Roof dings - Feck

Author
Discussion

davhill

Original Poster:

5,263 posts

183 months

Monday 30th May 2016
quotequote all
Damn, blast, st and women's things.

Morrison's automtic car wash assaulted my week-old lease Audi A1. There was a funny thudding sound as the roller brush passed along the roof. Of course, Morrison's are absolving themselves on the grounds of 'own risk' and because I didn't report it immediately (on a wet car? fk off).

These pics really highlight the two dents, which happen to be at exactly 90 degrees to the car's centre line. Trouble is, there's a hard-ish headlining. Anyone tried one of theose eBay sucker jobs?




Gary C

12,315 posts

178 months

Monday 30th May 2016
quotequote all
Ouch

Put in a small claims against morrisons, they probably won't even contest.

X5TUU

11,909 posts

186 months

Monday 30th May 2016
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personally on a panel like a roof I wouldn't try it myself ... too much room for error

poing

8,743 posts

199 months

Monday 30th May 2016
quotequote all
How the hell does a car wash do that?

There are videos on youtube of people using heat guns and/or cold water to make the metal pop back into shape using memory effect. Like this in fact:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y9OGa9vB42Q

davhill

Original Poster:

5,263 posts

183 months

Monday 30th May 2016
quotequote all
Gary C said:
Ouch

Put in a small claims against morrisons, they probably won't even contest.
Do you mean small claim as in court? I've had a bh at Morrisons but therey're denying all responsibility.

I can only think a couple of the brush 'fronds' must have been knotted. The irony is that I've used the same wash dozens of times, with different cars.

Trabi601

4,865 posts

94 months

Monday 30th May 2016
quotequote all
davhill said:
Do you mean small claim as in court? I've had a bh at Morrisons but therey're denying all responsibility.

I can only think a couple of the brush 'fronds' must have been knotted. The irony is that I've used the same wash dozens of times, with different cars.
The brushes can't get knotted. If it's a softcare wash, it'll have spongy 'brushes', which are very thick. If it's an older wash with bristles, they're too stiff to knot.

Doesn't really look like wash damage to me - most wash damage is scratching or, on rare occasions, spoilers being pulled off.

Baryonyx

17,990 posts

158 months

Monday 30th May 2016
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Taking a car to an automated wash is just asking for some ill to befall you.

Valgar

850 posts

134 months

Monday 30th May 2016
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Baryonyx said:
Taking a car to an automated wash is just asking for some ill to befall you.
Bit harsh, but I would agree that there are very real dangers of damage being caused by these machines, perhaps there are many people unaware of these dangers.

Trabi601

4,865 posts

94 months

Monday 30th May 2016
quotequote all
Valgar said:
Baryonyx said:
Taking a car to an automated wash is just asking for some ill to befall you.
Bit harsh, but I would agree that there are very real dangers of damage being caused by these machines, perhaps there are many people unaware of these dangers.
My current company car must have been through an automated wash over 100 times. (Try to do it at least once a week). The only damage is that the paint is a little swirly. But you'd get that from hand washing if you didn't do it with 2 buckets / grit guard etc, which I never do anyway.

lord trumpton

7,321 posts

125 months

Monday 30th May 2016
quotequote all
davhill said:
Damn, blast, st and women's things.

Morrison's automtic car wash assaulted my week-old lease Audi A1. There was a funny thudding sound as the roller brush passed along the roof. Of course, Morrison's are absolving themselves on the grounds of 'own risk' and because I didn't report it immediately (on a wet car? fk off).

These pics really highlight the two dents, which happen to be at exactly 90 degrees to the car's centre line. Trouble is, there's a hard-ish headlining. Anyone tried one of theose eBay sucker jobs?



On a week old car, hearing a thudding noise like what you describe would have me checking it right away. I'm surprised you didn't tbh.

A good PDR person will get them out or as close as possible - just don't try anything yourself beforehand

shake n bake

2,221 posts

206 months

Monday 30th May 2016
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A dent man will help but it will cost you I'm afraid.

davhill

Original Poster:

5,263 posts

183 months

Monday 30th May 2016
quotequote all
It's very strange. I took the car to a local body man and he couldn't even see the dents, concluding that he couldn't do anything. In fact, my pics make the dents appear worse than they look to the naked eye. take a look at this - same car, pic taken with a Galaxy Note, four days before the other pics, that were shot using a Fuji S7000. The roof gutter line reflected in the paint is dead straight in reality. When the car is parked in the place where I took the other pics, the dents are all too obvious.



I'd no cause to mistrust the car wash as I've used it loads of times in the past with no problems at all. The brushes look like their fronds are made of very thick strands of J-cloth about a foot long and four inches wide. I noticed the thump sound at the time and the car seemed to be being moved about more than usual but I put that down to its being a small car. I checked when I went back to report the damage and there was nothing to see on the horizontal brush. I wonder if it was the part of the mechanism that dictates the amount of pressure apllied to the roof.

Thanks for the info. The heat gun trick looks very risky to me (burnt paint). It looks to me like a good press upwards would pop the dents out but I appreciate that's risky too.It seems that PDR is the way to go.








swisstoni

16,855 posts

278 months

Monday 30th May 2016
quotequote all
Screw their 'own risk' disclaimer. You have every right to expect a car to emerge without dents. Get legal advice - that's not going to be easy to fix.

davhill

Original Poster:

5,263 posts

183 months

Monday 30th May 2016
quotequote all
swisstoni said:
Screw their 'own risk' disclaimer. You have every right to expect a car to emerge without dents. Get legal advice - that's not going to be easy to fix.
Considering it's a blank holiday (my definition), I've done what I can. I found a PDR outfit that covers my area and have sent pics and requested a quote. I've also sent the pics you've all seen and a no-holds-barred mail to the car wash owner's insurance company. I can but see what develops but I have made it more than clear that I object very strongly to a slimebag insurance company trying to call the shots on an obvious malfunction and doubting my word to boot.Funts.

lord trumpton

7,321 posts

125 months

Tuesday 31st May 2016
quotequote all
A PDR will need to see the dents in the flesh to be sure they will come out.

Looking at them there appears to be a bonded strengthening bar running through the centre - thats why you have two; one either side of it.

This bar is bonded with a seam sealer type material and the bond in the area affected can be sliced through with a warm palette knife then the dents removed. You many even find that once this area is relieved of the bond they may well pop out themselves - Ive seen that before a few times.

Search out a very good PDR guy as some can make a right hash of it.



Edited by lord trumpton on Tuesday 31st May 12:25

Chongwong

1,045 posts

146 months

Tuesday 31st May 2016
quotequote all
swisstoni said:
Screw their 'own risk' disclaimer. You have every right to expect a car to emerge without dents. Get legal advice - that's not going to be easy to fix.
The problem with this is that as far as the car wash operator is concerned, the second you leave anything could happen to your vehicle. If you don't complain at the time there is very little you can do. I currently work in a high volume carpark and this is the same policy that we operate under.

V8RX7

26,766 posts

262 months

Tuesday 31st May 2016
quotequote all
I've used the ebay suckers - they work very well on this type of dent - I'd use the smaller type.

Equally I've pushed dents out with my feet from the inside of the car too - not sure I'd try on such a late / expensive car though mine were all bangers.


bigbob77

593 posts

165 months

Tuesday 31st May 2016
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That should never have happened, but... A one week old black car in an automatic car wash? weeping
I also saw a 16 plate black IS300h in a Tesco car wash a few weeks ago frown

I get that you might not care about swirl marks and small scratches, and might not want to wash the car yourself, but at the very least couldn't you use a hand wash place? It's not ideal but it's got to be better than a supermarket swirlymajig confused

AJB

856 posts

214 months

Tuesday 31st May 2016
quotequote all
It might not be the car wash's fault. Was it a sunny day when you took the pictures and noticed the dents? Could it be the same as this thread on an A1 forum?

V8RX7

26,766 posts

262 months

Tuesday 31st May 2016
quotequote all
AJB said:
It might not be the car wash's fault. Was it a sunny day when you took the pictures and noticed the dents? Could it be the same as this thread on an A1 forum?
That's definitely it, as he says the body guy couldn't see them so they are coming and going with the heat.

Not a lot anyone can do about that, now.