Hail damage

[RobVX]

Well, I guess something was bound to happen sooner or later. Sat. night a line of thunderstorms with hail came through. My baby stays garage kept at the office and at home. We were out at a concert and I couldn't do a darn thing about it...started out with pea size, but had a brief downburst that included some golf ball size and larger hail.

She took 4 or so dents, a large one on the hood...Could've been a lot worse. Unfortunately, it was worse where we left my wife's car.

Now that the VX has some scars, I'm ready to take her out for some off-roading!!! Rob A.

[tomdietrying]

Hey Rob,
Sorry to hear about your VX. I also had some hail damage. I'm up in North Dallas and only had enough time to park it close to the house. I had about 8 hits. Mines an Ironman and it's kinda hard to see them, but I know there there. I'm fortunate, like your wife, my wife's Xterras had about 100 hits!

Are you going to the ralley next week? If you are, can I buy a can of that Back in Black clad cleaner?
Tom

[Triathlete]

Sorry to hear about your damage. A friend of mine had about 40-50 dents in her rodeo hood/roof from a hail storm about 6 months ago here in Tucson. Her insurance covered all repeirs. The shop here that did it was able to pull all the dents without messing up the paint and it looked good as new after only two days in the shop. She was a happy camper since she had only owned it for 8 days when the storm hit! Hope all turns out well for you.

[RobVX]

Tom:
I will be at the RallyCross next Sunday, and I'll bring you a bottle of the magic elixir (a/k/a Black Again). Sorry to hear that you also caught some hail damage... I'm taking the VX in to one of those paintless dent removal places tomorrow for an evaluation.

I guess I'll be seeing ya Sunday. Rob A.

[RobVX]

Triathlete:
Thanks for the kind thoughts. I hope to have the same kind of good luck that your friend did at a dent repair place. Rob A.

[johnnyapollo]

I've used one of those paintless dent removal companies before with great success. They have all these weird shaped tools that they use to ping out the dents from the inside. I didn't have any problems (course I used it on my Camry - haven't had the opportunity on the VX).

-- John

[Cptnmorgan]

I too got stuck in the hail storm!! I actually live in Arlington, and would have avoided the whole storm if I had not driven to North Dallas to hang with some friends. Started to drive off when it hit and parked as close as I could to a tree. Still took PLENTY of hits, and as far as I could see NO dents!!!!!! I imagine I might find some very small ones when I wax her, but I was very lucky!! My roommate was at Loop 12 and NW Hiway and took major damage to his Chevy PU. I was VERY lucky!! Some of you with smaller dents may want to wait until the sun is really shining and try using dry ice to pull the dents out!! WOrks really good, but also needs to be very hot outside at the same time!!

Good luck, and I'll see you all Sunday!!!!

3C

[carlymac]

Hey guys sorry to hear about the hail damage. I too have delt with ice balls from heaven. In 1993 a hail storm hit my area of Tennessee. I wished they were pea or even golf ball size. these mutha's were baseball sized!! lots of damage, it beat the living pi$$ out of my grand cherokee. My patrolcar faired even worse. The hail busted the lightbar, rear window and punched holes through the windshield. not to mention the rippled sheet metal everywhere. Our town was in a state of emergency and only five patrolcars were able to hit the streets. but at least the tornado didn't sweep through my neighborhood. I guess every hail cloud has a silver lining.

[Bantan]

Guys, just thought I might suggest an inexpensive way to remove dents. I guess its called Dent Remover. I bought it at Strauss Auto for $29.95 since then I have seen it at AutoZone as well.
It comes with a Glue gun, and some glue sticks it won't take off the paint, I aplied it a few times to take out a dent made by some A@# H*^% leaning on my VX. It takes some degree of patience but sure beats paying $300 to the dent removal specialist. I have a $500 deductable so the Insurance route was not feasable.

[Tone]

Hey Rob, BUMMER! I strongly recommend using one the established dent removal establishments so you don’t have to repaint as it will NEVER match perfectly.T he sold on TV product failed in consumer testing here in Austin but it’s cheap enough to try. If the cost of the removal is the same or only slighly more than your deductible, you may not want to even claim it on your insurance which will save you in the long run. Cya next Sunday!

[RobVX]

Thanks Guys:

She's being worked on as I type this. I took the VX to a reputable dent removal shop. The estimate was right at the amount of my insurance deductible, so I'm just gonna have to come out of pocket...my wife's car is another matter though. Hopefully all will go well, and she'll be good as new for the meet on Sunday!!!!

Rob A.

[IsuZOOM]

Why not wait until you have damage that exceeds it and throw the dings in at that time under the insurance?

[carlymac]

Randy 712 says...why not wait...I think he'll know why when he gets his VX.

[IsuZOOM]

lol, I suspect you may be right... Trying to be logical here !