Door Dings
 

I was just curious, our doors and hood are aluminum right? Do they tend to ding easily? Or maybe they flex more and resist?

Yes they are aluminum. Aluminum has the benefit of being lighter but can be a bit softer as aluminum has a lower melting point. I wouldn't park anywhere you think you have the potential for door dings, as a good percentage of people nowadays just do not care about other peoples nice things.
Something to remember, when parking next to other cars, take a quick look at the edge of the other cars doors, this will give you a good indication as to the kind of person you are parking next too.

Very good tip! I do this all of the time. So easy to pick out the careless folks.

I was parked at the store the other day in a spot that I thought was safe. When I came out there was a car parked next to me and the lady driving it flung the drivers door open, got out and flung the passenger door open. Both times without even caring that a car was parked next to her. Fortunately, I was parked far enough away from her car where her door missed my car. If her doors would have hit my car it would have put dents in it, not just a dings.

She walked behind my car right before I started backing out. When she did she got a 7500 rpm, supercharged, Fast Intentions exhaust blast right in her ear.

More dingable. Be defensive. Always.

Was following an SUV today with a sticker that brazenly/honestly stated:

"I HAVE KIDS
park too close
and I'll ding your ****!"

Most likely would happen the other way. They will park too closely next to me.

So far, on a long run of luck. Tons of miles in and I still don't have a door dink. I understand though, that it could be just a quick stop and run in for a coffee away.

Full disclosure > At the front end of 100k miles that's a whole nother issue...ALL of those chips, dents and welts are perfectly acceptable in my mind because they came from more than zero miles per hour.

Go defense!

People suck.... My 2013 Z was dinged by a fool. I had a paintless ding guy come out and fix it and he mentioned the metal on the door was harder than normal steel. I mentioned it was aluminum and he was pretty shocked. Did I mention people suck?

I am flabbergasted at how many people are so freaking careless.

Actually if you get a steel hood next to an aluminum hood and try to put a dent into it, the steel will dent easier vs the aluminum. People think of a coke can when they hear aluminum and expect it to be very soft. The steel is easier to repair and can take more damage vs aluminum. Being in the PDR business we upcharge on aluminum panels because of how much harder it is to push the dents out. It takes a lot more force rather than steel panels.

I always park away from other cars. Even when I had my E36 BMW that was worth pennies compared to the Z, I would do the same. Sorry to anyone this happens to.

My reaction and anger to perpetrator and their car would be akin to this:

http://78.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_ma...uk86o4_500.gif

Good PDR guys are like sorcerers.

Yay an answer, thanks amigo.

I believe the OP was referring to "door dings", NOT "door dents". A "door ding" is usually classified a small marking were the metal has been manipulated to represent a "pit" in the metal. A "door dent" on the other hand is usually representing an indentation were the metal has flexed inward.

Lol im in Lewisville not far from you so if you need any work let me know

For what it's worth:

I've just learned to not shop at certain places at certain times. If I cannot find a spot that's away from the morons, then I just go a different day. Sometimes this means paying a bit more and going to a less busy establishment.

If ya don't have a choice, I just try to find a spot where only one side can be hit, and usually I look for a few signs:

Is the car next to me clean/upscale brand?
Is it backed in? (good sign they are conscientious personality type)

Cars I avoid parking by:

Any / All American trucks/jeeps/bigger vehicles with bigger doors

Typical single mom mobile where there's a million hand prints stickers perma dirt perma brake dust on the front wheels. Another tell is if the front plate is jacked up/taco'd, means they run it through the car wash, means they're lazy and don't actually care.

4+ years of Z ownership, Zero door dents/dings/scuffs. Only 4-5 rock chips because of a clear bra on the front bumper and the entire hood. I also keep it super clean, ocd style, and that tends to attract other car lovers to park next to mine. Being there are only 300 MB from 2013-14, I enjoy taking care of mine.

I can often park in an unused part of a car park and return to find some uncared for car parked so close I have trouble getting into my car. I swear they do it on purpose.

I see this sometimes.

Parking in an unused area only frees up better spots for other people that could benifit from a shorter walk.

It wouldn't be a bad thing if more people parked liked that. Unfortunatly, some people can't see past their jealousy.

Steel is easier to dent than aluminum.
ALuminum is way stiffer than steel, a lot harder than you think.

Caught a lady's kid opening the door into my Z one time. When I confronted her politely (just looking for an apology - the kid was fairly young - figured it was a good teaching moment about other people's property) she denied profusely that her child had done anything wrong. I pointed out the fresh scratch which was obvious when I retraced her car door path to demonstrate the impact location. She stopped what she was doing in her car and grabbed her kid and ran off. So I removed all the valve stems from her tires and placed them carefully on her windshield with a note that she might need them.

Cool man, you stranded a woman and her child for a small scratch. You showed her.

Give me a break :rolleyes:

First, the only action I took because of the scratch was to confront her about it. Politely. Removing her valve stems was purely a reaction to her attitude that her kid could do no wrong and the conversation that took place after I demonstrated beyond doubt that it just happened.

Second, I didn't strand her; I inconvenienced her. She could have come out to a flat tire and been worse off. There was no damage done to the vehicle. Any roadside service vehicle has the valve stem tool and air pump needed to get her going again. Hell, I've known security vehicles that patrol those big retail parking lots that carry tools to help.

I got one ding behind the door on the rear fender on the drivers side. :shakes head:

I would like to see someone put a ding in my truck's door. The truck has a 2" lift and has DOM tube nerf bars just below the doors. Someone throws their door open. They will hit the nerf bars and dent the edge of their door. I've already seen it happen. :rofl2:

If you can shop around a reputable body shop you trust you can have a body shop use paintless dent removal to removal most dings.

You can do it yourself too. I removed a dent from my fuel tank on my bike. I used a kit from HF.

I need to start a HF-Love-Fest thread.

Their transmission jack made pulling the diff off and back on by myself REALLLLY easy... btw, I have a HF transmission jack for sale...

I believe a dent by definition is metal that's been pushed in and a ding is displaced metal/material. How do you "pop out" displaced metal? I think some people are confused about what a door ding is.... Most dings would require paint and body as they cannot be "popped" out.

Either way, they are still an eye sore when you care about your cars exterior.

I would argue the term 'ding' does not expressly indicate displaced metal/material. Plenty of people use the term door ding to refer to a simple dent. But yes PDR is only an option if the paint is undisturbed.

I get what you are saying, I work in the aerospace industry and when inspecting damage to metal, it's the standard we use when explaining the difference between the two. I realize not everyone will use the same terms/definitions.

FOD. I worked with gas turbines. Used the same terms.

I've got one too, purchased for the exact same thing! I'm holding on to mine, as I usually wrench solo and this thing makes the perfect wingman if I just need to support something (like the exhaust) while unbolting.

For the most part. I'm not a fan of HF tools. I only go there if I can't find it somewhere else.

I always been one to park away from everyone regardless of what I drive. But I'd always concede if that option wasn't available. Not so with the Z. We go to places where there's plenty of parking and if that's filled we'll go somewhere else. Interestingly enough, I'm the one most likely to ding it as my truck is parked right next to it in a tight garage. I have a death grip on my door every time I get out of my truck.

When I lived in a high rise I thought my 350Z was safe as I had a Maserati on my left and my brother's BMW parked on the right.

Over 3 months my brother put a dozen dings into my passenger door. He refused to improve his door opening skills until I ran a cable through his tie down hooks and padlocked it around the concrete curb. Left a nice note explaining why he was grounded.

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They ding easy.Not a big deal to fix.I do this once a year.

Last summer, i went to park at a mall, and there was a back section with 2-3 empty rows of about 10-15 empty parking spots each row, im like awsome... so i park in the middle of it all, completely secluded from the other cars.

I come back an hour later, tell me how i find one person parked right beside me, and all the other 30-40 parking spots empty:shakes head:. this guy went out of his way to park beside me... like wtf. i wanted to set his car on fire, annoyed me more than i thought it would lol but oh well.

This is a good representation of what it looked like
https://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2017...7371288794.jpg

I have had the exact same arsonist reaction when that happens. Makes me wish I had a truck with a winch so I could drag their to a different part of the lot - and then set it on fire.

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38% of cars get dinged in their life. IIRC big retail parking lots are like 2x more dangerous than parking garages, street parking, etc. I mainly park by expensive cars or just walk further. I absolutely avoid parking by trucks and SUV/kidmobiles at any cost.


(stats)
https://autoshopaccessories.com/do-car-covers-work/