Suggestions on repairing hail damage?

[Pit Bull]

Got a lot of hail damage last week Insurance is paying, I will be netting $3200 . Most of these are small dimples in the hood, and front fenders. I don't care about the roof, they are small and no one is that tall. My truck is black and I heard that some will pop out this summer, if I leave my truck in the "HOT" sun. Also heard dry ice will pop some out (don't know how to do the dry ice thing, any suggestions would be great ???). The remaining few big ones I hope can be fixed with paintless dent removal at one of though "fix a dent places". for a couple of hundred dollars. Looks like I just got my funding for either a new DDT or ATS transmission, when my 100K warranty runs out . Any suggestions on cheap dent removal would be helpful and appreciated? Thanks

 

[Jammar9082]

I have not had to use this method but did have some hail last week and I told my son about it. He said if it happens let the vehicle sit in the hot sun and then hold dry ice in and on the dent and it should pop out with no damage to the paint.



Since I nor my son have done this before maybe some one else with true experience will post their experiences.

 

[dieselgirlanddan]

Originally posted by Jammar9082

I have not had to use this method but did have some hail last week and I told my son about it. He said if it happens let the vehicle sit in the hot sun and then hold dry ice in and on the dent and it should pop out with no damage to the paint.



Since I nor my son have done this before maybe some one else with true experience will post their experiences.

My Dad and I have been in the Body & paint Buisness for years. We have tried and tried the Dry ice thing And does not work.

There is nothing wrong with the paintless Dent repair, Don't get me wrong, But I have had alot of customers come back about 6-8 months later, Because where they popped the dent out the paint started to crack. Then also it depends how good they are sometimes instead of a dent they will leave a pone in the metal. So It just depends on you, What you want done. Hope I have been a little help.

 

[fest3er]

Originally posted by Dieselgirl ... because where they popped the dent out the paint started to crack... .

I know almost nothing about paint and autobody repair, hence my question.

For the paintless repair, is the dent popped out cold? or is the region heated somewhat to make the paint more ... elastic, less brittle?

Just curious...

Fest3er

 

[Randy J]

With PDR (paintless dent repair), the dent is massaged out from the backside. PDR techs have an awesome assortment of levers of different shapes and sizes. They use leverage to work around the dent, pressing up until the dent is eventually removed. It really is a neat repair method, and would definately be my choice, as long as it's a good tech. The benefits are; usually less expensive, factory paint remains, less chance for corrosive hot spots due to no welding pins to pull dents out with. The downsides are; possible corrosion hot spots if not done properly. If it's a good repairman, and they are careful, this will not be a problem. The things to watch for; there should be no broken paint in the dent (which is unlikely with hail). The repairman should not drill any holes in backside panel reinforcements, or as far as I'm concerned should not drill any holes at all. They should put rubber tips on the ends of their levers. And, most importantly, they should take their time in getting the dent out. The problems Dieselgirl referred to most likely occured from the repairman getting in a hurry and prying a little harder to get the dent out quicker. If the technician takes their time and works all the way around the dent, massaging it out carefully, you'll never have a problem. If it were my truck, this is the only repair method I'd consider for hail, all the way up to door dents, as long as there was not paint damage. I like leaving as much factory paint as possible. That way it's not been "repainted".

 

[Pit Bull]

I've had the PDR done to several cars. Mercedes, Lexus, Toyota. In my discussions with different tech's I asked which cars were easier to work the dents out of. The overwhelming response was, Mercedes, Toyota/Lexus, Porsche. They said the metal used in these brands was "softer". They said the hardest to work on were Dodge/Chryler, said the metal was hard/brittle. This is not a reflection on the quality of the metal, they also said that Dodges would be harder to ding. With the harder metal comes more of a chance for the paint to crack. I appreciate all of the advise. I did a search on dry ice on the internet and came up with how to use it to take out hail damage (sounds like it works pretty well, if it does not take the dent ut all together it will make it much less noticeable). I will wait until a nice hot sunny 90 degree summer day and put my clean CTD in the hot sun. Then I will try the dry ice dent removal. Whatever that does not take out I will use the PDR process. With all of the hail damage around here I don't think now would be a good time to have it done. These guys have business lined up and I think they will be in a hurry. Thanks

 

[RKohn]

How about a new paint job???

Spray it flat tri color military camo and you'll never notice the dings.

 

[dieselgirlanddan]

Re: How about a new paint job???

Originally posted by RKohn

Spray it flat tri color military camo and you'll never notice the dings.

Oo. Cool Camoflauge it, hehe.

Now I've heard it all.

LMAO:-laf :-laf :-laf

 

[BCFAST]

PDR

Ive been a dent guy for 10 years. Ive never witnessed the dry ice method, but cant imagine that it would work...

Go for the PDR method, you'll be thrilled... as long as you get a good tech. It's just like a mechanic or a sugeon... they all use the same tools, but because its all done by hand you are at the mercy of the skill of the individual. Get references.

 

[fest3er]

Re: PDR

Originally posted by BCFAST
Ive been a dent guy for 10 years. Ive never witnessed the dry ice method, but cant imagine that it would work...

Applying what little I know of metallurgy, the onl way I could see it working is if the entire piece of metal is very hot and thus expanded in all directions. I would guess the dry ice is applied to the center of the dent, causing that metal to cool rapidly and shrink. The resultant forces would cause the dent to pull itself straight. The trick must be to cool the center of the dimple *very* rapidly, while the metal surrounding the dent stays real hot.

Do I have *way* too much time on my hands?

Fest3er

 

[Pit Bull]

Re: Re: PDR

Originally posted by fest3er





Applying what little I know of metallurgy, the onl way I could see it working is if the entire piece of metal is very hot and thus expanded in all directions. I would guess the dry ice is applied to the center of the dent, causing that metal to cool rapidly and shrink. The resultant forces would cause the dent to pull itself straight. The trick must be to cool the center of the dimple *very* rapidly, while the metal surrounding the dent stays real hot.



Do I have *way* too much time on my hands?



Fest3er

I looked it up on the internet and that is how they said to do it. Put vehicle in the sun on a hot summer day after it gets real hot then place the dry ice in the middle of the dimple, it causes the metal to contract and minimizes or eliminates the dent. Figured I would try this first and then go with the PDR for the bigger ones that remain.



Thanks everyone for your input

 

[vinceharris]

hail damage repair

pitbull, i got hail damage on my truck last april in it costed a total of $6300 in damage. iwas in Illinois when it happened golf ball size with jagged edges insurance company paid for it all it went to two differant shop's. 1) Dent Wizard= great job but they had it for a week they. the only spots they could do was the hood,the whole driver's side. 2) the roof had to be done by a body shop in which they had to cut the roof off and put on a new one. about another week the only thing i didn't know was that they had to cut the back slideing window out. when it rain's it leaked so they had to fix it . the techian said only on Dodge Ram's and Dodge Dakota's do they

have to cut them out due to the way dodge put's them in.

sorry for the long post, but i hope this help's.



vince harris



99 2500 white/driftwood 4x4 5spd long bed

 

[Pit Bull]

Re: hail damage repair

Originally posted by vinceharris



the roof had to be done by a body shop in which they had to cut the roof off and put on a new one.

vince harris



99 2500 white/driftwood 4x4 5spd long bed

Thanks Vince, sounds like yours was worse than mine. I am going to leave the roof alone. Very small dimples that should pop out in the sun. If they don't I figure "who is that tall to see them" . My hood is the worst part, with maybe one noticable dent on each fender. Hope that between the dry ice and the PDR I can have the truck back to 95% when it is repaired. I figure that by the time I am ready to sell my truck and get a new one it will still look better than most of the 1 tons its age, so it should not hurt the value too much. Lets see when I am ready to sell this truck it should be 25 or 26 years old with a little over 750,000 miles, now who's going to notice a few hail dents

 

[lgibson]

Here's how to do it. Go down to the country club were all the rich guys go. Tell them it is a custom job for golfers and it has the dimples to resemble golf balls. Sell it for $50,000 and buy you a new one. Who knows it may be the next trend. Just don't forget me when you make millions on hail damaged vehicles. Oo.



Just kidding, Sorry about your truck. I would be crushed if it happened to my truck. :{