Options for Hail Damage Repair

Options for Hail Damage Repair

Summertime is hail season. Hailstorms can seem to pop up out of nowhere. One minute you are blissfully driving down the highway and the next, dark storm clouds are rolling in. Before you can get home, you hear the familiar pinging of hail stones hitting your windshield and the metal body of your vehicle. When you get home, you check over your vehicle just to find it didn’t fair so well. It’s once perfect exterior is now marred with dings, dents, and even cracks/chips in the windshield. If this is your unfortunate story, fear not, in most cases it will be possible to repair the damage your vehicle has sustained with a tried and true repair method.

Avoid Fix It Yourself Suggestions

If your vehicle has sustained hail damage, you may fear the cost of repairs and be tempted to try a DIY repair. Save yourself time, aggravation, and the likeliness that your repair will create even more damage than the hail did. Instead, report the damage to your insurance company. In most cases, the repair will be covered by your insurance and they will assist you in locating a reputable auto body repair shop to get the job done right the first time.

Auto Body Repair Shops

Typically, an experienced technician at an auto body shop will be able to successfully remove/repair any damage on the exterior of your vehicle. There are currently two effective methods that can be utilized, either paint-less dent repair, or traditional repair methods.

When repairing hail damage via traditional methods, it is possible an entire panel may be taken off the vehicle and replaced with a brand new one. The process is finished by paint matching to the rest of the vehicle and the car will be as good as new.

In cases where the dings created by the hail caused only minimal damage, it is possible to merely repair the area. This simple concept consists of sanding the area, filling the ding with putty and allowing it to harden. After the affected area is dry it will be sanded until smooth and paint matched to the rest of the vehicle.

Heat repair is also a great classic method to repair big dents on new vehicles or old models comprised of thick metal. The process is a simple of adding heat to the impacted area via an oxyacetylene torch. This is generally done in a circular motion, helping the metal to expand and pop back into shape. After the area has fully cooled it can be paint matched and back on the road in no time.

Out with The Old

A new technique, paint-less dent repair continues to grow in popularity due to its easy application and limited time requirement. Paint-less dent repair uses a special tool designed to pull out dents and dings while keeping the original paint intact. Providing the paint hasn’t cracked off, this method is efficacious, cost effective, and time efficient. Traditional sanding, putty, and paint methods could take weeks to complete, while paint-less dent repair can be done in a matter of hours. It works best on minor dents, the most common type of damage caused by hail.

If your vehicle has damage from a recent hailstorm, allow the experts at your local auto body shop to restore it to its original glory!