KECO Dent Tech of the Week was created to showcase talented, hard-working dent technicians that are not only valued customers and friends, but inspiring leaders in our industry. Our first KECO Dent Tech of the Week is Mike O’Grady.
Mike O’Grady began working in the auto body field at only 12 years old in his father’s body shop. He became an automotive painter but chose to go in a completely paintless direction at the age of 37. His brother got him into PDR, and he learned quickly that he would much rather do PDR for a body shop than a dealership. Body shops hold their techs to a much higher standard, and that is what Mike O’Grady is all about.
When Mike was introduced to GPR, he realized that most techs were using GPR for small, less complicated dings. Those techs could fix those dings for a cheaper price than Mike. He didn’t want to try and do them for cheaper, driving the monetary compensation of his industry down, so he decided to challenge himself in a different way. While technicians in his area often used GPR to fix small dents, almost no one attempted to fix hero dents, except Mike.
After attending Jonathan Vandenfontyne’s class at MTE, Mike was hooked. KECO and Jonathan helped Mike understand metal movement, and he learned that with KECO glue pull repair tools, he could do more without damaging the paint.
For Mike, GPR is the obvious choice for body repair. “For me, glue pulling: 1. Does not require disassembly. 2. Will not cause corrosion problems. 3. Allows for larger more controlled metal/aluminum movement, especially initially. 4. If done correctly, is invisible on both top and backside. It is the "ultimate" closest to perfect repair,” O’Grady said.
Mike is known for his expertise and skill in PDR and GPR, but when he’s not pulling big dents he’s spending time with or Facetiming his new granddaughter, camping with his wife, or fishing with the whole family.
