Causes of Dents, Scratches and Chips on a Car Body

Over time, every car owner starts to take special care of their four-wheeled companion; after all, they spend a great deal of time together on the road. Getting attached to a car shows in how keenly you notice every little thing that happens to it.

Those who have owned their car for a long time almost instantly spot even minor scratches and stone chips in the paintwork. They want to fix such flaws promptly and have dents repaired.

Most often this means going to a specialised body repair centre, such as a car paint shop, because DIY attempts to fix defects can seriously damage the body coating. Without the right conditions, paintless dent repair or removing chips from the bonnet simply isn’t possible.

Why dents, scratches and chips appear on a car’s surface
Even the most careful and responsible driver is not immune to cosmetic defects on their car. The main factors that rob a car of its looks are external influences.

It might be a neighbour parking carelessly and «clipping» the car next to theirs. Or a stone suddenly flying up while driving on a country road. Any external mechanical impact on the body can cause damage of varying degrees:

Light scratches that affect only the top layer of paint without reaching the base colour.
Small areas of damaged base coat caused by a light mechanical impact.
Significant paint damage covering up to 50% of the body surface.
Scratches and chips showing signs of oxidation because they were not repaired in time.
Small dents with the paintwork intact.
Significant deformation of the body metal and its geometric integrity.
Damage resulting in serious deformation of body panels and stretching of the metal.
Each type of mechanical body damage calls for a different restoration method to bring the vehicle back to its original condition.

Ignoring the various scratches, chips and dents on a car’s surface can later seriously affect the quality of the coating, not only in the damaged spots but also in the surrounding areas. That can mean repair work at a considerably higher price.

It is worth noting that the cost of removing shallow dents without repainting is quite low, so the best decision is to go to professional specialists straight away.

How are dents removed?
Using vacuum equipment
At most specialised body repair companies, the main way of dealing with dents is to remove the damaged panel and straighten it mechanically with hammer blows.

However, this approach can distort the outer paintwork. Because the procedure is so demanding, specialists at body shops prefer a more effective method for shallow surface damage that requires no subsequent painting:

First, the extent of the damage is assessed to determine how badly the structure of the base material is affected.
For minor damage that does not affect the paint, specialised equipment is used that creates a strong vacuum on contact with the surface, straightening the dents without the need for painting.
The surface is then checked for coating defects and, if necessary, the area that was in contact with the vacuum tool is polished.
The advantage of this paintless dent removal method is its low cost and speed. It does not require dismantling the damaged body panels, so the repair can be done within an hour, right in front of the customer.

This method of paintless dent removal is what makes our car painting and body shop in Almaty a market leader in this kind of service.
How is scratch damage repaired?
The scratch removal process
Depending on how old and how deep the scratches are, the repair methods differ considerably:

The easiest to fix are surface scratches that do not reach the base coat. Polishing the surface is usually enough to remove them.
Deep scratches that penetrate the base coat may require localised repair, removing part of the paintwork in the damaged area and then restoring it.
If the scratch has reached bare metal, or has been on the panel for a long time and oxidised, the coating must be removed completely, the metal treated, filler applied and the area repainted.
Our car painting and body shop in Almaty has everything needed to remove scratches of any complexity. This allows our specialists to complete jobs of any level of difficulty quickly and to a high standard.

How are cracks and chips repaired?
To remove cracks and chips in the paintwork, the damaged components have to be replaced. The procedure necessarily involves removing the damaged areas of the car’s surface (fully or partially, depending on the extent of the damage) and applying a new layer of filler and paint.

Every stage of repairing cracks and chips on the body demands special attention and care so that the restored surface is indistinguishable from the original.
Don’t hesitate to turn to the experienced technicians at our auto centre: the price of chip repair is usually quite affordable, and it helps you avoid corrosion, which can set in and turn into an expensive problem.

What makes us the first choice?
Among the many companies doing body work, including dent repair with and without painting, our car painting centre in Almaty holds a leading position not only thanks to modern equipment but also because of affordable body repair prices.

Every customer matters to us, which is why we work only with experienced professionals who can carry out work of any complexity promptly and carefully.