A thread about hail in a car forum is never promising stuff..(pics!)

  • Thread starter Thread starter Mike Rotch
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Mike Rotch

Mike Rotch

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On sunday night we had an unseasonal hailstorm. My parents went to friends for dinner in a suburb about 15km from a suburb I went to dinner in. During my dinner it started hailing. I didnt think that having parked in the street could possibly be hazardous to my car, and merrily tucked into the cuisine (which itself was distinctly average).

When i left, it was still raining, but there was no ice in the road so I assumed the hail hadnt been to bad. As I approached my suburb (not too far from where my parent ended up) it became apparent that the hail had been ferocious as the road was not longer - rather a green carpet of leaves and fauna was present. Still I didnt put two and two together. As I got home my parents where locking up their car. The rain got heavier so we all scurried around parking cars and locking gates.

Then they told me the hail was in fact in the order of golfball sized stones where there were. Uh, sinking feeling? It was still raining so I wasnt going to go check if I indeed had damage; i left it to the next morning. Fortunately I escaped unscathed. My parents Opel Astra on the other hand....had 108 dimples courtesy of the hail. A quote on Tuesday let us in on the additional 'damage'. The cost to repair the dents?

At thursdays currency rates, it makes it $3,078. Luckily insurance will pay up, but there goes their no claims history 👎 I'll try get some photos, but i usually get home too late to get decent light :indiff:
 
sorry m8.

a read a thread on a mercedes board about how a hail storm caused a load of damage to cars parked on the street except for some W124 300E driver whose car remained unmolested even though it was in the same hailstorm.

some then went on to postulate about the use of high tensile steels in the cars construction helping it avert damage. i just thought it was mother nature having good taste. :sly:
 
We had a hailstorm here the other day (as we were saying good bye to Dad at the airport when he was heading to California). Was pretty sweet too.

Woke up in the morning to see the hills covered in snow/hail as well as some on the ground and the cars. Anywho, as we got back to town from the airport the whole place was white from hailstones. :D

I went around a corner at some lights and got the car quite sideways (and i was taking it easy) and while doing about 5 km/h during one u-turn the wheels locked up. :eek:

Never driven in snow/ice/hail before but it was quite fun, especially since my car is 4WD. :D
 
I had a look through my camera on Tuesday and a "wide shot" looked too dark. I may just cheerypick one or two of the biggest. That will make my dad real chuffed :hides:
 
Hail stones will definitely remove themselves in heat, but I really doubt that hail dents will. It's basically the same as a golf ball dent, or a baseball dent, or a shopping cart dent. They should be relatively easy to hammer out, but it won't look as good as new body panels.
 
Pic! (and i get bonus points for getting a sunrise reflection too :mad: )
Roof


Roof


Hood


Front right fender. Black thing is water nozzle for wiper. Big dent is about as bit as a thumb imprint.
 
:ouch:

I thought I was looking at the sky at one point :p Keep the day job.

That is some pretty bad denting. We never get anything liek that around here, only pea sized hail. Will you still be getting these storms in July Brad?
 
Oh yea, you're supposed to be out here then! Cripes - it has been a year since that convo already :scared:

If you're going to the Cape, bring a big, BIG umbrella. July is their rainy season (and you get winter wind chill for free :))
 
One of my college professors had an old Nissan Sentra that looked like it had been used to recover golf balls on a driving range. It was in the American Midwest where the thunderstorms can be ferocious (tornado alley). About 3 months after he got it it got mangled by hail. He filed for insurance but when the big check came through, he found better uses for the money and just lived with the car.

I also remember being out driving in a storm and coming around a corner to find a stretch of road literally four inches or more deep in hailstones the size of mothballs or bigger. This was in July or August, so it definitely wasn't snow.
 
It will apparently take a week to fix up, and in the mean time my parents will get....a car just like mine to drive around :crazy:

Except, as Race Idiot knows, mine is a "Sport" model :sly:
 
Mike Rotch
Oh yea, you're supposed to be out here then! Cripes - it has been a year since that convo already :scared:

If you're going to the Cape, bring a big, BIG umbrella. July is their rainy season (and you get winter wind chill for free :))
Click to expand...

Evan isn't going...I am. :scared:
 
can't you tape a bunch of cardboard to your ride next time? lol. damn hail. i remember we got hail one time during a hurricane or 'the unnamed storm' (i forget which) ....which is pretty rare, considering i live in south florida. they were no big deal though...about thumbnail size.

i'd hate to go through what some people do with the crazy grapefruit sized hailstones. :scared:


edit: let's see how many : scared : emoticons are eventually posted in here. lol.

also, have you guys invested in that pops-a-dent crap? looks like a piece of crap to me, but you never know...it might just work.
 
Duke
He filed for insurance but when the big check came through, he found better uses for the money and just lived with the car.
Click to expand...

You call it 'better uses for the money,' I call it 'insurance fraud'...
 
Mike Rotch
Pic! (and i get bonus points for getting a sunrise reflection too :mad: )
Roof


Roof


Hood


Front right fender. Black thing is water nozzle for wiper. Big dent is about as bit as a thumb imprint.
Click to expand...

Ouch... :scared:
 

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