Stupid hail

[RichZilla]

Last Sunday afternoon, the missus looked outside and noticed it was way dark. There were some fat black clouds happening in the sky. Not two minutes after, we heard the distinct sound of banging that only hail can bring. It started off fairly small, but it got MASSIVE really quickly. No rain, just massive hail. The Mercedes was parked out the front and there was no cover. We had to stand there and watch as hail bigger than a baseball repeatedly bounced off the car. After it stopped, we went to have a look. The hail was so big that it put a dent in the crease line of the passenger door about an inch deep.

The roof is absolutely trashed! The back window copped three big ones and is suitably smashed. The car wasn't insured. It would have cost me $1500 to get it passed by an engineer, then $3000 to insure it, then at least $500 excess. I think I can get all the damage fixed for under $2000. Found a bonnet and boot on Ebay for $180. Back window will cost $200 second hand. That leaves about $1500 to fix the roof and fit the new rear window.

During the hail storm, a mate's dad went out to put his car undercover and got clocked in the back of the head. He ended up in hospital for a couple of days.

I said afterwards that it seems I'm destined to always have bent cars. Our little N13 Pusar/Astra was parked under a tree and got barely a dent on it.

Oh, and about 30 tiles on our roof got smashed as well as the skylight in the bathroom. Our area looks like the the circus has come to town at the moment. There are tarps over every roof within about 1km radius of our house. Its almost a week since, and there are still fire trucks everywhere helping to fix people's houses. It's crazy!

[T45]

That sucks. Over here our homeowners insurance would cover most everything. As for the car insurance, comprehensive would cover the damage but it's optional if you own the car without a lein.

I like dents, kinda like battle scars. Paint that ***** flat black, dress up like Mad Max and own the roads!

[Florida240sx]

BONDO your new best friend every 6months

[RichZilla]

That's the plan. Except I'm thiinking of selling it before the dreaded sinkbank occurs.

[Lakeshow24]

Pictures?

[ultrapulse]

Hi Rich,Sorry to steal your post, but just curious of a few things over the ditch. In NZ after we do any major mods and before a garage will do a warrant of fitness (WOF) we need a low volume cert done which is nowadays only about $350-400. If its a ground up build (ie ac cobra replica, built chassis etc) I have heard it can cost triple this as I think there are 3 stages of build.However we are quite lucky here as if the vehicle passes the std brake test, which from memory was 3 consecutive 100kph-0kph in less than 4 secs in under 3 mins (or thereabouts cant remember) drives and has been built to the engineers satisfaction you use then the car gets its cert and is road legal Now we are looking at moving to queensland, so though you arent in queensland can you do say a v8 repower to your car and get it "roadlegal" in NSW?We currently own a mint 2 seater hardtop manual TT z32, along with a currently getting built vh45 with procharger in a z32 chassis the same as above. Basically do you think I will be able to get this car on the road legally in aussie?I am supposed to be buying a local guys lexus v8 powered 92 hiluxhttp://www.trademe.co.nz/Brows...16654 which he has changed the front brakes, so its costing me about $350 then all good. Are there many (if any) cars cruising the aussie roads?Also buggar with that hail, we never get that here. Well we do but all small stuff (say 2,3 or 4mm dia) and not very often say a few times a year in the winter. I'd be devistated if my toy got that sort of a beating Hope you get your cars sorted dude.

[ScottJackson]

If you do the bondo well, it should last a lot longer than 6 months. Sand the whole roof and where there will be ANY bondo at all, sand it to bare metal, then I use a 36 grit sanding disc on a 1/4" air grinder to rough it up. Then clean it thoroughly and apply the bondo. Sand it smooth and then use a sealer primer and paint. Should last a long time if it's on bare clean, dry metal that was roughed up and it's thoroughly sealed with good primer and paint.

[RichZilla]

The Mercedes would pass an engineer's inspection no worries. But, the cost has gone through the roof in the last few years. When I started my apprenticeship in 2001, they were $500. Now they end up well over a grand. My car will pass a roadworthy inspection without an engineers cert. Full comp insurance won't cover it without one. If cops pull me over and notice the engine isn't supposed to be in the car, they'll defect me and I'll have to get a certificate.

As of a few years ago - don't know about now: NSW laws state that your engine capacity in cc must not exceed 3 times the weight of the car. The Merc weighs 1620kg, so I could put a 4.86 litre engine in my car. Which doesn't make sense, because they came out with bigger engines than that, but anyway. For forced induction, I believe that multiplier is 2.5, so I could put a 4.05 litre turbo or supercharged engine in.

I don't know much about QLD's laws, but as far as I know, they're not too bad. From what I've heard, WA is the worst. They'll make you and your car jump through flaming hoops backwards before they pass your car.

There are plenty of modded cars everywhere. Don't know if I like too many of them. Too much wank factor. You need to do some crazy **** to get me excited.

[RichZilla]

Pics will come soon. You won't belive the size of the dents!

Scott, I did speak to a couple of people who said to rub the roof back to bare metal. It's alright. My mate will fix it properly for me.

[jdshift]

Hail sucks!! I had $3,000 worth of damage before to my previous car 2.5 Altima.......sorry for your misfortune.

[RichZilla]

Many people were worse off than me! My local Snap On dealer had four cars trashed. $2000 in insurance excess alone!

[RichZilla]

These photos do not do the size of the hail or the dents justice.



Notice all the houses in this photo have tarps on their roof. It's like this for about 1km around my house.



The dent in the door. If you're on a laptop, look at it from a different angle and you'll see how deep it is



Back window. I had to get the windscreen place to put this plastic **** on top of it because the cracks were getting bigger. I can't get it replace till the end of January after the rust gets fixed.