My beloved 1993 T-Bird was out in the hail yesterday morning and as a result has skin like a golf ball. I’ve been working on repairing her problems and getting her in like-new condition again, but now I’m wondering if it’s workth it (financially). Are there any Dopers who can tell me what to expect for repairs ? Is it charged “per ding” or is there another pricing scheme?
Most of the damage is on the roof and the deck lid (there’s a lot on the hood, but I was planning on replacing it before this happened, so I’m not worried about it).
I’ve heard (FOAF) that dry ice can take out some of these dings and I was thinking of trying it on the hood (since the plan was to replace it). I was told that it was hard on the paint, but the paint’s in bad shape as it is and I was going to have it re-painted either this year or early next. Does anyone know about this (does it work? Is it worth it?) ?
The cost to repair is going to depend on how big/deep the dents are. You’ve got 2 options for repair: Paintless Dent Repair (PDR) or replace the decklid & roof. PDR is a LOT less expensive but may not be an option if the damage is too severe. Dent Wizard and Dent Doctor are two companies that specialize in this ancient art, but many regular bodyshops can handle it as well.
Never heard of dry ice before. Probably right up there with parking in the sun this summer and hoping some of the dents will relax. It will not give you the restorative results you want.
Got Comprehensive on the car insurance? Usually no premium increases for comp claims you know.
No idea without seeing the damage. But a 93 T-bird with noticable hail (which will only get noticabler when you repaint it) … probably looking at $500-$1500 for PDR. More damage than that and I’d begin to wonder if replacement of the damaged panels wouldn’t be cheaper/easier. A deck lid is certainly no more difficult to replace than a hood, you should be able to handle that. It’s that roof that’s going to be the expensive bit.
Thanks. I wasn’t looking for an exact quote, just an idea of how much that sort of thing runs.
I thought of replacing the deck lid, but I haven’t even started looking for replacements yet and don’t know how tough they are to come by. The roof is the part that worries me (seemed to me like it could be pricey, and it seem syou think so, too).
The piece itself is not so expensive, it’s the labor to remove ALL the glass, cut the old roof off, weld & grind the new one on and reinstall the glass. Almost as big a pain in the butt as a quarter panel. Good luck with it all.
Can it be PDR’ed, do you think? I was thinking it might, since it’s a sunroof and be able to access the underside of the roof that way (but since I really don’t know what’s entailed, it all seems possible to me).
Don’t know how well it worked, but my old-time mechanic friend said he used to remove hail dents by heating the dent with a torch and tossing a wet rag on the spot. It usually worked. Obviously you are going to be getting a new paint job.
Good luck!
I watched my step father use the dry ice method and it actually worked. You need a warm sunny day and let the car sheet metal get warm. Set a piece of dry ice on each dent and it will shrink the metal. You could hear the dent pop out on most of them. The dents were less than half an inch across and most were maybe a tenth of an inch deep. When he was done about 90% of the dents were not visible anymore. Like yours, the car was going to be painted and the rest were filled Bondo.
That’s actually how it works. If a city or town has a bad hail storm, a smattering of dent shops pop up, often under tents and/or with huge inflatable gorilla out front. I haven’t seen it done, but some described it as “massaging” out dents.
Well, the techniques used in PDR actually do involve massaging out dents. As long as the paint isn’t broken and the metal isn’t creased just about any number of dents of any size can be worked out. It’s mind-blowing to watch–those guys work metal like it’s a sheet of beeswax.
Yeah I got caught in a hailstorm with golfball sized hail a couple years ago. I tried to find somewhere to get my car out of the hail, but I was on a back road miles from any car wash, gas station, or any other roof to get under.
Luckily my Comprehensive insurance covered the dent removal, and there were so many claims that the dent repair guys set up a temporary workshop in the basement garage of the insurance office to fix everyone’s cars. I talked to the guy a little and saw the tools he was using. From what I remember they work and massage the dents from underneath the metal with tools that have ball-shaped ends on them. I think the ones on the roof were worst because the headliner had to be removed.
They did a great job on mine, the dents were totally gone and the car didn’t need repainted.
Are you positive you don’t have comprehensive coverage? It’s very inexpensive and many people don’t even remember authorizing it. Many also confuse it w/ collision coverage, which is much more expensive and not cost effective on an older vehicle.
