Door Dings

[Pistonslap]

I have had two dings on my 4runner. One from me hitting the trash can in the driveway and the other from a jackass at a shopping center. Both were bad and drove me insane. I had both removed by paintless dent removal guys. Both did excellent jobs.

I am happy that I didn't get the MDX. Hondas seem to dent from the wind. They have the thinnest body panels of any car.

 

[Boston_Runner]

Thats what I am driving now, the MDX. It is suppose to have varible thinkness at the doors to resist dings, thinker at the places where Honda think it will get hit, and thinner at the other places to save weight. I got my first 3 dings before the car was 6 months old. Had dent king remove them for $500, and added the wide body side moldings. Since then, I have gotten 3 more dings in 2 and half years.
I am picking up my 4runner in 3 weeks, i am just trying to figure out if the 4runner is a little more ding resistant than the MDX and other SUVs out there. The MDX seems to use very thin metal all around, I find the American and the German SUV better in the dent resistant catagory.

 

[KMX3060]

My big Bling ding

4 weeks in the shop
$4K
OUCH!

Other three doors are OK

 

[sailchris]

dings

When I drive my old 93 Mitsubishi Eclipse, I get really annoyed when big SUVs park to one side of a parking spot and block me in. I can't get into my car WITHOUT hitting the other car because the doors are so long and the window curves in.

 

[adventureman73]

I've got a 4th gen 4R and I've discovered that the running boards catch most doors before they even get close to my metal. Which is always funny to see bits of other people's paint on my running boards (which are pretty chewed up from the lava rock they use on the winter roads around here instead of sand). Wonder what they're thinking when they do that to their own car? There's benefits to driving a tank...

 

[MicaBlue03]

Wide vehicle influence on door ding frequency?

The MDX and Pilot are based on the Honda Odyessy minivan and are several inches wider than the 4Runner. Maybe that would cause more door dings? Or maybe it would make them less likely, as adjacent cars wouldn't have as much space to swing their doors to get momentum to ding yours?

One door ding possibility is on the corners of the wheel arches. Another ding possibility is chipping your own door edges when they open against something such as another car or a garage wall. As a partial solution for both of these, I've used narrow strips of the 3M protective film wrapped around these edges. It's working ok so far.

 

[Boston_Runner]

Sounds like more people on this forum have windshield dings than door dings.

 

[Koz]

I agree with all the posts but I always park at an end of a row where only one car can park on one side of your vehicle. I also park very close to the curb so to leave as much room on the other side, works very well!

Koz

 

[jbrhymer]

end spaces, next to other expensive cars, never next to a pos, never next to someone who couldnt take the time to park straight.