Hi,

This week my 2018 F350 truck suffered some moderate hail damage, and was wondering what repair options others have used that worked well. I’m not liking the idea of messing with the factory paint and have read about PDR, but not sure about it either.

thx

 

I have never had hail damage or pdr done on aluminum but on my previous vehicles I had great results with it.

 

PDR works fine on aluminum. My old '12 F-150 (aluminum hood) had some significant hail damage. All the steel and aluminum was PDR and you couldn't tell it had been damaged.

 

If you live in an area where its common I'm sure there are PDR guys that can do a great job. My dad has an f150, not sure what year, but hes had it in for hail damage a couple of times and says you cant even tell afterwards. That's with PDR. I haven't personally seen it but he's a pretty picky guy so I believe it.

We dont get hail like that here and I highly doubt there are any PDR techs here that could make it go away.

 

My 15 f150 had 11k hail damage, they popped all the dents back and I could never tell it had been hailed on. They charged my insurance company 25% more for working on aluminum, lol

 

My last truck (Duramax) had $12K in hail damage after baseball size hail throttled it. PDR works great but it was beyond that. In the end, panels were replaced along with the roof and most of the glass. No matter what, you will loose trade in value the minute you make an insurance claim. I tried my best to cover it while at work with blankets and such but almost wished they would have totaled it.

 

Hi there, I own a traveling PDR Company & I am a PDR tech. PDR is a wonderful way to preserve the factory paint.
Aluminum hoods have been around for decades and PDR work well on Aluminum. Aluminum costs 25% more to fix bc it is hell to work on vs steel. Have to push a lot harder on aluminum and its more difficult to be as precise while working AL. I personally have fixed over 100 AL body F150s & SDs. The roofs on these AL trucks are the biggest Pain N the A bc the roof ribs are very wide and make it difficult for us to get a good line of sight to the PDR light.

To the OP, where was your truck when it received its dose of hail damage?

Also, theres a lot of myths about the PDR industry and process. Theres no dry ice process(myth). Ive heard or been asked about dry ice a thousand times and have no idea who started that bizarre myth. Theres nothing that can or ever will happen to a vehicle thats had PDR work done on it. We use steel rods to push & massage the dents from the back side of the panel. There is no problem or problems down the road that will occur from using steel tools on aluminum panels. Many think or will tell you AL tools have to be used on aluminum. Ive personally never seen, known, or met a PDR tech who has tools made out of AL.

 

I forgot to ad, if the PDR guy or company that your thinking about using doesn't offer to give you part of your insurance check back to you, run away. Theres never a need for the PDR company to get the entire check from you. And absolutely under no condition should you have to pay a deductible.
I generally give my customers 10%-20% of their insurance check back to them & don't charge deductible. But some of that money back depends on the severity of the damage. If its very light small dents, then there wont be as much meat on the insurance check bone.

 

We've had probably $30k+ in hail damage to our various vehicles over the last 10 years. Lots of hail here. Every vehicle we've owned since 2007, except one, has gotten hit. We've used three or four different PDR places, as they come and go over time.

Every one of 'em did a fantastic job, and it was impossible to tell the vehicle had ever been damaged. Pretty amazing work. None of the vehicles ever had an issue later on.

Find a good PDR place, and you'll be really happy with the results.

 

Where's @Imadentguy ??

 

Thanks for the advice everyone. We had golf ball to tennis size hail here. My truck was partly under a tree, so it faired much better than everything else. However there’s dents on all driver side panels, hood, tailgate, and roof. Not a lot of dents, maybe around 20. If anyone can recommend a good shop in the Raleigh NC area let me know.

 

I know of a guy who is an excellent PDR technician thats from NC. I think he is from Charlotte. But he travels around the country fixing hail damage. He might be in the Raleigh area. Im trying to get ahold of him. Haven't talked to the guy in 2 years. If he responds to my text message and is near you, i will pass him contact info to you.
Give me a day or so to get in touch with him.

 

Your kidding me right? Eating a deductible is one thing, but 10-20% kick back is another.... you obviously are a wholesale broker, or a “friendly” traveling DENT WH$%E. To get on here and tell people that unless the pdr tech is willing to eat the deductible and give a 10-20% kick back you should run away is ridiculous! I say the COMPLETE OPPOSITE! PDR is an art form that requires extreme attention to detail, and just like EVERYTHING else in life you get what you pay for. You “kick back” dent guys should be ashamed. Sorry sir but its “dent guys” like you, that do ANYTHING to make a dollar, that are the ones that are KILLING this industry. Your telling me that you are going to go push 500+ dime to double over with R&I on aluminum panels on modern vehicles and you are going to eat a 1000 dollar deductible AND give that kind of “kick back” just to get it in the door? And what door are you running that through? The small 2 bay shop that you you just rented that the owner now wants 5 grand a month for that was for rent for 1500 a month 24 hours before the hail storm hit? Thats tuff to cover eating deductibles and giving a (pardon me while i projectile vomit in my mouth) 20% kick back. To ANYONE reading this that give a **** about their vehicle, dont walk away from the kick back guys RUN. There is a reason it is cheaper. Fly by night traveling dent guys that conduct business in this manner are a BAD DEAL. They will butch it up, and be gone in a week. Im in houston right now fixing $1400 cars wholesale at a high line dealership for $400 because of all of the kick backs and throat slitting. SICK TO DEATH OF IT. This is my first day off in three weeks and every bone in my body is killing me and i get on here and read this and it makes me want to PUKE. Hang on just a second bud....

 

This whole truck looks like this. This is a 12k dollar ticket. Customer has 1k dollar deductible and asked me for a 20% kick back. This truck would take me 5 days with 14+ hour days, start to finish. Can i glass this out? Yep.... will i glass it out with the kick backs? Nope. So you know what i did? I passed on it out of principle. I conduct myself as a professional and i pride myself in what i am capable of. Its not about the money dude. Its about having value in what you do, and building a retail customer base by performing a task with results that speak for themselves. I GET CALLS FROM PEOPLE I DONT EVEN KNOW and i NEVER give kickbacks to get the job....rarely do i provide deductible assistance. You get customers by lining their pockets. If you are a good dent guy have a little self worth dude, and sell your results.... not a kickback. Man id love to know who you are. It sure is a big small industry...

 

ALSO! You need to be using soft tipped tools on the backs of aluminum panels OR YOU WILL cross contaminate the panel. Galvanic corrosion is real and will set in when your tool digs into the aluminum panel when you are trying to pick out small lows after you scratch off the factory e coat on the back side. Spring steel will leave microscopic particles behind that will corrode the aluminum over time. You can get away with using high quality stainless sharp tips but they better be quality stainless. Pdr finesse tools etc. ...... the mic has been dropped sir....