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I was sure my dent puller was fine until a customer's car came back with a paint crack
For years, I used my standard slide hammer on everything, thinking the heat from the glue tabs was no big deal. A 2018 Honda Civic came back a week later with a hairline crack right where I pulled a door ding. The painter, Mike, pointed out that I'd overheated the metal in a small spot, making the paint fail. I switched to a low-temp glue system and haven't had the issue since. Has anyone else run into this with older puller methods?
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julia_carter615mo ago
A hairline crack a week later and you're sure it was the puller? Paint can fail for a dozen reasons, especially on a six year old car. Mike the painter might be right, but he also might be covering for a bad prep job. Low-temp glue is probably smarter, but I've seen guys use the old method for decades without a single comeback.
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valp325mo ago
Honestly @julia_carter61, I switched to low-temp glue after my own paint crack and it fixed the issue for good.
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flores.emma5mo ago
Julia_carter61 makes a fair point about paint failing for other reasons, but that heat spot from the glue is a real thing. Modern factory paint is thinner and more brittle than it used to be. The old slide hammer method can absolutely create a tiny, superheated zone that weakens the paint bond. It might look fine until temperature changes make that weak spot crack. That's why the failure shows up a week later. Switching methods is just adapting to how cars are built now.
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