My 4 month old King ranch was hammered with hail yesterday. The hood and the roof look like someone put a hammer to it. No broken glass, but some may have to be removed to repair the trim. The truck is only 4 months old and has only 2,000 miles. I was wondering what can and can't be repaired on something like this. I hate to get a 4 month old vehicle repainted, and then there the paint warranty issue. I'll post some pics but can't figure out how to do it !

 

We had a similar incident (hail) in 2004 and our insurance co gave us the option of using one of those paintless dent removal firms and they were able to remove most of the dents. We did have to have a new hood but the rest of the vehicle was repaired without repainting.
I'm a pretty tough customer to satisfy and I must say that I would definetly recommend at least looking at that option.

 

My friend drove thru a hail storm in his 07F150.It looked as if someone shot golf ***** at it! Anyway,the insurance company used a company that removes such damage with dry ice.When they were done you could not even tell there was ever any damage!

 

Thanks, I'll find out what gives when the adjuster comes Monday

 

Be careful and ask lots of questions about the particular PDR company that does your repair. Some of them are known to drill holes in concealed locations in order to access the underside of dented body panels to perform the repairs. Since the holes are concealed they don't bother rust proofing or painting them, they just cover them back up and no is the wiser. All the PDR companies I know about refuse to allow anyone to watch them work citing proprietary repair procedures. I think they just don't want anyone to know about the holes.

 

That just makes me sick. Sorry to hear about that.
Hope the repairs go well.

 

Another word of caution...

Be sure to use a company that has been in the area for some time. Living in the midwest & tornado alley, I have seen a lot of shops get set up quick right after a major storm caused a lot of hail damage. Most of these guys will rent a garage for a month or two (or even a bay under another shop's name) and leave town leaving no course of action if something does go wrong.

I have had a very good experience with dentless repair and the tech showed me the entire process of "rubbing" out the dimples. The only place that he could not get the dimples out of were some of the edges since the bend made the steel stronger. This shop removed the headliner & trim panels and worked the dents from the inside of the vehicle.

 

I had some major hail damaged on my 1999 F150 and the body shop ended up repalcing the roof panel and hood.

Needless to say, I was not happy with the end results, as I hand rear window leak, seams leak and nothing but greif from the body shop. My wife says the truck never did sound the same after that and she was sure there was wind noise from the passenger side that wasn't there before.

The comments are dead on - Find a good shop that knows what they are doing. I would avoid removing the roof panel at all costs, but that is just me. I used the body shop that was recommended by my insurance company and I had nothing but problems, but that is another storey...


Doug

 

Well I got $ 3,000.00 from the insurance company . They will pay to replace the hood. And all the repair companies have flooded the area although some have set at at local,reputable shops. I'm going to wait and talk to some people who have had repairs before I decide to go with PDR or dry ice.

 

Sorry to hear the bad news. Did you ever think about one of those portable car ports or garages?

 

Here is a video of how the dry ice idea works. He used a can of compressed air to accomplish the same thing.

http://www.metacafe.com/watch/501379...ith_airduster/

I dont know how it would work on smaller dents. I am sure deepness and severity of the dents also has an impact on how well it works.