KAH 24
Full Access Member
On Monday, 16 Aug 2021, between 2:45pm—3:30pm CDT on I-40E in the open space just east of Amarillo—to McLean TX our 2018 Raptor was hit hard by wind driven hail from the north (striking left side heavily and hood/roof diagonally—from drivers side vantage point).
Hail was easily quarter sized at max (mixed in with smaller) and driven by high wind. Candidly, my concern was window glass and not dents for obvious reasons while driving.
Anyone who has encountered this on I-40 in the Texas Panhandle (wind turbine country) may be able to relate.
The rain, grass, dust, etc. flying across contributed to very low visibility but we put on the hazards and all the Rigid(tm) lights (fog/spot/flood) and plugged along at modest speeds in 4A.
We are not fans of sitting on the side of the road (or huddling under an overpass) as that is an invitation to get rear ended by a semi or someone slowing down to crowd under the overpass at the last minute and running into you.
We plugged along steadily enjoying the sound of hail music and stopped at a Phillips 66 after things died down.
Not a dent, ding, nada. Actually, it the Raptor looked cleaner than before the storm—as it was covered in bugs and dust from New Mexico and Colorado.
I was impressed as the aluminum (and composite hood/front fenders) holds up just as well as expected given that aluminum is a thicker gauge and has different properties vs. steel (which also makes aluminum more difficult to repair, but that is another topic).
This wasn’t fun and neither my wife nor I were in the mood to take pictures to be YouTube(tm) celebrities.
Overall, we were thankful to make it back home safely—and have no reason to doubt the aluminum/composite skin of the Raptor unless the hail of course gets larger (golf ball and up).
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NOTE1: This is an N=1 and I cannot empirically verify the size of the hail or wind speed—thus rendering it an observation.
NOTE2: This is not meant to imply that a steel skinned vehicle would have performed better/worse than the aluminum skin/composite hood/front fenders. Please do not infer a comparison—as both aluminum and steel have pros/cons when it comes to hail and dent repairs from an engineering perspective.
NOTE3: I was pleased to see that aluminum performed practically vs. theoretically under conditions where I expected damage.
NOTE4: OEMs and aftermarket companies could open test facilities for hail damage along I-40 in the Texas Panhandle—unless this already exists, lol.
Hail was easily quarter sized at max (mixed in with smaller) and driven by high wind. Candidly, my concern was window glass and not dents for obvious reasons while driving.
Anyone who has encountered this on I-40 in the Texas Panhandle (wind turbine country) may be able to relate.
The rain, grass, dust, etc. flying across contributed to very low visibility but we put on the hazards and all the Rigid(tm) lights (fog/spot/flood) and plugged along at modest speeds in 4A.
We are not fans of sitting on the side of the road (or huddling under an overpass) as that is an invitation to get rear ended by a semi or someone slowing down to crowd under the overpass at the last minute and running into you.
We plugged along steadily enjoying the sound of hail music and stopped at a Phillips 66 after things died down.
Not a dent, ding, nada. Actually, it the Raptor looked cleaner than before the storm—as it was covered in bugs and dust from New Mexico and Colorado.
I was impressed as the aluminum (and composite hood/front fenders) holds up just as well as expected given that aluminum is a thicker gauge and has different properties vs. steel (which also makes aluminum more difficult to repair, but that is another topic).
This wasn’t fun and neither my wife nor I were in the mood to take pictures to be YouTube(tm) celebrities.
Overall, we were thankful to make it back home safely—and have no reason to doubt the aluminum/composite skin of the Raptor unless the hail of course gets larger (golf ball and up).
———————————————————————————————————————-
NOTE1: This is an N=1 and I cannot empirically verify the size of the hail or wind speed—thus rendering it an observation.
NOTE2: This is not meant to imply that a steel skinned vehicle would have performed better/worse than the aluminum skin/composite hood/front fenders. Please do not infer a comparison—as both aluminum and steel have pros/cons when it comes to hail and dent repairs from an engineering perspective.
NOTE3: I was pleased to see that aluminum performed practically vs. theoretically under conditions where I expected damage.
NOTE4: OEMs and aftermarket companies could open test facilities for hail damage along I-40 in the Texas Panhandle—unless this already exists, lol.
