I heard that applying dry ice to a car dent can remove a moderately sized ding. The site stated that this is possible from the rapid cooling/heating of the metal.

I also have heard of a similar myth, that involves a similar process, where compressed air is applied to the dent and then immediately followed by a few minutes of a hair dryer.

I was wondering if either of these myths are actually true, and if they are, could they actually damage a car.

Thanks in advance for any thoughts...

Hi ,as someone working in dent removal I am in a good position to clarify the facts for you...

DRY ICE / AIR / HEAT GUN / HAIR DRYER It is possible that heating/cooling can reduce or clear a small percentage of simple dents, by expanding or contracting the metal. But of course the dent will come back as soon as the temperature goes back to normal and the metal contracts or expands to its dented original state.

Part of this myth of using heat may come from the fact that we in the dent removal business do use a heat gun on the area, especially in the winter, to warm the paint so it's more elastic and doesn't crack when we use the tools to massage the panel.

As for your final question, yes there is a danger of damaging the car's paintwork with excessive heat or cold if you don't know the limits and that would lead to costly paint repairs when you could have only needed the dent to be massaged out of the panel.

I will just add to my above reply that also if the myths were true, we would carry dry ice in the back of our car, but we dont.

We use hundreds of specially shaped metal bars and other tools that are used to massage the metal into its original shape by force with hundreds of small movments.