Harbor Freight Maddox hot glue paintless dent removal tool review

I paid a guy to do this in my driveway to my car. Some things I noticed was that he used a heat gun to gently warm the surface of the vehicle before he applied the coolers. He said it keeps the paint from cracking and helps the glue stick to the vehicle. He also saturated the glue with the rubbing alcohol heavily before removing it. It just popped right off. He paid more attention to spring it on the car so it could run under it. One other thing I noticed is all of his pool tabs he had taken a knife and scored crosshatching across them to help the glue here. Between these and a bunch of crazy long liver bars he took about 40 hail dents out of my truck. You would never know they were ever there. I remove the interior and some panels to save money and the whole job cost me 300 bucks The thing I found most impressive is when he removed a dent all the way at the front of my bed through my tail light with this crazy long bar. It was super fun to watch.

PDR systems are amazing, but it takes a LOT of practice to become proficient with them. I watched a pro at my workplace use them and I was impressed with the results. He had been doing his own PDR business for many years and knew all tricks. He did tell me that there are, of course, limits of how much of a dent you can "coax" out of a panel. I watched him "coax" out a side-swipe of a bumper on a car door (about 10" long x 3" wide x 1/2" deep and when he was finished, you couldn't tell it was ever damaged.

Did fiberglass repairs on bathtubs for over 20 years, one thing I told every customer you will always see the repair. The object of any repair is someone who doesn't know it's been repaired doesn't see it. My standard was can it be seen from three feet by me. Paintless Dent Repair doesn't have the problem because there's no color matching. Some people's really have impossible expectations.

My first time turned out like yours – – – I picked up some black glue sticks and it worked perfectly. I had $2500 worth of damage damage to my wife's car on a door; completed all the work and in three hours, more than happy with the results – – – bought my PDR kit on Amazon for less than 64 bucks. Thank God nobody was filming my first attempt! Good luck, by the way alcohol was the release agent recommended to be used my kit…

You can tell that you didn't grow up around lots of girls /women, or you would never forget the smell of acetone, bc once you walk into a room & they are removing their color from their nails, you'll know that smell, it's one of those unforgettable smells!

70% rubbing alcohol is the release agent. Put it in a squirt bottle and give it a little spritz. Works like a charm. The knock down tool is your friend. It's rare you can glue pull a ding to perfectly level. Some spots will go slightly high, which isn't a bad thing. Light BUT precise taps with the knock down tool will make things disappear if done well.

heat the area with a hair dryer. Use more fineness when leveraging the tool, instead of one pull, try smaller pulls that don't dislodge the peg from the glow, repeat as necessary.

Great review. Thank you.

Acetone would not be a release agent, it's used to remove any trace of wax or oils in order to make sure the hot-melt "glue", (Which actually is a thermo-set bonding adhesive), will stick to the painted surface. It will weaken & dissolve the "glue" enough to break the bond in order to remove the pad and adhesive from the paint. I've used a heat-gun set on low (or a hair dryer will work) to soften the adhesive also. DO NOT apply too much heat to the plastic pads or paint. They could be damaged or melted. With new bonding pads, there will be mold release coatings (more than likely a dry silicone spray) on the pads from the manufacturing process which needs to be removed for a good bond also. That is why the glue didn't stick to the pad. Because of the small surface area of the smaller pads, I've found drilling a few 3/32 holes on the face of the pads, close to and around the center of the small pads to help strengthen the bond. Do so at your own risk. You don't want to weaken the pads too much. Don't go too deep.

thank god for fast-fwd - thanks for the video!

I’ve learned a lot more in the comments than I did in the video! So thank you all for the comments.

Pdr guys usually use a tool to push on the dent from the inside and then pull it using different attachments

They have kits (basically pads and glue and some kind of leverage mechanism) for about $20-30. These kits are functionally similar, and exactly as effective. Biggest problem I see in this vid is that the glue-on pad MUST be smaller than the dent.. A lot smaller is much better than the tiniest bit bigger than the depression

Instead of squeezing hard try pulsing the handle and watch the metal flex. I've seen dents nearby come out.

Well, this tool worked pretty good,

14:05, can confirm you're a Vice Grip Garage fan too, thanks for sharing this with us. I've been looking at these and others alot lately.

On the first dent, I thought you sprayed "release agent" on the area first, wiped it off, then applied the glue tab. The "release agent" might have kept the tab from bonding as tight as it should have. I'd try something like alcohol to clean the area, wipe it off and let it dry for five minutes, then glue on the pull tab. At H F it's a grab bag. Sometimes you win, sometimes you don't. Not sure if their products are fully field tested before they hit the shelf. In their early days some tools would break the first time they were used.

It is a very good idea to write “top” on the top of the toolbox. I do it. I also write the name of the tool on the side of the box.

i saw a guy do the same thing but he had puller left and right not what you did up and down try it see if it works

Great improvement brother!