snowbeer

I was in Madison, WI overnight this weekend and on Friday night there was a short hail storm. Apparently the hail was not quite golf ball but not pea size either.

Our friends were staying in the same hotel and their relatively new Acura TL was sitting 20 feet from our S4.

They woke up and found the TL with significant damage all over the trunk and hood. As much as I have tried to look in all lighting conditions, I can't find any damage on our S4. So, is it possible that big hail missed the parking spot I was in? Does Audi use thicker sheet metal than Acura? Should I have my car looked at anyway by a pro?

rcoppens

Thickness is not the issue......it is the spec of the hood.

usually, hoods are 1-1.5mm thick......but it is the spec of the material that will determine the resistance.

Not sure what Audi uses .... but likely a mild steel (possibly a bake hard or cold rolled 2 or 3) with a galv-anneal coating. Pretty standard, so likely you were in a lucky location.......

MadMadS4

Thats great news for me. I'm under a very tall oak tree which drops big acorns (coming in October) like its a massive hail storm.

tgdA4

I went through a major hailstorm about a month ago. The hail was about the same size, not quite golf ball but pretty big. I was cringing the entire time, imagining all the chips and cracks that surely must be forming. When I inspected the car later: nothing. Not a mark on the car.

billyg

Hey snowbeer,
I live in Madison and woke up to that storm/hail at about 0400 Saturday morning, it was intense! Glad to hear that the S4 held up.

GUEST123

Back in 1990 my wife and I were travelling from Ohio to NJ to visit friends and were driving her '90 Acura Legend coupe. It hit 10K miles that day, and while in route 80 (as I recall) in the Poconos, got hit with about 20 minutes of golf-ball sized hail. Had to get a new hood and a couple thousand dollars worth of paintwork to make it right. With all the care we gave that car, it still rusted - the roof, fenders, trunk, all over the frikken place. I swore I'd never buy another Honda product because of the quality of their steel. Hmmm, I do have a Honda lawnmower that works pretty well -- but I never leave it out in the rain!

seinsmeld13

Generally when hail falls it is about the same size, however, they can clump and freeze together so 99% are pea size and one in a hundred are baseball size. Obviously the larger ones missed your car and hit the Acura. I was in hail storm in Calgary with massive hail, scary ****, lots of damage to cars and homes. Count yourself lucky.

desmo101

My guess is you were lucky, although I did find the sheet metal rather thin on my 97 prelude, it would dent very easily.

AlA4

You should still have it looked at. About 2 yrs ago, there was a hail storm here in Madison, AL. Baseball sized hail did about $2k to my A4 which was at work with me. My truck was at home with softball size hail and had another $2k worth of damage. Not to mention the $20K damage to my house. Every panel on the truck had to be repaird but most of it on the sides you could not see with just your eyes. They brough out some sort of ultraviolet light and it showed alot more damage. After it was fixed, they showed me both vehicles with the ultraviolet light and there was no damage anywhere.

blackhawk878

I have noticed most of the honda/acura cars have seem to have "thin skin." They always seem to have a multitude of door dings. I noticed this years ago with my wifes Accord and my G35.