Fresh dent on my Ram’s hood from neighbors fireworks

[#41]

He seemed agreeable to paying ....

.... until he sees what it's actually going to cost.... then he'll start back peddling. This is the normal mode of operation of irresponsible people. Unless you are willing to suck up the cost yourself, you should always file a police report and insurance claim on day 1 no matter the promises or tears of the responsible party.

 

[Dan64]

I got a self inflicted ding on my aluminum F-150 tail gate and was told the PDR wouldn't work on aluminum due to lack of metal memerory?. I'm curious in what they tell you as I would love to find a PDR guy that could fix my tail gate.

 

[eldubb440]

aluminum should move a lot easier than steel

 

[Cranky]

The fireworks police came through my neighborhood Thursday night and caught 2 guys, one drinking battery acid and the other eating fireworks. So they charged one and let the other one off!

 

[Cranky]

aluminum should move a lot easier than steel

I have a 'little' bit of experience with 'body working' aluminum and found that you need to really be much easier on it than steel. Man, it'll stretch MUCH easier than steel does. Wasn't working on anyone's aluminum body but just wanted to see how aluminum worked....

 

[wahya]

There is somebody nearby that is mixing gunfire with all the fireworks going on the other night. At one point, I thought I heard something hit my camper. Hoping I don’t have a hole in the roof.

 

[kiwigtx]

The fireworks police came through my neighborhood Thursday night and caught 2 guys, one drinking battery acid and the other eating fireworks. So they charged one and let the other one off!

 

[Ron H]

As posted, I’ve seen some amazing dent repair work done, but it was steel. Another good point on aluminum having memory. Years ago, I had just picked up my new company ride from the dealer and was making a visit from there to another branch about 80-miles away. Got about 10-miles from the branch on the interstate and ran into a hail storm like I’ve never experienced before! The sound was deafening and had to pull off until it passed. Thought the windshield would break. Got to the branch getting out of the car and was shocked at how many dents were on it. Company had me take it to a place called ‘Dent Doctors’ and they fixed it nice. But, another time my wife’s car was in the driveway in a hail storm and the hood and deck needed replacing, but fixed the roof. Go figure, looked to me the damage wasn’t as bad as I remembered on the company ride; but her car was near 10-years old. They damn near wanted to total it and refused as it was a nice low mileage, high-optioned car. The deal was painting the entire car vs just the hood and deck. Shop did a nice job matching the paint so was ok with it. On the other hand, I’ve seen crap matching work.

Best of luck hoping they can fix that dent or a decent excuse to get the hood you want.

Lol, as part of the deal with your neighbor, have his kid do any grunt work for you, you could trust him to do, for the next six-months. Weed pulling my wife drags me into would be a start.

 

[SSmoothie]

File a police report asap. And document it with photos.

 

[1967coronet]

PDR guys have been working on aluminum for several years.
The main thing is to find a good PDR guy or gal.
That's why calling your agent is a good idea. They know the good ones and the hacks.

 

[Budnicks]

I'd file a insurance claim, that's what you pay for
no matter who/whom was the guilty party...

Then let them deal with the law if need be...
They probably won't care, probably will just pay it & move on...

You may end up needing to have a body shop deal with it
cover your *** that way...

Maybe the neighbor will pay the deductible, if they are stand up people...

A guy doing PDR says they don't do Aluminum here...

Aluminum is/can be a strange creator when you try
& manipulate, bend it or bend it back especially, after stretched it
especially if it's been previously hardened or gone thru heat cycles
& especially with paint on-top of it
I know in my race cars dealing with 2024 (softer) stretches/dents more easily
hard to get flat again (like my floor-pans & tunnel) after it's dinged
or then there's 6061 or 7071 (T6 hard ****)
totally different materials
ones soft & the other is like bullet proof steel

good luck

 

[XS22J8R]

PDR guys have been working on aluminum for several years.
The main thing is to find a good PDR guy or gal.
That's why calling your agent is a good idea. They know the good ones and the hacks.

I found out my Mopar friend who was going to close his body shop and retire last winter is still in business. Good for me but sad for him, his partner got hurt in a motorcycle crash a few years ago and recovered pretty well thankfully, but can’t carry his weight anymore, and they can’t find good help anymore like is always the case now it seems. He’s in his 60s, and financially secure and really wants to retire so I’m bummed for him.
But his ace PDR contractor still comes into his shop Thursdays so I will see if he can fix it. If it can possibly be done, he can do it!
I don’t know what to do about this biyearly fireworks show in the street by my house. Boys will be boys and I just looked the other way, except to be surprised his commercial level show never drew police attention, but now that I’ve got some damage from it, my tolerance is over. He spends hours putting his display together, he should find a job with a pro fireworks company and use his skills for commercial displays!

 

[Photon440]

I found out my Mopar friend who was going to close his body shop and retire last winter is still in business. Good for me but sad for him, his partner got hurt in a motorcycle crash a few years ago and recovered pretty well thankfully, but can’t carry his weight anymore, and they can’t find good help anymore like is always the case now it seems. He’s in his 60s, and financially secure and really wants to retire so I’m bummed for him.
But his ace PDR contractor still comes into his shop Thursdays so I will see if he can fix it. If it can possibly be done, he can do it!
I don’t know what to do about this biyearly fireworks show in the street by my house. Boys will be boys and I just looked the other way, except to be surprised his commercial level show never drew police attention, but now that I’ve got some damage from it, my tolerance is over. He spends hours putting his display together, he should find a job with a pro fireworks company and use his skills for commercial displays!

It also sounds like he spends a fortune putting his display together, so fixing your hood should be peanuts to him.

 

[66 Sat]

They should be able to fix that no sweat and it should be fairly cheap. They don't need access from beneath on everything, they glue from the top and pull it out. If they can fix this with PDR they can fix yours (and my hood which was also partially dented is aluminum).

 

[1STMP]

The only reason to file a
police report is to satisfy
your insurance company's
comprehensions' claim.
Your insurance will require
one. You'll sign the police
report stating what happend
under penalty of purgery
if you make up the story.
It's up to your insurance
company to persue the
incident further. Cops won't
get involved other than filing
the report, as it's a civil
matter.

 

[Mopar Hunter]

Payback is a b!tch.

A million dollar home here burned down because of fireworks.

 

[AR67GTX]

Seems like your average neighborhood fireworks stand sells fireworks that are more commercial display-sized compared to what we had when I was a kid - bigger, louder, high-concussion, etc. We had a few cherry bombs now and then but most of our Arsenal was black cats, lady fingers, bottle rockets, sparklers, roman candles, fountains, star shooters, etc. The debris I see on the streets now, the morning after looks (and sounds) far bigger than anything we had back then. Don’t think that’s a good development. And the theirs the drunk who set one on his head and lit it and killed himself.

 

[XS22J8R]

A couple new years eves back, the kid did his fireworks extravaganza at midnight. Afterwards I noticed they’d left a used fireworks item by an evergreen on the property line near the front of my house. After seeing it sit there over a week I got tired of looking at it so went to get it and throw it in my trash can. It was almost the size of a milk crate, and was like a 10X size version of the Saturn Missle Battery fireworks I’d shoot off in my younger years. Those have 16 small whistling bottle rockets that fire from them one after another.
The near milk crate size one fired 16 mortars. Still had a price sticker on it, it was $39.99 or maybe even $49.99.
The kids about 20 and I don’t know what he does for money or if he even works or goes to college or what. The parents are hard working Polish immigrants, the dad works for a cabinet maker, they live in a modest 1100 or so sq ft bungalow and drive aging Hondas. I would be interested in knowing how the kid affords what must be 300-500 bucks for his twice a year displays!

 

[Ron H]

would be interested in knowing how the kid affords what must be 300-500 bucks for his twice a year displays!

Was going to mention something about the kid thinking he might of an age where WORKING is a priority by him or his parents. He’s around 20? My folks insisted I get a JOB when I got my driver’s license and had been assigned chores well before this; cutting the lawn, weeding, doing dishes, snow shoveling, etc. My mother worked full-time by her choice since I was in elementary school. Still had plenty of time for fun, some got me into trouble, but it was work – first. Who knows, maybe he has a job and should work more hours or save more of his earnings. Lol, I remember how long it took to save up for my first set of mags and tires on top of car payments..

 

[WileE]