Quality... Just A Quick Boast

[nelson]

Last year, I think it was during April, there was a horrid hail storm in North Dallas, TX. I was living in Addison Circle at the time. I'm talking golf ball sized hail, and bigger. My father and I were driving his rental, a Chevy Cavalier, down Belt Line Rd in Addison, when out of nowhere the hail crashed down on us... INCREDIBLE... I have never seen anything like it. Boom, BOOM, BOOM, constant bashing on his hood, fenders, on top of the car, for about 10 minutes. On the rental, all body panels (except the lower bumpers) were completely ruined. I looked around, nearly every other car I saw that had been exposed was also ruined.

Of course, I was very worried about my LX 450. I had left her parked on the top floor of the parking garage, so she was completely exposed. Not even next to a wall, where I usually parked -- this time I was out in the middle of the lot.

Got back home later that day. NO DAMAGE. I could not find one ding on my baby. I was truly amazed. I looked around in the parking lot. Every other car was all dinged up. New Ford pickups, Old Ford pickups, new Chevy pickups, old Chevy pickups (lots of pickups in Texas), a Mitsubishi SUV, a couple Nissan SUVs, nice old Mercedes sedan, a Porsche Boxster, and many other high dollar vehicles... MAJOR DAMAGE TO ALL. I found out later that day... my good friend's tough !Removed! GMC Sierra 2500HD... also wasted!

As the weeks and months passed, a new industry sprang to life in and around Dallas... everywhere you looked you'd see newly hung banners reading "Hail Damage Repair." Guess hail storms are fairly frequent down there. Hail damage repair became just another part of life in Texas...

For me to !Removed! on!

[nelson]

True story! Major damage to everyone's vehicle but mine. Cost my friend over $2500 for the repair to her Sierra 2500HD (she loves that thing) and she even left the bed all dinged up. These were huge dings, really ugly, resulting in a truck that looked like sponge bob.

I recently found a tinee ding on the hood area of my '450--10 months after the storm. So small you can't even notice it. And that might not even be from the storm. If it is, it's the ONLY damage suffered by my fully exposed truck.

Anyone else survive a hail storm?

Anyone else with a '450, or anyone with a '470, ever been hailed on? Damage?

I'm interested!

[fsuphi1459]

I don't have any hail damage stories, but I do have some about these cars holding up well...Both my mom and I used to drive 1996 Landcruisers, same as the LX450. She was driving her's about 1 years ago when traffic stopped quickly and she ran into the back of a dodge mini-van. The van was TOTALED and the landcruiser only had a dent on the bumper about 6 inches long. Everyone involved in the wreck was pretty well banged up except the Cruiser. Also, I was driving mine right before this past Christmas when I was T-boned by a BMW 740i who was going about 45mph through an intersection. He pushed my car through the intersection and spun in around. After the wreck, I DROVE my car to the body shop. Unfortunatly, it was totaled because the frame was bent. I could have had 7 people in the car and everyone would have been untouchced. It was amazing to see how little damage the car suffered. The Bimmer was shortened about 3 feet. The doors on the Cruiser didn't even come into the passanger cabin. These are amazing cars. You can see the damage on my car in pictures at www.cardomain.com/id/sharr5184. I got a 1997 LX450 after the wreck and I love it!

Steve

[roberttran]

My dad use to have a '97 land cruiser and he rear ended some guy. The guy's trunk was smashed in while the cruiser itself took no damage. The only thing that happened was the bolts on the brush guard got a lil loose and bent ^_^

About a year ago during that blizzard my mom was going about 60mph on a curve and lost control of my '99 LX. The LX went into those big metal guard rails. No frame or engine damage. Just had the fender, headlamp, and brush guard replaced with some minor sheet metal work on the hood and wheel arch panel.

I've been rear ended by several people and nothing happened to my car. I love that tow hitch that sticks out the back :D

Too bad the newer LX's dont have the tow hitch sticking out like that.

This may sound crazy, but my parents don't have collision insurance on my LX. Their rationale is that the cost of repairing damage to the LX is cheaper then paying collision insurance over the life of the car. I kind of agree since paying for the repair on my LX was definately cheaper then if we had paid for collision insurance over all that time.

I definately feel safe in my LX and wouldn't trade it for anything (well maybe a new LX :D)

-Robert