Aw what the hail

We had a pretty good thunderboomer come through here about 90 minutes ago. I could only watch helplessly as hail thundered on the house's roof, watching as it bounced around the hard and driveway. I had thrown a car cover on the Mazdaspeed MX5 before the storm since I washed it earlier this afternoon, but that cover proved useless against the onslaught.

The MSM has dings on the hood and trunk, and I think one or two on the filler panel between the roof and trunk. Fenders appear to be OK and there aren't any paint blemishes that I can tell.

So how does PDR work and should I deal with it myself or go through insurance? I've heard some say that PDR isn't successful on aluminum like the Miata hood but is that just baseless hearsay?

While watching the stuff fall I had the brilliant idea to go out there and throw a couple heavy-ish blankets over the car, but the stuff was really coming down and I was probably risking my own health trying to run around in it. But if I thought of doing that before the storm blew in.... kicking myself for not thinking of that in time.

There's more dings on that hood than the two pointed out, but those were the two that best showed up in that picture. We'll see how really ugly things are in the daylight tomorrow.

you cant win can ya claff

Well if it's the worst thing that happens to me today, I guess I'm still doing OK. At least all the trees in the backyard stayed upright.

you goin to dover for roundy round action?

Nah I'm out of the roundy-round business. Stopped going regularly after the 2008 season, pretty much stopped completely after 2009. Only NASCAR race on my docket this year is K&N Pro East at Lime Rock, and after fifteen years of media passes we're staring down the prospect of gasp paying for race tickets.

I'll be heading out the door to take the freshly dinged MSM autocrossing up at Summit Point. That's where I get my motoring jollies nowadays.

PDR varies a lot depending on the "artist" doing the work. Aluminium should make no difference, just more stretch to correct.

The good news is that they can acess the backside with their spoons and dollies, so it should not be a big deal.

The cost does add up if they wont give you a deal on the entire job and insist on the "per dent" price.

Right after a storm, they don't tend to be too flexible on $$$ as you can imagine and in fact, will be quite busy dealing with their main customer; car dealers.

As seen at Lime Rock:

Woody wrote: As seen at Lime Rock:

Amen to that. And to whoever think's that's rubbish, get lost.

Seeing Claff's middle finger, I thought "Yeah, there's a guy with a MIG and no welding gloves".

that'll buff out

PDR works very well. Ask your favorite body shop who they recommend vs using some guy with a tent set up in a parking lot. Insurance should cheerfully pay for this under your comprehensive coverage and is not chargeable.

Picture of my buddies house from the storms that rolled through OK on Monday. His area got baseball/softball sized hail as you can see.

Dayum!

And my fingers aren't that beat up. Although the middle finger in question got broke when I got in an accident a couple years ago and the &&%$^%$ steering wheel airbag went off.

That guy must hate shingles...

z31maniac wrote:

"He hates these cans...everyone, get away from these cans!"

Ugh. My Golf still wears the scars of a hailstorm that came through about 4 ays after I dropped the full coverage (car loan finally paid off, getting divorced & reducing expenses). They weren't anything close to that size, though.

4cylndrfury wrote: "He hates these cans...everyone, get away from these cans!"

But are you picking out a Thermos for us?

A good PDR man is amazing. I saw a bad example recently. It looked like someone took a nail, and tried to fix the dent. The damaged area looked like one of those tools you use to scrape a tire tube before repair. I said to my friend: "PDR? More like Parkinson Dent Removal". Think about the disease, and you'll get it.

Hail got to my wife's MX-3 GS several back in the day. The PDR guy got all but one dent out of the car. It was on the complex rear quarter panel that just could not be reached.

I bought a small set of PDR tools a bunch of years ago, along with a video (tape!) showing how to use them. I've had pretty good success with them, but I am more of a PBR man than a PDR man.

A windstorm knock over a 2' wide x 6' tall sled shaped thing made of 2x6 lumber - onto the front corner of the hood and fender of my M3 over the winter. A car with 100% original paint and very few dings. I was furious at myself for not putting the thing (a purpose made sled to convey a cast iron bathtub up a flight of stairs on a double 2x10 ramp) on the ground when I left in the morning and it was blowing like hell.... It left a very obvious 8" long crease a a couple peripheral dings.

Anyway, I called a friend who's in the high-end bodywork business and said "PDR guy?"

"I know ~the~ guy"

I called, he agreed to meet me at the friend's shop. We rolled the car in and put it under IR lamps to warm up the corner since it was ass-bitingly cold out. He produced a roll of tools and a stripey piece of cardboard on a suction cup which he looks at the reflection of in the panel as he works.

45 minutes later there was no trace of the damage. I asked if he could address a small dings on the door . He took 10 minutes and the damage was invisible. He pointed out a ding on the rocker in front of the rear wheel which I'd ignored as it had not access from the rear. He produced a hot glue gun and a little plastic ring that looked like it came out of a Cracker Jack box. 10 minutes later the car was completely ding free. I think it was around $300 and it was totally well spent.

A ~good~ PDR guy is magic. Evidently this guy spends all his time at the Audi-BMW-Benz-Lexus-Bentley/Rolls-Ferrari/Lamborghini dealerships and earns a very comfortable living. He's been at it full time for 15 years.