Free to read

The Physics of Paintless Dent Repair

A Technical Guide to Understanding, Repairing, and Mastering Automotive Sheet Metal

For most of the history of this trade we have learned on dirt roads. One technician learns from another, a second from a corporation, a third from himself in a garage. Each invents a few words, borrows a few more, and builds a private way of seeing metal. Then we wonder why two excellent technicians can stand over the same panel and sound as though they practice two different trades.

This book is an attempt to put up road signs.

Contents

• PrologueOrigins of Pushing Metal
• Chapter OneThe Metals
• Chapter TwoThe Electronics
• Chapter ThreeThe Road Signs
• Chapter FourA Language for the Craft
• Chapter FiveThe Single Solution
• Chapter SixPatterns
• Chapter SevenReading the Metal
• Chapter EightLeverage
• Chapter NineSeeing
• Chapter TenPulling from the Outside
• Chapter ElevenTapping
• Chapter TwelveHeat
• Chapter ThirteenThe PDR5 Framework
• Chapter FourteenMinimum Manipulation
• Chapter FifteenThe Making of a Technician
• Chapter SixteenThe Life Around the Dent
• AudiobookListen to the whole book
• NotesWorks Cited
• IndexIndex of Terms

About the author

Paul Whitehorn has repaired dents in Lakeland, Florida since 1999: more than 14,000 vehicles. He is a Vale Certified Master Craftsman II, ARC certified, and the creator of the Dent Repair USA app. He served as an Airborne Infantry officer in the United States Army and holds a B.Th., an M.Div., a Th.M. and a PhD He still works at the panel. Paul Whitehorn →