hail + aluminum = no bueno.

well, due to the ginormous storm last night, the hood of my car looks like a teenager's face. can't even count the number of little dimples in the hood. i hate parking outside. off to call progressive, i guess. is there any place around that does the paint-free dent removal, and if so, on the norm, how much is it? trying to decide whether to claim it or not...think i have a 250 deductible. any feedback, or anyone have this done? the hood took the brunt, due to the more malleable metal, i assume. the trunk and roof only have maybe a total of 4. thanks for any input.

m./

 

Based on everything I've heard from multiple body shops, don't waste your time with paintless dent removal. It'll be super expensive for that much damage and aluminum is a difficult metal to restore to its original shape. Count on needing a new hood.

Sorry to hear about it, I have hail damage on my hood from over 2 years ago. It's relatively minor so I just lived with it.

 

Finishing Touch Car Care has worked with us before on paintless dent removal so they will extend a discount to you if you inform them you are from MnSubaru. You will want to talk with Ryan. I believe he said he would fix a hail damaged car for us for around 400. So in that case you probably wouldnt want to process a claim with your insurance company. Keep the claim free record and get that discount!

 

You must have had bigger than quarter-sized hail because I got stuck between idiots on my drive home and had to sit in my car while trees fell on all sides of us and big hail pelted my car. I watched hail the size of large marbles careen off my hood, but since nobody was moving because of the rain and wind I had to sit there and take it.

This morning when I had better light I checked my car and I didn't even found a paint chip. Does new car paint hold up better or something?

 

I think it does being I was stuck in a situation like you in the storm about a week ago and mine is an 04(you were stuck in the hail longer tho). People in front of me driving slow and then stopped at a stoplight briefly. It was a good 15 seconds or so of getting pelted with some marble sized hail before I was able to make it to the gas station across the road and under some shelter. That is the worst feeling when you have a pretty much new car and to have to sit there and take it. Out of that I only had one dent on the hood underneath the front clear protectant layer - barely even noticable. And of course it only hailed for about another 5 seconds once I got my car under the shelter....the hail PWNED me!!!

 

i have a dozen dents on my roof and about 8 along the side of my car, im gonna pocket the money though, ide rather go fast then look pretty

 

i can vouch for that. i was up there saturday and saw a Black 06 STI that looked perfect. i talked to the PDR guys while they were working and said it had something like 30 dents in it.

 

I heard that Brooklyn Park had something like 100 cars damaged by the hail.

 

Well that's interesting, because the Morrie's Body Works up in BP where I went for an estimate (unrelated to hail damage but I asked while I was there) was quite insistent that aluminum is very difficult to do PDR on.

I guess YMMV. It really irks me that places are so inconsistent in what they tell people.

 

I've had a dent about the size of a wallet taken out of my hood by the PDR guys at Finishing Touch.

You can't even tell it was there.

 

I always cringe when I see severe weather and the STi isn't in the garage! With the aluminum hood and thin steel on the roof, I expect that the damage would be extensive...

 

yah, went up to bp sub earlier today, and talked with the dent masters guys, and they said that the damage was pretty extensive (probably around 30-40 dings in the hood), and gonna be around 350 if i paid cash...too bad that i don't have that laying around right now. and, i guess there's like 10-15 on the roof and trunk as well. so, gonna be pretty pricey. i may just wait till i get ready to sell it and get the upgraded model. dunno yet. few years, STi, here i come!