm going to do this as a story in Avalanche Zone

2) I burned the heck out of my right hand today so I'm not done

However I wanted to share my thoughts on the "Ding King." You may have seen this shown on TV as the tool that removes dents without having to do any paint repair. Just glue, turn, pop, poof!

Well I'm here to tell you I'm pretty darn impressed with the product. The test vehicle was my 02 Avalanche that had a pretty nasty dent on the rear driver side fender that stretched about six inches long. The paint wasn't broken and the metal isn't creased.

I worked on the dent for about two hours - however about 45 minutes of that was dancing around after getting severe second degree burns on my right hand from the hot glue - and then trouble shooting the hot glue gun after I threw it on the floor. Thankfully I had the prescence of mind to remember the faucet outside in front of the garage and went straight to it. We're talking flesh peeling off the hand burns - OUCH!

Anyway I'm not done doing the repair work. The owners manual for the Ding King says you may have to do as many as 10 pulls on the same dented area to get the desired result - and even then it may not be 100%

Other reviews I've recently read had similar experiences to me - really darn impressive but not 100%. I am amazed at how much of the dent is removed so far. I'm convinced that another three to six pulls over a two inch area will give me even better results.

Bottom line, if you're thinking about getting a "Ding King" I would say it's the best $20 to $60 (depending the model you get) you can spend in an attempt to get rid of door dings or even more major damage on your Avalanche. I had received an estimate of $500 for paintless dent repair - and I'm pretty sure that I can get to within 95% of what a pro will be able to do.

As I said, more work to be done and there will be a story with pictures in a future Avalanche Zone magazine.
 
I have one paid $18.99 at WalMart, not sure of the model, but it has a glue gun, a narrow and larger circular set of suction cup like things, a small scraper and a white fixer upper tool. Used it about 2 months ago took 3 pulls but it pulled a small door ding out almost completely. Dent Doctor wanted $75.00 to repair it.
 
Chief,
Looks like your luck is still holding, Sorry about your hand :cry:
 
i have an old suction cup type dent puller with out the glue but if i do get a dent in the av...knock on wood that i don't....then i will have to run by walmart then
 
Bisonovich said:
i have an old suction cup type dent puller with out the glue but if i do get a dent in the av...knock on wood that i don't....then i will have to run by walmart then
If you keep putting the AV in mud filled ditches, you might get a dent sooner than you think!!! >:D >:D >:D Had fun with you down in Charleston. Wish I could have stayed longer!!

Wiki
 
I have had the Ding King box sitting in my garage for about 2 months now. Trying to get the courage to try the repair. Maybe now I will, and thanks Chief for the warning, I will watch the glue gun. :)
 
openminds said:
I have had the Ding King box sitting in my garage for about 2 months now. Trying to get the courage to try the repair. Maybe now I will, and thanks Chief for the warning, I will watch the glue gun. ?:)

Well it wasn't bad luck, it was my own damn fault. I had used up one of the glue sticks and instead of unplugging it, letting it cool and loading a new stick I attempted to load the unit hot. I had that little voice in my head going, "don't do this," but I thought I had figured out. Well to advance the stick you have to squeeze the trigger and initially the glue wasn't coming out. So I was pushing the back of the glue stick and pointing the unit down. As I squeezed the trigger to advance the stick the darn glue shot out all over my hand.

One other warning. When you do get a stick loaded if you're moving in sequence be very careful. Point the gun at an object (I was using a sheet of cardboard) that you don't care about and squeeze the trigger slowly. I had some air trapped between the two sticks and the force shot the glue out when I got it running again.

Oh ya - and if you have to install a new stick of glue. Unplug the thing and let it cool. That was my mistake. You should really give it a try, I'd say you have nothing to lose.
 
yea...the dents isn't the biggest things i'm worried about it the scratches and the cladding getting ripped out...when i nearly completely buried my left running mud in the mud bank on the side...i wasn't sure how well it was going to hold up...but it lasted...and it was my exhaust that got slightly out of alignment
 
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