One of the many challenges we face with dents is stretch. This is when a dent has pulled too much metal away from the surrounding area and doesn't want to return to being flat again.
When the repair fails as a result of this, the term we like to use to describe it is "oil canned". If you remember in days of old, the bottoms of paint and oil cans would have a little pop to them if you pushed on them. This was created by the tension of the metal around it's edges.
The same thing can happen with your vehicle when it gets dented. The metal is pushed in stretching it far beyond it's normal size. When an attempt is made to push it back to being flat, the tension from the surrounding areas creates an oil can effect. In order to restore it to it's original form, a slightly different approach needs to be taken when repairing the dent, and it's not something everyone has experience to do!
Here's an example of a Dodge Grand Caravan that came to us. In the first couple of pictures you can see the size and severity of the dent. It runs from the top edge of the wheel well all the way up to the bottom of the window. From the pictures you can also see that prior to it coming in to our shop, another PDR technician had attempted, and failed to repair it.
Before:
After:
With some time, patience and skill we were able to restore this vehicle's rear quarter panel back to it's original form, and save the customer a lot of time and money!