Anyone have experience with Hail damage; aka How screwed am I?

[edlin303]

I had the unfortunate luck of being in Phoneix Tuesday for the hail storm. It turns out golf ball-sized hail and M3s don't mix well.

I have to wait up to a week for an adjuster to take a look, so I wanted to be prepared with any information I could get going into it. Here is the situation:

Trunk and Hood have a significant number of dents. Both will probably be easier to replace than repair.
Roof has about 200 dents, some of pretty good size. The worst of them might be indented 1/4 inch.
Each door has from 3 to 20 or so dents that I have found, some on the window sill, some on the sides.
Rear quarter panels have a few dozen dents, mostly very shallow.

From the research I have read online it sounds like often if the damage is too bad they need to replace the roof. If not, and PDR isn't an option, it sounds like putty and a repaint are needed. Here are some questions I would love help with. Not knowing much about how cars work, I want to make sure I am equipped to fight anything they want to do that is not good.

1. Is a roof replacement on an M3 as bad as it sounds? It seems to me it would never be the same car again, but maybe I am being paranoid. Is there any hope for fighting it if they say that is a suitable solution? Is there a better solution?
2. Does the BMW paint hold up well to PDR? I think that sounds better wherever it is possible.
3. The body shop the dealer suggested said they use official BMW paint and whatnot. Has anyone gotten paint done on a Jerez Black M and has it come out ok?
4. Are there any silver linings to this cloud? If the trunk and/or hood are being replaced, are there options I should consider other than than OEM? I know some people like CF parts, but I don't know if that would look good with Jerez Black.
5. Anyone think they would total it rather than do something to it that will ruin the car as I know it?

I'll post up pics for those of you who want to share the feeling of devastation I am feeling right now. I finally sprung for my dream car, and it is ruined within 6 months. If it is going to take as long to fix as they guessed, and hurt the car as much as I think it will, I might just look to get rid of it as is and be thankful for the time I had with it.

[AMPowerJ]

Man that really sucks and I feel bad for you. But maybe you can take lemons and make lemonade ... For instance you could replace your roof with IND's carbon fiber roof for the E90. That would be an upgrade. The hood and trunk should be able to be replaced easily. That leaves the side panels and PDR can do some pretty amazing stuff so I would hold out hope.

What would be worse would be a wreck that bent the frame or something. Then the car would never be good as new again but since this is just cosmetic you should be able to get all of that fixed.

[edlin303]

Originally Posted by AMPowerJ

For instance you could replace your roof with IND's carbon fiber roof for the E90. That would be an upgrade. The hood and trunk should be able to be replaced

You're the second to mention that. It would be worth a look, since I would have preferred CF from the factory anyway. Anyone tried that with Jerez Black? I worry about dark blue and black not looking good together.

[calintexas]

Amazing things can be done with PDR on steel panels by people that know what they are doing. Good luck.

Edit after pics: Looks much worse than I expected. From my experience, your car was pelted by larger than golf ball size hail. Sorry man. I hate hail. It's a real problem here in Texas.

[///Mperative]

Not being a claims adjuster, I can't say for certain; however, you're most likely looking at a new hood, roof, trunk and possibly doors. There are limits to what PDR can accomplish. If I were you, I would push the adjuster to replace all damaged panels. It will be within his/her power to do so.

[edlin303]

Originally Posted by andrewlef

Not being a claims adjuster, I can't say for certain; however, you're most likely looking at a new hood, roof, trunk and possibly doors. There are limits to what PDR can accomplish. If I were you, I would push the adjuster to replace all damaged panels. It will be within his/her power to do so.

My main question with that is, what happens with a roof replacement? Forgive my complete car ignorance if this is a dumb question, but don't they have to cut off one roof and attach the other? It seems to be that would not be good for the structural strength of the car.

[dardeca]

Damn...you should have put a disclaimer on the thread topic..."WARNING...GRAPHIC PHOTOS". That is terrible man. Best of luck.

Oh - and definitely go the CF roof route. It looks awesome on any color.

[punksterz626]

Originally Posted by dardeca

Damn...you should have put a disclaimer on the thread topic..."WARNING...GRAPHIC PHOTOS". That is terrible man. Best of luck.

Oh - and definitely go the CF roof route. It looks awesome on any color.

+1...im gonna have nightmares tonight

[kscarrol]

AAHHH!!! Painful to look at... Were you actually sitting in the car when the hail started? It would have been so awful to sit there powerless as your car is assaulted.

[///Mperative]

Originally Posted by edlin303

My main question with that is, what happens with a roof replacement? Forgive my complete car ignorance if this is a dumb question, but don't they have to cut off one roof and attach the other? It seems to be that would not be good for the structural strength of the car.

I don't believe the entire roof will have to be cut out. Keep in mind that only the outer skin of the roof is damaged. The structural components of the roof are likely fine. That in mind, it shouldn't be too difficult for the shop to replace the roof panel. They'll likely have to remove both windshields, headliner, interior trim, etc to effect a repair, however. Bottom line: it'll take time to do it right. Good luck!

[kibosh]

jeebus, I had to avert my eyes after just a glance. hopefully the repairs come out nicely. just keep on the insurance company and make sure it gets done to your satisfaction. if you end up having to get something re-painted and it doesn't look right, make them re-do it until they get it looking like it did before the damage.

[M3 Pilot]

Its cheaper to replace the entire shell.

At least that was what Insurance companies did on panels that are severely hit. You will find the cost of repair is more expensive than replacing a brand new panel.

I regret to say this, but with any hailstorm, the more hits the better. There are some cars that look like golf balls in the aftermath, they get a brand new windscreen and brand new shell from their insurance.

Essentially a brand new looking car but again, time is money.

[OMID INC]

that looks seryoos

[edlin303]

Originally Posted by kscarrol

AAHHH!!! Painful to look at... Were you actually sitting in the car when the hail started? It would have been so awful to sit there powerless as your car is assaulted.

If I was, I might have had enough notice to find a gas station with an awning. I was in a building when we heard a loud racket of hail hammering the roof. I had to sit and watch from the building knowing my car was in pain. It wasn't alone at least. Dozens of cars in that lot, and tens of thousands across Phoenix had the same fate.

Thanks for clarifying on the roof removal andrewlef. I was somehow picturing them turning it into a convertable with a sawzall, then glueing it back together. If it won't hurt the overall rigidity of the car, it isn't quite so bad. I wonder how much more that CF roof is then...

I forsee many battles ahead of me with insurance. Like getting them to pay for a new clear bra on the hood. I don't know if something like that would normally be covered, but if so it will be nice because the last one was a hatchet job. And trying to get something for the loss of value of the car for having so much body work done.

[mocsman]

very sad... bright side is you now have a legitimate reason to MOD!

[///M Dream]

Damn man that looks very bad. I couldnt even believe it how bad the hail was tuesday. I would push to have all the panels replaced, pdr is great but very limited in my opinion. I luckily had my M3 in the garage that day, next day i went to my parents and their X5 got pelted bad like yours, theyre also waiting on the insurance adjuster. Best of luck and let us know what the insurance company

[saeedg48]

man you're so fuc*ed but you have insurance and hopefully that's covered.

[JCtx]

OUCH! OUCH! OOOOOOOUCH! I bet this describes your reaction:

Originally Posted by calintexas

From my experience, your car was pelted by larger than golf ball size hail.

I think so too, especially with temps still in the 90s; they're not as dense. I'm from TX too, and last time I saw golf ball size hail, nothing happened to my Honda, but man, it sounded AWFUL, so am glad OP wasn't inside .

OP, my main concern would be having people inside my car, but seems like you have no choice man. And yes, there'll be cutting and welding involved with the roof and rear panels. My guess is the roof might be repaired due to the very expensive moonroof. And frankly, it's probably better that way provided insurance company agrees to remove dents externally (no messing with your headliner). Without major dents, it can be repaired with filler to like new condition. That's what I did with my scratched door, rear panel and hood. I'd much rather get the doors repaired than replaced if not that bad, but that's just me. Get a new hood and trunk for sure. Good luck, and please keep us posted.

[OM VT3]

i own a panel shop your car needs new trunk hood and roof! a good shop can do a good job but if my m3 had hail i would not want to keep it. we had hail here not to long ago and pdr doesnt work people who think it does on something like this have no clue but like i said ur car will need the 3 new things and they will have to fix the rest. ask the place where ur going to take it how they do the job tell them u want photos of it all and most of all dont let them paint the car with the doors and everything on the car

[OM VT3]

paint will be find as long as they use glasurit or ppg i would want glasurit and ceramic clear is a must!

[tha_good_life]

I'm so glad I don't live where you live.... Sorry that it happened!

[swanny71]

Man that is bad, thank fcuk we don't get hail like that here.
Good luck getting it all sorted out.