GenVibe - Community for Pontiac Vibe Enthusiasts

After buying my Vibe in April of 2002, and then moving back to the panhandle of Nebraska (known as Hail Alley, kind of like tornado alley). The Hail finally caught up with me.Have quite a few dents on the hood, and the top/roof part of the hatch door. The roof only had a few dents on it. I haven't really seen any damage on the sides of the vibe. Need to go wash it to get a better view. Parked it out in the Sun all day yesterday, hoping the heat (103 degrees) would pop a few out.I have a $500 deductible and the damage is noticeable, but I don't think I'll get it fixed. Wish insurance would just pay me the difference in deductible and damage so I can use that money else where, but not to many insurance companies are that way any more.

That sucks. Post up a picture of the dents. Maybe one of those home dent pullers would work.

There could be hope for you... 2 things, dry ice, and or airless dusters.... (I know, you are going HUH???)Consider what happened, the hail hit the metal and dented it, or stretched it... If you can warm the metal, then QUICKLY and locally cool it, it will shrink... If done quickly enough (the cooling) it can literlay pop the dends back out, OR make them much less noticable... If you look around on YouTube there are some videos about it... I'm not sure how it would work on such small dents, but you could always give it a shot...

I was going to try the dry ice, but I'm going to wait until we get a really hot day. I think the next time it gets hot I might get the garden hose out and hit the hood with it just to see if it will pop a few of them out.Once I get it washed and can see the dents better, I'll post a pic.

Quote, originally posted by sloth »I was going to try the dry ice, but I'm going to wait until we get a really hot day. I think the next time it gets hot I might get the garden hose out and hit the hood with it just to see if it will pop a few of them out.Once I get it washed and can see the dents better, I'll post a pic.You don't need a hot day, just a hair drier... And the water hose isn't going to do anything... You need SUPER cold SUPER quick... Basically, you are flash freezing the metal in the local area and in doing so it shrinks rapidly, possibly pulling the metal back into shape... I hold no responsibility for your actions though, just passin on info, if it don't work, or messes something up... on you brotha... You could look into "Paintless dent repair" as well, the price usually goes down, the more dents they have to fix...

yeah...actuually do a search on the forums here... i think someone posted a video, or youtube or something on the dry ice/hairdryer solution.found ithttp://forums.genvibe.com/zerothread?id=30653blocked on the firewall here, but i think that's the video.good luck

That liquid CO2 method looks interesting but it really looks like it would work with big dents. In the vid you can see a little ding in the corner which the person did not pop out.I have a kit that I bought for door dings and it works. Maybe a kit like this would work better since you concentrate on the center of the ding. It will take time since you can only do one at a time but any method will take time.I detailed a car once that looked like it got pelted with golf balls. I asked what happened and the owner said hail damage and the repair cost more than the car was worth.

I think I might have seen that vid a ling time ago, and as we know dents that have creases in them are EXTREMELY difficult to get out without fill work and such, but as long as the dent doesn't have a crease in it, the dent should come out rather easily..i've tried the dry ice method, but with limited success, as the dent i was messing with had a crease in it... BUT I did get some of the surrounding metal to move a little...

Been a while since I've been on here. Just updating this thread. I could never get any good pictures. Anyway I filed a claim with progressive, which I was really impressed with. Filed a claim at 10am and had a check by 2pm.They estimated $3500 worth of damage. If I remember correctly 320 nickel sized dents.

Quote, originally posted by sloth »Been a while since I've been on here. Just updating this thread. I could never get any good pictures. Anyway I filed a claim with progressive, which I was really impressed with. Filed a claim at 10am and had a check by 2pm.They estimated $3500 worth of damage. If I remember correctly 320 nickel sized dents. Holy Mackerel! That's a lot of dents. Did you get it repaired or take the money and run?

Took the money and ran. It really doesn't look that bad. The worst spots are the hood, and the very top of the hatch. It was a good thing to because I had a very slow month of business after I got the insurance.