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What Exactly is Contour Mapping?

Fixing a dent and/or a scratch doesn’t always require a repair in just one particular area. Even small imperfections can often stand out, creating noticeable differences between original surfaces and the overall repair. People in the collision repair industry call this “contour mapping” and something we often perform here in Service King Southside in San Antonio, TX.

Metal Parts Don’t Bend

Metal body panels don’t have a memory when they’re damaged in any way, which means that they don’t pop back into place. To fix these types of dents, technicians must cautiously bend the metal just enough to match the panel’s original form.

Paintless Dent Repair (PDR) can be performed from the inside or outside of the car. If there is space behind the panel that is easily accessible, a lever can be called upon to push down on the metal from the backside, thereby gently massaging it back into shape. For outside repairs, body technicians will typically use what is known as a glue puller. This utilizes small plastic pegs that are then glued to the surface of the panel and then pulled off using a conventional lifter. It does usually “pop” the panel into place, but it takes several small pulls to reshape the surface and eliminate the dent in many cases.

With either type of repair that’s used, the metal must be carefully bent from the furthest edges of the dent inward. If the bend is started anywhere within the dent, it will customarily leave a small ripple that is literally impossible to remove without totally stripping the car’s paint and applying a filler.

Heavier damage can usually be removed by welding tabs onto the panel and pulling them out using a series of slide hammers. Once the panel is returned back to its original shape, the tabs are then cut off and the surface is ground flat so that it can be painted. The panel is bent from the precise center of the damage, but it could still need PDR techniques or body filler to get a completely smooth finish. At this point, it requires skills and experience, because if the slightest amount of extra metal is left over, it will show up directly beneath the paint.

Body Fillers and Clearcoat Paints

Body filler is ideal for filling metal surfaces that have slowly eroded from rust and for removing minor imperfections that can show up in the paint, while glazes can fill in imperfections in clearcoat without respraying the entire panel. However, since filler and glazes are comparatively soft, using the same sanding techniques applied to the remainder of the panel can lead to deep scratches. If there’s a slight misstep in those instances, the filler must be subsequently reapplied and resanded.

A series of light scratches can be filled in by removing and applying a new layer of clear coat, or by directly applying a glaze over the existing paintwork. When repairing any minor damage, the surrounding area is customarily covered to protect it from overspray.

Sources: cars.com and carcarekiosk.com

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