I took 8 grand in hail damage when I was out in south dakota last week, they are replacing the hood/roof/doors/and repairing the rear bed sides. My question is will I see the repairs? I have heard that hail dents can return.. Just what I need, 3000 miles and 8 grand in damage!! My god, 2nd time in the body shop in 3 months..

 

Just make sure you are having it fixed somewhere that will warranty their repairs. especially the paint job.

 

That hail storm sucked. We drove into it heading south out of Rapid City. Luckily for us though it was starting to end so we didn't get as much damage as you. Good luck with the repairs.

 

Don't feel to bad. I jacked the HELL out of my front bumper out on the Silverlake sand dunes a couple months back because I didn't know what I was doing and hit a STEEP hill going WAY to fast. I wish someone would have given me a run down... Ohh well...

Anyways, my bumper is JACKED UP and I don't have money ATM to replace it . Thank GOD there was no main frame damage...

 

I had 5000 worth of hail damage on a new truck, 1 body shop wanted to replace roof, hood etc. went to another shop that did paintless dent removal, with a lifetime guarantee, so went that route and would do it again, could not find a single hail mark when they were finished, it took a fgraction of the time to repair as opposed to the cut and replace method, and looked great after.

 

The paintless dent removal folks can perform miracles. My IS300 was pummeled a few years ago and they took it all out without any body work. It's been about 3 or 4 years and you can't tell anywhere on the vehicle that it was ever dented. Do some research with local body shops and dealerships to find out who they think does a great job. Then ask the PDR people for some references of past customers.

Rob

 

I had two golf ball size dents on my truck. Went to paintless dent removal and they repaired it within an hour and you will never be able to tell where the dents used to be. He charged me two hundred for both repairs which I thought was a steal. As long as the paint is not cracked they can repair it. My wife's Mercedes had a dent from a shopping cart and they where able to fix that also. If I where you I would grab the 8,000 from the insurance company and make a deal for 5,000 with the paintless dent removal guy.

 

$100 a dent is a bit much. I typically pay around $20-25 per dent when I have individual ones repaired (like door dings).

Regarding the last comment from Reno... There are some aluminum panels on the RAM (like the hood) that can't be PDR'd. Those will require R&R with painting. So the OP can't just go PDR all the way.

Rob

 

Well the hood is aluminium and can be replaced and painted I don't know of any other aluminium panels. In the North east we always get screwed and pay triple.

 

Calgary Alberta gets its share of hail storms.

I have heard that metal has a memory, it will return to its orginal shape, this a rummor that driving to warm climate, example Nevada, high heat will pop out the hail dents, A co worker told me that dealers who buy damaged hail sales cars, drive them to Vegas, leave them in the sun, and then drive them back to Calgary all repaired...

with in reason, a suction cup will pop out dents.