As some of you may already know (from my thread in the "General Discussion"), my new F150 had a little run-in with some golf ball size hail yesterday...anyway, it appears the hail won that battle, so now my truck is going to have to spend a day or two at the body shop. I was just wondering if any of you have had any experience with "paintless dent removal". Somebody told me that this method will last for a couple of years, but then the dents start showing up again. Has anyone else heard this as well? I thought this might be a good way to fix the hood (if the hood doesn't need to be replaced...there's quite a few dents)...the roof might be a different story. Thanks for any info on this!

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99.5 F150 X-Cab 4x4 SB, 5.4L V8, Deep Wedgewood Blue/Dark Graphite, Off-Road Pkg, 3.73 Limited Slip, Tow Pkg, Captain's Chairs, CD, Airaid, Luvernve Stainless Nerf Bars, Lund Frontrunner bug deflector, Lund Eclipse taillight covers, Lund Eclipse side window covers.

 

is this work being done by your ford dealer? remember that your new truck has a warranty on paint and body defects, will this work void those warranties? if they do something strange to your dents and the paint starts to fall off in a year, will the warranty still cover that? I'd find out, or force them to replace metal, even if that means cutting off your roof and welding on a new piece...and matching paint, since yours is new, that should not be hard, but in 2 years, will it be easy to match the paint?...imho

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David
'99 F150 XLT SC, STYLESIDE
4X4 ORP 5.4L, AUTOMATIC,
139wb, Rhino, K&N,
BugGuard, RainGuards
SHE SAID YES! SHE SAID YES!
SUPERCHIP MOD SOON!

 

Yeah, I've been wondering about the warranty myself...it is something I have to check into. I'll probably give the Ford dealer a call tomorrow and see what he says about fixing these dents...I really don't want to void the warranty on my paint job! Thanks.

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99.5 F150 X-Cab 4x4 SB, 5.4L V8, Deep Wedgewood Blue/Dark Graphite, Off-Road Pkg, 3.73 Limited Slip, Tow Pkg, Captain's Chairs, CD, Airaid, Luvernve Stainless Nerf Bars, Lund Frontrunner bug deflector, Lund Eclipse taillight covers, Lund Eclipse side window covers.

 

I've never seen it done but have heard of using dry ice to pop these types of dents. The drastic change of temp. contracts the metal and pops out the dent. I don't have a clue what this does to the paint. has anyone else seen this done or had it done?

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98 Nascar Edition, superchip, K&N with airbox mod.

 

I've done the Dry Ice method, with great results. Couple of things, first if there is a crease at the bottom of the dent, it won't remove that. Second the sooner it's done, the better. You need the pellet type of dry ice, some good gloves (better the insulation the better as that stuff is "COLD", it can freeze your fingers. Keep the dry ice in a cooler till needed. Wash the car to remove any dirt, sit it out in the sun to get the sheetmetal as hot as possible. Take one of the dry ice pellets, and using the end of the pellet, start at the outside of the dent and work towards the center in a circular motion (like a record player playing a record). If the metal is hot enough, it will actually squeel as you move the dry ice pellet around the dent in a circular motion. It cools the metal and shrinks it enough that most times the dent will work itself back out. I have had two cars hailed on and used this to remove the majority of the dents, could not remove all of the ones that actually had a crease at the bottom of the dent. On one, after about 10 years, you could see a little bullseye'ing around where a couple of the dents were, otherwise nothing identifiable.

I collected the insurance and fixed them myself those times.

It worked for me, obviously I've only done it twice, so try it if you like or let the body men have a go at it.

Good Luck.

 

Good advice, and if the job lasts 10 years before you see anything, then by all means, go for it, a paint job in 10 years of use is not a bad thing, since most people won't keep a vehicle that long anyways. If you get insurance money, try the dry ice, if it fails, then use the insurance money to replace the hood..win win situation

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David
'99 F150 XLT SC, STYLESIDE
4X4 ORP 5.4L, AUTOMATIC,
139wb, Rhino, K&N,
BugGuard, RainGuards
SHE SAID YES! SHE SAID YES!
SUPERCHIP MOD SOON!

 

One thing I forgot to mention earlier, the gauge of sheetmetal for the body is about the right thickness. Most trim is too thin to do any good on with Dry Ice, it will twist or warp rather than flatten. Thicker stuff shouldn't dent in the first place.

 

My son-in-law had the hail dents removed from his dodge with the paintless method. It looked excellent and took half the time

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99 XL SC 4.2 3.31 automatic

 

I have hail damage on every body panel on my new f150, it needs about half new panels-2011 4500 miles and I think it needs to find a new home.

 

First thing I would look at is if you got the replacement insurance with your policy. I my ride gets hail hammered in its fist two years, I get a new one. Look into it.

 

I just fixed a hail hammered mazda3 for my wife, and the only panel I replaced was the aluminum hood. Don't even bother trying to fix that panel, with all the hood slamming that it is going to see over its life time, you are looking for long term pain.

I know alot of PDR (paintless dent removal) guys won't like this, but PDR is a bad thing. From an adhesion standpoint, when the hail hits your car, it stretches the metal which is why it dents in the first place. The paint and metal don't stretch and react in the same fashion. On a microscopic level, it actually seperates. Even if you let a PDR guy fix the dents, I would still recomend to any of my customers who were not footing the bill themselves to have the vehicle stripped of paint, and re-blocked, and painted. Most reputable shops offer lifetime warranty on thier paint jobs. Even better than the factory warranty.

 

This thread is from 1999.

 

your point?? did hail change it way, shape, or form of damage in the last 12 years? someone actually used the search function to find this and a few people are now discussing current experiences with it.

 

I would definitely check with your insurance. Some companies will give the customer the option for conventional repair or PDR. Again Canadian is right on the money. The only thing is, some insurance companies do not give you the option. If a PDR tech says he can repair the panel then that may be all they are going to pay. It is a slippery slope. You can voice your concerns with PDR repair and the insurance company may listen. When it comes down to it though, you have a signed policy with them and I am sure there is a clause/section within that policy that says they will use any means of acceptable industry repair practices to repair the vehicle back to pre-loss condition.

If you do go the route of conventional repair (repair & paint), I would make sure it is a reputable shop and that you get a lifetime warranty in writing when the job is finished.