Hail Damage—enough to make you cry

[Raptor Family]

Two weeks ago we had a Tornado pass within miles of our house. The high winds threw golf-ball sized hail over 70mph which destroyed the top and sides of my Ranger Raptor.

It just tears my heart to see my truck get pummeled so bad—and it didn’t even get damaged as bad as our new Lexus 450h+, which cracked the $$ windshield and besides the hood and roof, dented every piece of $$ trim.

On the Raptor, my insurance adjuster started circling and counting dents in just the roof. After 170, they quit counting, and the paint marker ran out of paint. There were dents, big dents, little dents, dents on top of dents, and dents connected to dents. The dent hare hard to see in the pictures, but only the nickel-quarter sized dents are circled with paint marker.

The worst thing is, my truck doesn’t even have 5k miles on it. She was babied. Right out of the showroom she had PPF film on all the high scratch/chip areas. She was buffed to perfection and Ceramic Coated. She was immaculate—and then the sky’s parted and wrath came down on the undeserving. I am devastated.

She now is in the hands of one of the best PDR (Paintless Dent Repair) shops (friends of friends) in the area. I have seen miracles using PDR, and they promised me they would make her perfect again. If it can’t get fixed right by PDR, I’ll just get a Carbon Fiber hood, and either paint the roof black, or maybe a carbon-look wrap to cover the required body work.

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[John E Davies]

So very sad, my heart feels for you. The Ford sheet metal is pretty thin, do you think that might have made things so bad?

I have owned both a Lexus LX450 and a Land Cruiser 200, both went though various light hail storms, both parked and at highway speeds, and I never saw a single dent, but they have very thick and strong sheet metal.

John Davies
Spokane WA USA

 

[OxygenMask]

Your insurance company is obligated to make it right, you should not have to live with it that way. Generally, massive hail damage can never be made right, no matter how much the cost. I've had 3 friends' almost new vehicles totalled by the ins co because of hail. One guy bought it back and drove a black SUV goofball for 10 years.
Not me.
I've paid a FORTUNE in my life for insurance and by damn they're gonna step up!

 

[smprfiguy]

Oof, im know your pain. I got caught on the highway for a hail storm in my Z. Back hatch glass shattered and i just sat in the drivers seat as the car got pounded and filled with rain and ice. That car was my baby. Hood wasnt saveable so i went CF, paintless on the roof and quarters, filler on the hatch. Was never the same finding little imperfections every wash.

If it can be totaled and you have gap just let it go and replace it

 

[Raptor Family]

The Ford sheet metal is pretty thin, do you think that might have made things so bad?

Yes, I think the metal made a big difference in damage. The aluminum hood seemed to be a lot more resilient—it had far fewer dents than the ultra-thin roof, which was just a never-ending dent on dent. Aluminum usually has more plasticity and memory, and I think it shows on my truck.

There are a few dents right on the edges of roof ribs. The Ranger also has 2 boxed structural reinforcement supports running from left to right, dividing the roof into thirds. It is difficult to get under those supports to push out a dent, and if one of those body line dents is over a support, it might take normal bodywork techniques to repair. Pic of RR supports under roof.

My insurance hasn’t complained yet—on the Raptor—they try PDR first almost $7k— if that fails, or the paint cracks or chips, that panel has to be repainted. I do not like re-painting a new vehicle—the color match is never right, and after a few years, it gets far worse. That is why if I have to re-paint, I would rather change the roof color to black (kind of like the Toyota Tacoma TRD Pros).
The insurance so far isn’t hassling me on the Raptor, but they don’t want to pay $$ for the factory Lexus windshield. It is a complicated sound attenuating, ADAS camera sensor (collision avoidance), W/heads-up display insert windshield that requires expensive factory level calibration. I think they want to try to inject resin into the cracks—and if that doesn’t work, use an aftermarket window. I’m not a fan of either.

 

[Raptor Family]

Oof, im know your pain. I got caught on the highway for a hail storm in my Z. Back hatch glass shattered and i just sat in the drivers seat as the car got pounded and filled with rain and ice. That car was my baby. Hood wasnt saveable so i went CF, paintless on the roof and quarters, filler on the hatch. Was never the same finding little imperfections every wash.

If it can be totaled and you have gap just let it go and replace it

I like the looks of your Z. Sporty, but tasteful mods. Dude, after sitting in your car with the window shattered and rain and ice coming in—if that was me, I would need to see a psychiatrist for PTSD. I am almost there now, I stood on my front porch and watched the hail destroy my truck. I had visions of grandeur, when I was standing on my front porch, I was going to run out in the hail and throw a tarp over the hood and roof. That vision faded away real quick when a golf-ball sized hail ball bounce off the ground and hit my finger holding my cell phone. It hurt so bad, I dropped my phone and did the Fred Flinstone Owie, Owie, Owie, jumping up and down dance holding my finger. In my younger years, I probably would have risked death or suffering a concussion to save my Truck—nowadays, I wimped out and looked out the window nursing my swollen finger—thinking Carbon Fiber hood?

 

[superj]

That sucks. My uncle went through the same thing a month ago on his 26 maverick that was that pretty blue, also. His maverick got totalled with 700 miles on it from hail

 

[isslandboy]

Two weeks ago we had a Tornado pass within miles of our house. The high winds threw golf-ball sized hail over 70mph which destroyed the top and sides of my Ranger Raptor.

It just tears my heart to see my truck get pummeled so bad—and it didn’t even get damaged as bad as our new Lexus 450h+, which cracked the $$ windshield and besides the hood and roof, dented every piece of $$ trim.

On the Raptor, my insurance adjuster started circling and counting dents in just the roof. After 170, they quit counting, and the paint marker ran out of paint. There were dents, big dents, little dents, dents on top of dents, and dents connected to dents. The dent hare hard to see in the pictures, but only the nickel-quarter sized dents are circled with paint marker.

The worst thing is, my truck doesn’t even have 5k miles on it. She was babied. Right out of the showroom she had PPF film on all the high scratch/chip areas. She was buffed to perfection and Ceramic Coated. She was immaculate—and then the sky’s parted and wrath came down on the undeserving. I am devastated.

She now is in the hands of one of the best PDR (Paintless Dent Repair) shops (friends of friends) in the area. I have seen miracles using PDR, and they promised me they would make her perfect again. If it can’t get fixed right by PDR, I’ll just get a Carbon Fiber hood, and either paint the roof black, or maybe a carbon-look wrap to cover the required body work.

Two weeks ago we had a Tornado pass within miles of our house. The high winds threw golf-ball sized hail over 70mph which destroyed the top and sides of my Ranger Raptor.

It just tears my heart to see my truck get pummeled so bad—and it didn’t even get damaged as bad as our new Lexus 450h+, which cracked the $$ windshield and besides the hood and roof, dented every piece of $$ trim.

On the Raptor, my insurance adjuster started circling and counting dents in just the roof. After 170, they quit counting, and the paint marker ran out of paint. There were dents, big dents, little dents, dents on top of dents, and dents connected to dents. The dent hare hard to see in the pictures, but only the nickel-quarter sized dents are circled with paint marker.

The worst thing is, my truck doesn’t even have 5k miles on it. She was babied. Right out of the showroom she had PPF film on all the high scratch/chip areas. She was buffed to perfection and Ceramic Coated. She was immaculate—and then the sky’s parted and wrath came down on the undeserving. I am devastated.

She now is in the hands of one of the best PDR (Paintless Dent Repair) shops (friends of friends) in the area. I have seen miracles using PDR, and they promised me they would make her perfect again. If it can’t get fixed right by PDR, I’ll just get a Carbon Fiber hood, and either paint the roof black, or maybe a carbon-look wrap to cover the required body work.

I also feel your pain. my 2024 was hit $28000.00 (not including the rental they paid for), they had to replace the roof and hood as they were so badly damaged they could not be fixed. The company that fixed it showed me all the progress pictures and the process for changing the roof, very professional, but I still traded it off that fall.

 

[John E Davies]

FYI - in 1993 an Airstream convention near Bismarck got slammed with historic torrential rain and 2” hail, all 2500 trailers were trashed. Many were repaired at very great cost, some owners elected to keep them dimpled. As the years passed many of the dents sort of repaired themselves through thermal metal expansion and contraction. Newer Airstreams have much thinner aluminum and are even more vulnerable to damage.

I can’t imagine how loud that would be from the inside. When I chose a trailer, I picked an Oliver because they are heavily built fiberglass and mostly immune to hail. Sorry for the thread hyjack, I dislike how my RR hood flops around at high speeds, but if it has a hail resistant benefit, then I can accept it.

And all my vehicles are stored inside…!

John Davies
Spokane WA USA

 

[CaptAngry]

Damn, that sucks. I know the feeling living in Colorado. Our hail storms are getting worse.

My 2024 Canyon got struck less than 3 months after I bought it. Almost $3k in damage and that wasn't even close to what your truck got hit with. In the end I didn't even bother fixing it because it was going to happen again. Of course it didn't, but the truck got totaled 20 months later.

This is also why I don't bother with expensive things like paint correction, full PPF, ceramic, etc. The world is going to F your stuff up no matter what you do. Not worth the extra cost to make it perfect because it won't stay that way.

 

[jomacmusic]

Two weeks ago we had a Tornado pass within miles of our house. The high winds threw golf-ball sized hail over 70mph which destroyed the top and sides of my Ranger Raptor.

It just tears my heart to see my truck get pummeled so bad—and it didn’t even get damaged as bad as our new Lexus 450h+, which cracked the $$ windshield and besides the hood and roof, dented every piece of $$ trim.

On the Raptor, my insurance adjuster started circling and counting dents in just the roof. After 170, they quit counting, and the paint marker ran out of paint. There were dents, big dents, little dents, dents on top of dents, and dents connected to dents. The dent hare hard to see in the pictures, but only the nickel-quarter sized dents are circled with paint marker.

The worst thing is, my truck doesn’t even have 5k miles on it. She was babied. Right out of the showroom she had PPF film on all the high scratch/chip areas. She was buffed to perfection and Ceramic Coated. She was immaculate—and then the sky’s parted and wrath came down on the undeserving. I am devastated.

She now is in the hands of one of the best PDR (Paintless Dent Repair) shops (friends of friends) in the area. I have seen miracles using PDR, and they promised me they would make her perfect again. If it can’t get fixed right by PDR, I’ll just get a Carbon Fiber hood, and either paint the roof black, or maybe a carbon-look wrap to cover the required body work.

So sry man, I live in Oklahoma and this last month was one near miss after another, even thought about selling. Hope the insurance takes care of it.

 

[MasterCylinder]

I feel for you 100 plus percent! Some years back had my f150 only six months and while I was in a store, hail just came out of no where, unexpected. Had to have front glass, hood and roof replaced it was beyond paint-less dent repair! The vehicles in the parking lot looked like a bomb went off nearby and the shrap metal destroyed anything in its path!

 

[NM Mike]

Sorry about your truck. That really sucks. Glad the tornado didn’t hit you though.

 

[SLJ]

I had a Bronco Sport with 58 hail dents in the roof, hood, tailgate and top of the quarter panels. It looked brand new after paintless dent repair. Cost the insurance company around 5K.

 

[Onceaneagle]

Glad you are alive and did not lose your residence. Kansas is not much better this year with tornados and some areas getting hail up to softball size. Curious as to why you are parking your Raptor and Lexus outside??? No options for a garage or overhead cover?

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