Hail damage repair?

Jim_R

Jim_R

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My Cherokee suffered hail damage long before I bought it, and there are a number of obvious dents in the upper skin surface. Nothing that affects airworthiness, but one of these days I hope to have the plane repainted, and I'd like to have those repaired.

I know aluminum is tricker to repair than steel because of the plastic deformation--you can't just "pop it back" to where it was. I see lots of videos on YouTube for aluminum auto repairs, but I'm not sure those techniques are applicable to my plane. Aircraft-specific searching yields few results, with this Aviation Consumer article being about the closest thing to helpful, but still very short on details.

So what should I expect / look for / ask for when the time comes? Are there paint shops that specialize in aluminum dent removal techniques? Will they use body filler from the aviation aisle of O'Reilly? Is it time to throw away all the skins and start over? Are there (reasonably-priced) aluminum dent repair companies that can make repairs before I deliver the plane for painting? Do they come to the hangar or do I take the plane to them? (The AvCons article mentions The Dent Guys and EZDent, but neither shop has much info on their websites other than a page to say "we do this!" and a form to request a quote.)

It seems like the most common response is to just live with the dents (like my plane's previous owner did), but I'm hoping someone can offer other reasonable options to consider. (I'd really appreciate hearing any personal experiences!)
 
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My Warrior had some hail damage when I bought it 15 years ago. I had it repainted 13 years ago and they filled the dents with epoxy and used these microscopic glass beads that are extremely light as the filler. They did a great job and one would still never know it had prior damage. As I recall it wasn’t a huge add to the cost of the job - but that was 13 years ago.

I don’t recall having damage on control surfaces and I’m not sure if the same technique could be used on them; they may need replacing - not sure.
 
I had some minor hail damage on a twin. Preferred to use my aviation dollars on avionics upgrade and some motor STCs. Airplane didn’t look bad from a distance so I lived with it.
 
Hail damage depends on how large the hail was, golf ball size or larger you done not much you can do, shredded fabric, trashed windshields and gaping holes in the skin are an expensive reality. Smaller size people do cover it up with bondo or other cover up and paint but it still has hail damage history that devalues the aircraft.
 
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frfly172 said:
I had some minor hail damage on a twin. Preferred to use my aviation dollars on avionics upgrade and some motor STCs. Airplane didn’t look bad from a distance so I lived with it.
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Like I mentioned in my OP that seems to be the most common response. It was the response of the prior owner of my plane, and it's also been my response for the last 10 years.

But now I'm trying to learn whether there are other reasonable options to consider.
 
I once looked at a cherokee that had a ridiculously low useful load. Going through the logs and talking with the owner, I found it had once had some pretty bad hail damage, that the owner repaired himself using what he described as "automotive dent repair methods" (he did at least get a sign off on his work)...I assumed bondo...I didn't buy the plane, btw, but it sure looked nice. LOL.
 
Llewtrah381 said:
My Warrior had some hail damage when I bought it 15 years ago. I had it repainted 13 years ago and they filled the dents with epoxy and used these microscopic glass beads that are extremely light as the filler. They did a great job and one would still never know it had prior damage. As I recall it wasn’t a huge add to the cost of the job - but that was 13 years ago.

I don’t recall having damage on control surfaces and I’m not sure if the same technique could be used on them; they may need replacing - not sure.
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Were there any W&B changes due to your body filler repairs? I can see empty weight changing if a lot of filler is required, but depending on the material weight maybe that can still be pretty small?

I've seen a couple of sites/pilots yammer about "you don't want to use body filler because it'll unbalance the plane!" but that seems silly when I can carry 25 gallons of fuel in one wing and 1 gallon in the other.
 
Country Flier said:
I once looked at a cherokee that had a ridiculously low useful load. Going through the logs and talking with the owner, I found it had once had some pretty bad hail damage, that the owner repaired himself using what he described as "automotive dent repair methods" (he did at least get a sign off on his work)...I assumed bondo...I didn't buy the plane, btw, but it sure looked nice. LOL.
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I saw your post about that in another thread here. Yeah, I'd prefer to avoid that!
 
Best answer is to live with it. There might be ways to fill them in but no real "approved method" to my knowledge short of reskinning. I would certainly think the next prospective buyer would rather see new paint with some dents than see a hail damage write up with no visible dents after paint.
 
Jim_R said:
I see lots of videos on YouTube for aluminum auto repairs, but I'm not sure those techniques are applicable to my plane.
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They're not. Aluminum used on vehicles and boats is usually 5xxx or 6xxx series alloys and not the 2xxx used on your aircraft. No comparison. Plus 2024-T3 does not like rework or excessive sanding. There are some high tech epoxy fillers that I've seen used but mainly on cabin class or higher aircraft. And while there is a way to properly rework 2024 it is not feasible for that type damage. Best to live with it or have it reskinned which has always been my recommendations.
Jim_R said:
Were there any W&B changes due to your body filler repairs?
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If you are using more than a pound of bondo to fill the dents you have other issues you need to deal with other than correcting the weight and balance.
 
Jim_R said:
Were there any W&B changes due to your body filler repairs? I can see empty weight changing if a lot of filler is required, but depending on the material weight maybe that can still be pretty small?

I've seen a couple of sites/pilots yammer about "you don't want to use body filler because it'll unbalance the plane!" but that seems silly when I can carry 25 gallons of fuel in one wing and 1 gallon in the other.
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Oddly enough I don’t see any W/B documented for the paint job anywhere, although I see the log entry.

The filler is incredibly light and the amount of resin was very small. I think it’s all specifically for aircraft but not sure. I’d be surprised if the total weight was 4oz for the whole plane. Remember, the dents aren’t all that voluminous and they sand it flush.
 
Pinecone said:
Talk to your aircraft paint shop. They do these repairs all the time.
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I certainly will. But I'd like to have some sort of idea re: the answers I'm going to hear from them before I have that conversation, and whether any of those answers might be better to hear than others.
 
Paint shops use lightweight filler all the time. It's perfectly legal and standard practice. How much is excessive is a judgement call.

When my plane was repainted, I visited the shop after it was stripped, but before it was primed. I was surprised (pleasantly) to see they had filled maybe a dozen small dings most of which I had never noticed. What's the difference between this and filling 100 small dings on top of your wing? None, technically. The larger the area, the more likely it is to crack, delaminate, etc. so there are limits, of course. You might be better off selectively re-skinning areas where damage is too deep or extensive and fill the rest. The total volume of filler we're talking about here would not add significant weight - as long as it's not on a control surface that has to be balanced out.

Maybe upload a pic so we can see the extent of what you're talking about. Worth 1000 posts on the subject.

C.
 
The control surfaces will need to have they’re balance check after painting, so if they use too much filler this could be a problem. This could also be a problem if you design the paint scheme to have stripes on the control surfaces.
 
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