hail damage
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So a blonde takes her hail-damaged car to the body shop and the guy there decides to have some fun. He says:
"this isn't that bad, you might try fixing it yourself."
She says "how?" he says, "let it cool off for awhile, then blow real hard into the tailpipe, they might pop out."
So she takes it home and is just getting ready to do this procedure when her blonde roomate gets home. She asks "what are you doing?" First blonde explains -- second blonde says "duhhh- it won't work if you don't roll up the windows...."
"this isn't that bad, you might try fixing it yourself."
She says "how?" he says, "let it cool off for awhile, then blow real hard into the tailpipe, they might pop out."
So she takes it home and is just getting ready to do this procedure when her blonde roomate gets home. She asks "what are you doing?" First blonde explains -- second blonde says "duhhh- it won't work if you don't roll up the windows...."
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Martin,
I'm sure you have tried about every-way possible to repair hail damage like myself and every other body man out there.
BUT
I just thought of something thinking about dry ice.
What if the hood was brought up to 140-145 metal temp in a bake booth and dry ice was applied to hood????
In my feeble mind it might work?
I'm sure you have tried about every-way possible to repair hail damage like myself and every other body man out there.
BUT
I just thought of something thinking about dry ice.
What if the hood was brought up to 140-145 metal temp in a bake booth and dry ice was applied to hood????
In my feeble mind it might work?
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LOL, Barry, you are WAY ahead of me on hail damage. Around here the hail is about 1/8" MAX, usually about a 1/16". They do not cause any damage at all. But I have seen cars from back east with "hail damage" so I have an idea, but nothing more than that.
The only way I have ever pulled something like that up without "touching" it, was with a torch. A "ding" like that can be "pulled" up by running the torch around the edge of the "ding" and going in to the center as it pulls up towards the flame. It is not as easy as it sounds but it can be done.
As far as the dry ice, you may be right, but "regular" ice would do the same thing wouldn't it? If the car was heated to 140 degrees and you "shrank" the little dings by cooling them with a cube of ice? Could be possible but not likely I wouldn't think.
The only way I have ever pulled something like that up without "touching" it, was with a torch. A "ding" like that can be "pulled" up by running the torch around the edge of the "ding" and going in to the center as it pulls up towards the flame. It is not as easy as it sounds but it can be done.
As far as the dry ice, you may be right, but "regular" ice would do the same thing wouldn't it? If the car was heated to 140 degrees and you "shrank" the little dings by cooling them with a cube of ice? Could be possible but not likely I wouldn't think.
So as a 16 year old (in the mid eighties) I worked for Sears in the auto shop doing oil changes, tires, etc. We had a number of store employees that would send their blonde (or blonde in spirit) wives/girlfriends in to have various bits of service done to thier cars. The common requests were, rotation/change of tire air, and changing of blinker fluid.pmeisel said:
Always good for a laugh.
One non gag blonde event that was pretty funny was when a girl had her 1980ish VW Scirroco towed in because it was running badly. She said it was running ok but was low on oil, so she filled it up with oil then it started running really bad, lots of noise and smoke. So the lead tech on that night fires up the car and sure enough it sounds like death in the crank case and it smokes like mad. Turns out when she said she filled it up with oil, she meant it. She put in oil until the valve train was bathing in it. I was just shocked the motor ran at all. I never saw the inside of that motor, but I'd guess it was missing a piston top in at least once hole.
I would think the best tools would be a hammer and a dolly.atlas4141 said:
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A few years ago, when I worked for an insurance company, I got a large dent in my company car, from hail. It was ironoc, considering that I was on my way back from writing estimates on hail damaged cars. LOL
I called my boss, and mentioned it to him. He told me to leave the car in the sun for a few hours, to get good and hot, then place an ice cube on the dent and it would go away. The car still had the dent a year later when they replaced it. The ice did nothing for the dent, except make it wet. I have been told that it works for smaller dents, that one was about 1 1/2" and 1/8" deep. I have not tried it on smaller ones, I don't let them bother me that much.
I called my boss, and mentioned it to him. He told me to leave the car in the sun for a few hours, to get good and hot, then place an ice cube on the dent and it would go away. The car still had the dent a year later when they replaced it. The ice did nothing for the dent, except make it wet. I have been told that it works for smaller dents, that one was about 1 1/2" and 1/8" deep. I have not tried it on smaller ones, I don't let them bother me that much.
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Ok guys, maybe the Mythbusters can tell us. 
I posted over at the Mythbusters forum (ckick here ) .
My user name over there is "whatcouldiknow".
I posted over at the Mythbusters forum (ckick here ) . My user name over there is "whatcouldiknow".
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Well guys, ice does not work. The only way to remove hail dents without messing with the painted surface is to use a PDR (paintless dent repair) method. There are bodymen or usually called "PDR guys or dent guys" like myself that make their living doing this. They go in from the backside of the dent and work it out with many small pushes using special rods.
Look in your yellow pages under autobody repair and there will probably be one for PDR. The cost is usually half or less of a bodyshop repair and the guys that know what they are doing will make the dent disappear. Don't even bother with anyone who hasn't been doing it for 3+ years full time. You can't try it a few times and be good at it, it takes LOTS of practice. I do street rods all the time as it is too costly to repaint custom jobs.
Look in your yellow pages under autobody repair and there will probably be one for PDR. The cost is usually half or less of a bodyshop repair and the guys that know what they are doing will make the dent disappear. Don't even bother with anyone who hasn't been doing it for 3+ years full time. You can't try it a few times and be good at it, it takes LOTS of practice. I do street rods all the time as it is too costly to repaint custom jobs.
I have to ask, "Why would anybody in their right mind leave a street rod with a fancy paint job out where it could get hail damage?"
If you didn't mind hail dings, you could buy a new car in Denver last summer at a substantial discount. A couple of dealerships got really clobbered and just dumped a lot of cars.
If you didn't mind hail dings, you could buy a new car in Denver last summer at a substantial discount. A couple of dealerships got really clobbered and just dumped a lot of cars.
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That is a very good question, but things do happen. One guy got caught in hail driving home from a show. Usually I fix door dings in the sides. There are guys that chase hail storms and fix dealer cars like you mentioned in Denver. Good money but on the road all the time. Not for me.
Mark in MT
Mark in MT
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