Wheatland ...hope to move here soon from AZ

[nowhereman427]

Originally Posted by WyoNewk

I've lived in Gillette for 47 years and only had noticeable hail damage on 2 cars in that time, first to my ex-wife's car (in 1978) and more recently to my current wife's car in ~2008. Had the first one fixed (new car), second one we just took the money. It's an old car now (1997), so a few hail dents don't really matter than much. My last truck (F250), purchased new in 2000 and traded in 2014, only had one or two small dents in the roof, and being a white vehicle and up high, it was hard to find the dent. Since both the car and truck sat side-by-side in the driveway, I imagine the truck had slightly thicker skin.

I saw a few cars after a storm with softball-sized hail hit north of town probably 40 years ago. They looked like someone had taken a sledge hammer to them!

You just never know when big, hard hail will hit. When it does, it's usually between the hours of 3 p.m. and 8 p.m. in May-August. If you can keep your car under cover during those hours, you'll likely not have a hail damaged car. However, I came through SW Wyoming just a year ago, and hail was 6" deep on the interstate for 10-15 miles. I pulled to the side of the road for 5-10 minutes, as most did, but then started driving again (slowly) to get through it. No dents, however.

We bought a new, smallish 5th wheel camper in 2006. In 2007 it hailed from the NW. I took about $6K from insurance and only spent maybe $200 of it in repairs. In 2009 it hailed from the SE, getting the other 2 sides of the camper. This time I got about $8K from insurance. Together the 2 claims paid all we'd paid for the camper (less the $5K trade-in). We sold it a couple years ago for $7800, so we actually used it for 10 years and made money on it!

Thus far I have been sticking with white cars because white stays cooler. Black color on the other hand gets hot when the sun hits it. Black absorbs heat so it gets hotter and more difficult to see at night -shows more blemishes, scratches and swirls. The color white is more forgiving in this area of hiding blemishes,scratches and swirls.


Perhaps this might be my chance to get a 2005 Buick Ultra Park ave. car which is front wheel drive, supercharged v6 and drives like it is on marshmellows very comfortable riding as a daily driver beater car.
By now this car should be very low cost due to age and depreciation and I liked it when it was new but expensive.

[jody_wy]

Originally Posted by nowhereman427

Thus far I have been sticking with white cars because white stays cooler. Black color on the other hand gets hot when the sun hits it. Black absorbs heat so it gets hotter and more difficult to see at night -shows more blemishes, scratches and swirls. The color white is more forgiving in this area of hiding blemishes,scratches and swirls.


Perhaps this might be my chance to get a 2005 Buick Ultra Park ave. car which is front wheel drive, supercharged v6 and drives like it is on marshmellows very comfortable riding as a daily driver beater car.
By now this car should be very low cost due to age and depreciation and I liked it when it was new but expensive.

hated white care in western Wyoming they are hard to see between the snow banks....

[nowhereman427]

Originally Posted by jody_wy

hated white care in western Wyoming they are hard to see between the snow banks....

I can understand that especially when it snows. What is the preference of color in snow?
Here in sunny places white is cooler and maintenance free.

[Wyoprairie]

oh boy, car talk....jody has a point about white when there are snow banks-more concern in western Wyo or if you like driving in blizzards or go off road into a snow drift. Otherwise, there are the benefits of white as pointed out-I have one
white sports car and 3 white pickups. I like white pickups, but get teased about them being boring. My revenge is by keeping them spotless and extremely polished. (they are personal trucks, so they don't ever go out in inclement weather)

Black doesn't take sun at this elevation. Wears out. Not so much a problem at sea level, but if too close to the ocean, then salt-air is a problem for the paint. Black metallic still a bother to maintain-swirl marks, etc. I have a dark green metallic and red tinted metallic and they are almost as bad, but stay inside 95 percent of the time. Have great depth of shine but are much more work than white. Have the good fortune of company trucks, so they are the ones that might be out in the hail or snow. In Wyo, good to check weather, road conditions, road cams to have an idea what adventures might be waiting.

[nowhereman427]

Originally Posted by Wyoprairie

oh boy, car talk....jody has a point about white when there are snow banks-more concern in western Wyo or if you like driving in blizzards or go off road into a snow drift. Otherwise, there are the benefits of white as pointed out-I have one
white sports car and 3 white pickups. I like white pickups, but get teased about them being boring. My revenge is by keeping them spotless and extremely polished. (they are personal trucks, so they don't ever go out in inclement weather)

Black doesn't take sun at this elevation. Wears out. Not so much a problem at sea level, but if too close to the ocean, then salt-air is a problem for the paint. Black metallic still a bother to maintain-swirl marks, etc. I have a dark green metallic and red tinted metallic and they are almost as bad, but stay inside 95 percent of the time. Have great depth of shine but are much more work than white. Have the good fortune of company trucks, so they are the ones that might be out in the hail or snow. In Wyo, good to check weather, road conditions, road cams to have an idea what adventures might be waiting.

I concur with you on all of the above 100%.
My last two vehicles are white and very low maintenance. One of the vehicles is over 30 years old with original shiny paint job. People always stop to talk to me or wave me on the freeway if I want to sell it. If there are blemishes it's very easy touch up white color. The other vehicle is now 13 years old with original paint also with showroom shine.


Looks like in Wyoming it is crucial to check on weather report, road conditions, and the road cams.
The weather in Wyoming can change very quickly without notice.

[OHNot4Me]

After all of this hail talk, I will be adding "garage" to my list of must-haves when I start WY house shopping.

Saw in the news last week that softball-size hail fell in Colorado somewhere and killed two birds at the zoo (a duck and a vulture).

Now that's some serious hail.

[nowhereman427]

Originally Posted by OHNot4Me

After all of this hail talk, I will be adding "garage" to my list of must-haves when I start WY house shopping.

Saw in the news last week that softball-size hail fell in Colorado somewhere and killed two birds at the zoo (a duck and a vulture).

Now that's some serious hail.

Yes I will make sure in my house hunt that I get a house with an attached garage since I spend a lot of time going from inside the house into the garage.


We are not used to this kind of damaging weather but at this point I am willing sacrifice that since it has got to be so horrific living here.