My truck got hit last weekend in the big Amarillo hail storm. My son had it to do a paint job for me (he works at a body shop) and was driving it and got ambushed by this hail. The hail was about egg-sized, so it did cause some damage.
There is minor denting all over, which is pretty incredible for such thick sheet metal. A few windows got cracked and one of my GMC emblems had part of it break off from a perfect hit by a hailstone.
I wasn't upset about it at all. In fact, it is beneficial. I was going to pay for the paint job myself, but now I get a little bit of insurance help for it. The one thing I'm worried about is the GMC emblem. I have not found chrome GMC emblems anywhere. I might have to buy them off of a salvage yard somewhere.
52 GMC 3/4 ton pickup 68 Big Block Vette 68 455 Firebird
Boy there has been some really bad weather in the US lately, A couple weeks ago, there was some record size hail fell, looked like baseballs falling from the sky in the news.
1953 Chevrolet 3100 261 cu inch, sm420, 3.55 rear, torque tube still,omaha orange, still 6 volt, RPO green glass, side carrier spare, all done In the DITY Gallery Video of the 261 running
1964 GMC 1000 305 Big Block V6, sm420, the next cab off restoration
The problem with hail damage on sheet metal is it can be really hard to repair and look good. I would have your son try and repair as much as possible without filler. It will end up looking way better in the long run.
When I took a body work course at a community college the teacher used a technique with a wet rag and an acetelyne torch to "pop" the dents out. I forget exactly how but it worked beautifully.
1949 Chevy 1/2-Ton "Sedgewick" In the Gallery 1989 Caprice
I've seen using a flameless electric hand held heater, and ice spray can that electronics techs use, to pop out hail dents. You first heat the area then spray the cold on it and it pops out.
I've never had hail damage, if it ever happens it will only happen once. The truck will then have a full rack and cover over it from front bumper to the rear bumper. The cover would be sheet steel over or under 3/8ths plywood or thicker if need be.
Last edited by Truckrolet; 06/01/20133:19 AM.
Kicking self for selling off my Taskforce trucks. Still looking for an LCF or conventional big bolt in decent shape.
As of 10-26-2022, A 55.2 Taskforce long bed now the work begins
Okay the insurance claims adjuster visited my truck this afternoon. I'm a little shocked at how much he showed it would cost to repair. $6300. He said he could have gone higher, but valued my truck at 9 grand in its current condition, and any higher would have totalled it. Thank goodness he didn't total it. Except for my $100 deductable, this will pay for a nice new paint job. So it did work out for the better.
I'll post a pic when it gets done.
52 GMC 3/4 ton pickup 68 Big Block Vette 68 455 Firebird
I strongly urge you to try and get a quote from a "paintless" dent repair place. They specialize in hail damage, and do a much better job at getting the dents out of sheetmetal than traditional bodywork. My dad's '64 Impala SS has hail damage on the hood from long ago, and no amount of bodywork will repair it so that you can't see the hail damage. He ended up needing to find a new hood for it, that will go on the next time the car is painted.
there is a paint shop near my house that bought a Painless Dent removal franchise (guess that's how it works), we had a bad hailstorm through here a couple years back when we had F5 tornadoes (Alabama). They cranked out hundreds of insurance claims and it truly was an impressive job, I looked at several of their repairs. I'd at least get an estimate from a Painless Dent removal franchise. sorry about your bad luck. Dad said he was in such a storm as a kid, it beat the top out of their convertible and broke glass in it and killed hogs in a pen right beside where they pulled over off the road. That's some pretty serious hail to hit hogs in the head and kill them.
My brother in law backed out of his garage and gently into the side of my company owned vehicle. I took it to a PDR guy and watched as he meticulously worked the dents out. Took him a couple of hours. I won't say it was perfect, as there are some body lines that were tough to work on, but if you didn't know it had been there I don't think you would spot it.
Fixing hail damage on a nice round surface like a '52 GMC might be easier? The good news is...things like hoods, fenders, etc. as still accessable!
My wife's car had hail damage when it was only six weeks old. She was sick as was I but when they got through with it using the paintless dent repair you couldn't find a blemish. I had never heard of it until then but I highly recommend checking into it. Oh yea there were 147 dents from hail about the size of a quarter
