HISTORY
The implementation of PDR was started by Frank T. Sargent in 1931, when he wrote a groundbreaking work “The Key To Metal Bumping”. This book describes paint-free repair tools, how to use them, and even illustrates how one can predict the movement of metal.
Nearly 20 years later, Oskar Flaig made his first public appearance in February 1960 during the International Auto Show in New York, USA.
Oskar Flaig was a member of the Mercedes-Benz staff. His job was to take care of the aesthetics of all the cars presented at trade shows. Damage such as paint scratches and small dents caused by the public during the day had to be repainted at night so that the vehicles were in excellent condition the next day. ,
At the New York International Exposition, Oskar Flaig used a hammer handle to push a small dent, using fewer materials before painting. Nevertheless, the result already looked perfect after the repair.
After the exhibition, Flaig returned home to Germany and began developing techniques and tools for repairing dents. Eventually he was promoted to foreman at the Mercedes plant in Sindelfingen where he was known as “gold plate” and started PDR training programs at all Mercedes-Benz branches.
These techniques were used in Germany for a long time before finally being promoted as a successful dent repair method in the United States in 1979-1983 when Juergen Holzer moved from Germany to Minneapolis, Minnesota and started Dent Kraft (the first registered company in the United States). States that applied the method of repair without paint).
In other forms of sheet metal work, similar paint-free repair techniques may have been used as early as the 1930s in car assembly factories and spread much later.
TECHNIQUES
In the most common PDR techniques, metal levers are used to press the dimples on the inside of the body by applying a type of “massage”.
Adhesives and specially designed plugs, the so-called “suction cups”, can be used to pull the dents from the outside of the body. Technicians should be able to repair a dent by offering a finish that is identical to the texture of the paint, the so-called “orange peel”.
Breaking or cracking of the paint can be avoided by using heat, although a re-painted surface is more likely to crack.