Reply With QuoteThis is an example of the hailstones that landed in the Watsonia area - luckily my D3 was on Raymond Island at the time and my wife's Honda was in the garage ... she saved these in the freezer for me to see upon my return.
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SubscriberCheers for that I'd always wondered.
Will be interesting to know how (or if) they addressed that in the design of the 787.
It's not broken. It's "Carbon Neutral".
gone
1993 Defender 110 ute "Doris"
1994 Range Rover Vogue LSE "The Luxo-Barge"
1994 Defender 130 HCPU "Rolly"
1996 Discovery 1
current
1995 Defender 130 HCPU and Suzuki GSX1400
Master
This is an example of the hailstones that landed in the Watsonia area - luckily my D3 was on Raymond Island at the time and my wife's Honda was in the garage ... she saved these in the freezer for me to see upon my return.
Master
The hail where I was for Xmas was between half and 2/3rds the size of yours.
Strangely the car two doors down was a mess whereas one or two small dents were found in others in the street but nothing which jumps out at you.
I had the small bit of luck of parking under a plum tree, you can see bits of plum on the car.
2007/2002/2000/1994/1993/1988/1987/1985/1984/1981/1979/1973 Range Rover 1986 Wadham Stringer
and a Nissan Cube............
South Australia.
Master
Same sad story ocurred in Perth approx. 18mths ago.
At our office the whole car park full of 70+ cars was hit by the hail storm with each car having varying damage. My 79 450SL Merc was totalled and written off under a reasonable "agreed value" policy and became a deposit on a D4 with a working radio and aircon.
The Jap/Korean and newer cars took a pounding due to light panels.
Many cars were totally written off but not repaired and still used by their owners albeit with a few dents. Bit of a dilema if the car is mechanically sound and being paid off!!!
We have on guy with a BMW 2door with the fancy retractable roof still waiting for his "turn" at the panel beater.
Several Prados had their roof replaced between the roof rail tracks - so roofs are done if the repair is cheaper than the "notional write-off".
Hope all goes well for you.
Last edited by AGRO; 30th December 2011 at 07:56 PM. Reason: spell
Master
In Nov 2010 my D3 was hit with the same size hail as Melbourne's storm the other day. This occured whilst I was nearing the competion of the Dirtworks 100km MTB race at Woodend and I was caught in a severe thurderstorm about 5 km out from the finish. Riding in the hail was like having rocks thrown at you. Even my helmet got cracked but my carbon frame didn't get trashed so you can tell the force the hail has. I had to hide next to a tree for a bit of protection but I still got pelted.
My D3 was trashed from bonnet to tailgate with hundreds of big dents across the roof and even the window sills. The repair bill was well in excess of $10K. I was afraid the D3 would be written off but my insurance company said the repairs had to be > 50% of the agreed value/market value and it was well under. I suspect your D4 will also be well under.
At first the repairer said the roof needed replacing and after spending many weeks trying to source one (even from O/Seas) they gave up and repaired the roof using a specialist. The bonnet was replaced. The tailgate, doors and sides near the roof were all repaired. Even the scuttle panel under the wipers was smashed by the hail and ended up with big holes. The roof mouldings where the roof rack tracks fit were also dented.
The worst part about the repair was the wait of 8+ weeks. The job done was absolutely fantastic and there was not a ripple to be seen anywhere. These guys I used are specialists in hail repairs after having done many cars from the previous Melbourne hail storm back in 2009.
If you need to know who I used. Send me a PM and I can let you know.
Chris
Last edited by PCH; 30th December 2011 at 08:35 PM. Reason: spelling errors
Master
My partner owns a high end paint less dent repair company. Good techs, that are few and far between (he is) can fix it up so well you can't tell it was ever damaged. From my non technical view, it depends on the size of the dent. That equates with regard to hail, to the size of the hit, the golf ball size as pictured, probably stretched the metal, so true PDR would not be effective on ALL hits. The smaller pea size, up to 1/2 or larger can be fixed.
For every good tech in that business there are 10 "blow and go" repairers who do more harm than good in repairing, by blowing the dent out with tools in a hurry, leaving crappy work, then GO back out of town. These fly by nights are the ones to watch out for. While quality guys travel to do repairs, like my buddy, not many do the quality work he does.
This type of work, does not involve dry ice, and the other strange repair methods. Tools are used, kind of like spoons, and the like, on the back side of the dents, to massage it back to it's original shape. An artist can perform this flawlessly, and you cannot tell there was a dent. All forms of tools, lights and so forth are used in the process. Typically the work is faster, and less expensive, than say, cutting the roof off, and replacing it.
That being said, LR lists the entire body shell (I assume less the doors, hood, etc.) for about 6k US in their parts book.
Cheers
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