Hail Damage
 

I was stuck in a hail storm on Thursday night while on the highway. I was driving at least 95 mph to reach the nearest overpass while being pelted by 2" hail. I was able to get under cover before the 3+" hail started. When I got home I surveyed the car, but was hard to tell how damaged it was due to all of the rain on the car. The next morning in the sunlight, I found about 4 dents on the hood and one on the trunk. Also, there are dozens of surface scratches throughout the entire car where the hail bounced off.

I have a claim in with insurance, but last I heard, there were over 1300 claims filed with my insurance company, so it may take months to get it fixed. The dents should be easy to pop back out and I am hoping the scratches are just in the clear coat. I had 3 coats of wax on it, so maybe that helped something. Guess I will find out.

Good news is the dents and scratches are hard to see. I have to point them out to people, otherwise the probably wouldn't even notice them.

Crappy part is the car was only 3 weeks old.

It sucks because as hard as they are to see you know they're still there. Keep on the insurance and get it fixed.

A good paint sealant like Wolfgang would have protected against the scratches. It is a thousand times harder than wax which no matter how many layer's, its still just wax.

You'll get it fixed quickly. Insurance companies have many people to take care of large claim situations. Worst comes to worst, you pay to have it fixed and then get it reimbursed.

aluminum is hard to PDR (they are brittle vs steel), but not impossible as long as the dents are shallow.

as for the surface scratches, they will probably polish out.

Sorry to hear. Good luck with your repair! Sounds to me that with the nature of the event, you are lucky to have so few dimples.

I have been working out of town for the past couple of weeks. Wife got caught at work in Tuesday afternoons hail storm. She waited it out. Foutunately, our hail wasn't that big. I still have one obvious dimple and two smaller ones. I have a friend that is a claims manager for a Mercedes dealership body shop. She has a guy that is supposed to be the best dent removal guy in the area and has a lot of experience with aluminum. We'll see.

I already have a claim number and my agent told me they would do what ever it took to make it right. They have insured all my Zs over the years as well as our teenagers (I am pretty sure that I have single handedly put serveral of thier children through college) so we have a very close relationship with them. :)

Are you talking about this one?
Wolfgang Deep Gloss Paint Sealant <font color=red>3.0 </font>

Yes it is amazing...a good cleaning, Wolfgang pre-wax paint polish enhancer and then Wolfgang paint sealant makes your paint look liquid and is very durable (4-7 months) (wax only lasts a month in summer months)...I've been using it for years, well worth the $$$ you only use a tiny amount each application and can layer it if wanted (it takes 12 hours of no moisture to harden). Then if you want you can use a good pure carnuba wax (not needed at all) like p21, s100...not maguires though its a cheap wax and will work against the work you just did.

Finally got my estimate this afternoon. They found 10 dents on the hood and 1 on the trunk. The estimate is for PDR, then buff the entire exterior. They cut me check for $817. I managed to get on the body shop calendar for June 27. They originally told me end of July, so I got lucky.

Good luck! Let us know how it goes. I have an appointment to meet with the claims adjuster on Monday the 6th. I am pretty sure we will be able to do PDR as my damage is not as extensive as yours.

For $166 and 45 minutes of my time, the roadster hood looks new again. Don the Dent Wizard is the man. My deductible was $50. Don't think it could have worked out any better.

My cousin (not really, but our families have been close since we were 12) works at Phillips Collision Center in Va Beach. She coordinated everything for me. They have done work for me before and have always done a great job.

Just dropped off the roadster at the body shop. They are estimating at least until Thursday depending on if the dents will come out with PDR. I found a couple more dents since than insurance found. The body shop said they will probable find more. Insurance gets billed with all of it anyway. Gotta love the $0 comprehensive deductible. Also they gave me 2011 Chevy Malibu for a rental. Unfortunately, it has the 2.4L engine. Vastly different than the 370Z.

I got the car back on Friday. It looks great. The body shop found a lot more than even I could. Original insurance estimate was $817. The final total was $2,300. Insurance picks up the tab for the difference. I am glad they polished and buffed the entire car. It really shines in the sun now.