Roof rack hit in parking lot. Roof has dents. How do i fix?

I was parked many places Thursday or Friday and some time in there some jerk hit my Thule rack. There is no way he/she didn't notice. But i admit I didn't notice the rack was crooked and loose until Friday evening. It could have happened in any of 15 parking lots. It was a busy couple days.

a-How hard is it to remove and replace the interior ceiling panel (headliner) and interior trim? If i do this will i even have a clean shot at pounding her out or is that part of the roof hidden in frame?
b-How much does this increase risk of rust?
c-I was strapped with tuition until the age of 36, drove beaters. This was my first nice car. I want to fix it. What might this cost at a body shop? I have insurance but a 500 or 1000 deductible negate any benefit. (EDIT:Body shops are booked solid for a long time due to recent hail)
d- That rain gutter in the door looks to not be welded, just silicone and painted over. Should I bend it back and re-silicone her. (EDIT:Or is that more work for the repair guy)

Top: rack bent the rain gutter seam thing up, also you can see the big dent at the end of cab.
2nd: Biggest dent right at the end of the cab mad after the other guy/girl dragged the rear rack back 10"
3rd: Initial dent of forward most rack
4th: initial dent of rear most rack





I gave up on so many life goals because my wife strapped us with student loan debt. A nice functional truck for mountain play is the one dream i held onto.... and now i have this to deal with. And quite frankly roofs are not hoods or door.... they are not easily fixed.

 

Another good shot

 

PDR guy can fix the roof

Student loan debt = get a divorce

 

So you valeted the truck 15 times in a couple of days? Go back to the parking lots find out which one you wouldn’t fit in and demand payment from the valet company to fix it.

 

Hard to tell since it's dark out. All I see are some minor dents that could be popped out if you're lucky. Where are the holes where the roof rack went?

And how the hell does someone run into a roof rack???

 

No valet. I am broke. Someone hit it with a vehicle or fork lift while i was parked. Home Depot. Grocery Store. Work. Etc. I went back to some lots looking for the plastic endcaps. No luck. From the driver side it only looked a little crooked.

 

^ right. I think it would almost be easier to explain if you hit a low clearance in a drive thru. I’m not doubting that it happened as you said, I just can’t think a scenario where someone could hit it, unless they also had a rack with an awning sticking out.

EDIT: I posted this at the same time you posted the above. Just now read that

 

how did someone hit the roof rack? seems like the side of truck would have damage too or mirrors broke.

 

hahaha. I woke up at dusk because i figured it would give you all better photos. OK i can take some mid day too.

 

No. they stick out a fair bit, the longest ones Thule made. I will post a photo. Nothing was on the rack at the time. I had it on to carry home sheetrock a few weeks ago and left it on because of all the hail storms in colorado lately (easy to drape a tarp over her and protect the sides). This photo is a day when i did not have a tarp but it started to hail so i piled a shit ton of random foam on top to protect my roof. The irony that only a few days later i would have more than hail issues

 

No one hit your car. You overloaded the roof rack.

Thule roof racks with feet and door clamps can't hold much weight at all without damaging a vehicle and definitely are not up to the stresses of driving with drywall up there. I speak from experience -- I did the same thing to a Honda Fit. I had a Thule rack with a roof basket and put about 300lbs of luggage up there for a family trip. The damage to the roof looked the exact same, down to the slight bend in the top of the door sill from the clamp bending.

You come across as a very unpleasant person:

• Don't blame other people if you don't know it was their fault.
  
• Don't blame your wife for the burden of debt you volunteered to share with her.
  
• Don't ever bash on your wife to other people. It's not productive.

This is an easy fix with PDR. Stop being a whiny wet blanket, this and the above bullets are all your fault.

 

How do some dents on a roof shatter a dream of having a nice truck for mountain play?


Leave the dents, still buy winch, go drive in the mountains.

 

Well, now you can really wheel and not have to worry about scratching the paint. Natural pinstripes, here we come!

 

I have been using those racks for lumber and materials on and off on 4 vehicles for years. never damaged a thing. The right side towers were 6-9" behind where they should have been and the down pulls were bent. there was rubber skid marks left as it was dragged backwards.
The dents were not down or up forces.

Who the hell are you to lecture me? Indeed this was not me bringing home lumber. Indeed I did sacrifice life goals and this is one of the last that stands.

 

Wow someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed....

I actually had the same truck and the same rack, and you would be hard pressed to move the rack back 11 inches and bentd the roof and not notice when you unloaded the sheet rock. I put sheetrock on mine. I bent my water gutters. It did not look like that.

The only person being unproductive in this thread is you.

 

Yeah, i dont mind scratches and mis-matched color. But rust on the roof i do. Dents on the roof that might collect rain and dirt i do. And putting the racks back on after it was compromised is an issue especially if it exacerbates the damage.

 

Photos show the skid marks from rubber pads and "in door" hooks as it was forced back on only the right side. All run back of where the towers were. I washed them off for the photo. There is some that will need touch up paint, but i know how to do that. I havent used the rack in weeks and I would have noticed them because i washed the car and covered the car numerous times.


Also note the "raingutter" in the door is pulled up. Not a downward force.
Note the gast in the 3rd photo at the top in the upper left corner of the front door. that is the door frame hook of the rack being pushed backwards. not from load. needs touch up paint.

(EDIT: later found the left towers were slightly twisted and needed to be bent back. Right most foot was also bent backwards on both bars).

 

Sorry your truck is damaged. I recommend one of the following options.
•leave it
•fix it
•pay someone to fix it

 

Back to the original question:

Can i take the roof/ceiling liner off or is to going to be a disaster to get back on.
Will it give access to those locations to be pounded out? (is there a walk thought? I have never had luck getting interior door parts and ceiling panels back on. )

Currently body shops especially paintless dent repair is booked solid until late fall. (we had hail storms in northern Colorado recently) It wont rust by then. But I can not go get an estimate any time soon. I know, our commuter car got hit with hail on the 19th. How much might that cost to repair? If not more than the deductible there is not reason to claim it. Or is it even fixable?

 

Just some guy on the internet with experience with similar looking damage on another car. The rack on my Fit moved some when it was overloaded, but nothing that bad. I could be wrong on the cause -- it's just a suggestion.

As for the rest, it sounds like you're not happily married, so I offered some very direct advice. This is a truck forum, not a relationship advice column, so leave your baggage off of it and take it at face value, but you don't really make yourself seem any better off by making statements like:

You're being a bit melodramatic. If it matters that much, make an insurance claim and be done with it. Any rust before the repairs will be superficial, it's not like the repair shop will take years to get to you.