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So coming home today I'm going through the gate to my community and all of the sudden I hear a few loud thuds on the roof. Immediately know what happened. The lever for the gate failed as I was going through and the gate fell on my truck. It's made of PVC so I didn't think it would have caused too much damage ... but wow.. 4 good sized dents in the roof. Not sure how a steel body would have held up but this is not a good feeling. Haven't even had her a month yet. I'm going to have the association pay for it but my concern is the body work. Will this be difficult to repair? I hear aluminum is hard to work on. I just don't want for a repair to be done and still be noticeable. Your thoughts?
Passenger side front Passenger side rear
I have dents in my truck already from god knows what. This aluminum is no where near as dent resistant as the steel.
Yes and no. Aluminum by itself yes, Ford's alloy in their trucks, no. It's way more dent resistant than steel. Check out the video of the golfer taking shots at a pickup bed on end. It's amazing the steel is so whimsy!!
try to find a local paintless dent repair company....they drill a little hole behind the dent and roll the dent out.....I just used a company called Dentaway here in Texas..
I dont' think it's HARDER to work on, it's just DIFFERENT. and to lost of folks, different=harder. Make sure you find a place that actually knows how, and they shouldn't have a problem.
My son just had the same issue with his 2016 F150. He was at a ball game and parked under a walnut tree that was dropping nuts. He got two nice dents in the roof along that edge line just like yours. Maybe this is just a weak spot as I recently read a post from a guy who's truck was in a major hail storm. All the steel bodied vehicles around him were covered with dents. His 2017 Super Duty was unscathed without a mark in the paint.
I had a rental '10 F150 a few years back and had something similar happen, and the damage was very similar. A steel truck wouldn't come out of this unscathed, but of course it would likely be a bit cheaper to fix.
The cost of repair will eventually become negligent as the increased costs right now reflect the gearing up costs for dealing with aluminum. With General Motors getting ready to go aluminum with their trucks as well, we will should see a parity in repair costs over the next few years.
In my area, there are no body shops that repair aluminum vehicles. My Ford dealership told me that their body shop ships the damaged trucks that they receive to the Washington D.C. area for repairs.
I think it dents easy as well. I never had a single dent on my two F150s or my 15' F250. I've had my 17' SD for nearly a month now and have 4-5 dents on the hood, (right above where it says Super Duty) and one on driver side door from a rubber thing in HOV lane. They aren't terribly noticeable but I know they are there and it's all I see now lol
Here is an OLD tip I learned from a body man back in the 70's and it CAN work. You can also pocket a lot of Ins $$$.
If the dent does not have hard creases then try this. Take DRY ICE and rub it in the center and deepest part of the dent. Works best on shallow hail dents.
How does it work? The dry ice shrinks the metal where its touched and it pulls the dent out.
I have used it for hail dents and it works. Best time to use is in the summer sun when the metal is at its softest and will pull faster.
Not sure if it will work on the dents you have but it will not hurt to try...
As little damage that is, I bet the estimate will be staggering.
You sir are correct...
Over $1,800 in damage. Aluminum repair rate is $65/hour at the dealership, and they have to repaint the entire molding so in the future the clear coat doesn't peel.
I think it dents easy as well. I never had a single dent on my two F150s or my 15' F250. I've had my 17' SD for nearly a month now and have 4-5 dents on the hood, (right above where it says Super Duty) and one on driver side door from a rubber thing in HOV lane. They aren't terribly noticeable but I know they are there and it's all I see now lol
I don't know about the Super Duty but the F-150 has had aluminum Hoods for years.
You can thank your resident Shade Tree Mech for that. Too many times I've seen them close the hood to where it catches and then push down on it, hard, to close and latch it.
Ford Dealerships have them, too. In the Grease Monkey Dept..... Where they can't do as much damage.
Here is an OLD tip I learned from a body man back in the 70's and it CAN work. You can also pocket a lot of Ins $$$.
If the dent does not have hard creases then try this. Take DRY ICE and rub it in the center and deepest part of the dent. Works best on shallow hail dents.
How does it work? The dry ice shrinks the metal where its touched and it pulls the dent out.
I have used it for hail dents and it works. Best time to use is in the summer sun when the metal is at its softest and will pull faster.
Not sure if it will work on the dents you have but it will not hurt to try...
Back in the day, we used to straighten crankshafts using fire and water like that before we welded them up and re-ground them. Boring story.
Today, you can do yourself a lot of favors using magnets and a piece of steel on the reverse side to draw a lot of dents out.
There's kits out there that use magnets and many that don't.
Rezvani's Latest Post-Apocalytic Monster Is a Ford F-150 Raptor Underneath
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