Slight hail damage...fix it?
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Cargo Master
Joined: Sep 2012
Posts: 3,061
Likes: 39
From: Laramie, WY
Slight hail damage...fix it?
I was driving down the highway coming north out of CO on Friday in my 2013 F150 FX4 and ended up driving through what looked like a super cell forming. I just had a new windshield put in a few hours before and thought it was going to break. Now the hood and roof have slight hail dings all over the place, and a few rungs of the grill were broken out.
If you stand back about 10 feet the dings don't show. They are slight so I'm not sure if I should bother to have them fixed. I put a call into the insurance agent and I'm waiting to hear back, they were busy so I didn't discuss it with them yet. Kind seems like I should just collect what they will pay for repairs, then put that in a savings account to make up for the loss of value. I'll try get some pics later. What do you think?
If you stand back about 10 feet the dings don't show. They are slight so I'm not sure if I should bother to have them fixed. I put a call into the insurance agent and I'm waiting to hear back, they were busy so I didn't discuss it with them yet. Kind seems like I should just collect what they will pay for repairs, then put that in a savings account to make up for the loss of value. I'll try get some pics later. What do you think?
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Cargo Master
Joined: Sep 2012
Posts: 3,061
Likes: 39
From: Laramie, WY
Thanks...I stopped by a body shop and they have a PDR (paintless dent repair) guy. He wrote up a $2400 quote and discussed the process with me. I was concerned because I thought they might just use heat to pop the dents back out, and then I could end up with them coming back a year or so later. Once the dent has happened the metal has stretched, so he uses a shrinking hammer to get the dent out. I'm going to have the work done, just have to wait for the insurance company adjuster to look at it first. I think the truck would loose too much value if I tried to sell it with all the little dents. Sorry, forgot to get a picture.
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Cargo Master
Joined: Sep 2012
Posts: 3,061
Likes: 39
From: Laramie, WY
Yes they do. Yesterday afternoon, it was a sunny day and the sun is very strong at 7400 ft. They didn't all disappear, but they weren't as noticeable. Is PDR a reliable way to fix it?
Also, I tried to get some pictures but the dents are so slight that I can't get them to show up. All I can see are reflections...guess I'm doing a good job of waxing it.
Also, I tried to get some pictures but the dents are so slight that I can't get them to show up. All I can see are reflections...guess I'm doing a good job of waxing it.
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Cargo Master
Joined: Sep 2012
Posts: 3,061
Likes: 39
From: Laramie, WY
The insurance adjuster just called and he liked the estimate that I turned in. He said he is going to go ahead and approve the work without needing to see the truck. He also said he sees good results with the PDR work because the modern paint has the ability to flex better than the older paints that were used.
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Cargo Master
Joined: Sep 2012
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From: Laramie, WY
That boosts my confidence. It does seem like the PDR guy is independent of the body shop, that doesn't bother me. Truck goes in Monday and I asked them if they had anyone who could detail it but they don't. I do my best washing and waxing it, but it's starting to get some swirl marks and my hand rubbing doesn't quite get them all out.
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This may sound weird, but I have actually seen it work on a buddies car, with my own eyes. Like you, he had shallow hail dents on the hood, roof and trunk. On a hot day, he set the car out into full sun for about 3 hours. His car was a dark blue, so it absorbed a lot of the rays and got hot. He then pulled the car into the shade of his garage and put an ice cube in the center of the depression of each of the hail spots. After a couple of minutes, we could hear several small pops and could see the ice cubes jump, as the metal cooled, shrank and returned to it's original position. It took about 3 tries with this method, but he eventually repaired about 2/3's of the hail dents...the last 1/3 were just too deep for this method to work on. I think he had the remaining 1/3 done by PDR. I know he lowered his PDR bill by eliminating 2/3 of the dents on his own.