Mysterious small dents appearing on new truck. Weird

06sierraman · October 20, 2014

hello, i've got an issue with my brand new 2014 sierra that I can't figure out. Truck is 2014 Sierra SLT, my dream truck, and I don't have 1000 miles on her yet. I'm pretty particular and looked it up and down, left and right before I bought it. Two days ago I noticed a small, dime sized dent around the roof top brake light. Right along the curvature of the sheet metal, so a pretty hard spot. I looked all around the area at different angles and saw no others. Today, I see another about the same size about a foot from that dent just to the left of the back windshield in another hard spot of the sheet metal. I don;t have a garage but I don't park under trees either and there has been no hail damage in my area. There are not paint chips, just small dime sized dents, kinda creased dents. Again, both are on harder parts of the sheet metal where the is curvature, so it's harder, and I would imagine would take a good blow versus like the side of the door. Now, they are small, and the sun has to hit them right to see, but I see them and they upset me since its a $45k truck and I work hard to pay for it. So, either,

1. I'm blind and just did not see them when I bought truck which I don't believe since both me and my brother looked over the truck hard before I bought it

2. Or, I have some enemys I don't know about who are playing sick jokes and tapping dents in my truck with a hammer

3. Or, there is a possibility of some bad sheet metal that is buckling somehow which I've never heard of but I guess possible? Any ideas?

Lastly, the dents are there, and the only thing I can do is repair. But has anybody ever had any luck with paintless dent removal or are there any other new technology options where I don't have to bondo and paint? Thanks so much for any advice!

Kent2500 · October 20, 2014

Pictures???

pm26 · October 21, 2014

The sheet metal on these trucks is real flimsy. Even on GMT800s like my 2006 Silverado crew cab, the roof sheet metal is so thin that they had to mold ribs into the roof so the metal would not sag under its own weight. When I wash the roof with a sponge, the metal buckles under slightest pressure.

I hear that the sheet metal on later generations is even flimsier, if that is possible. What you may be experiencing with your truck is a roof panel that has been somehow forced into position and welded in and has some stresses trapped in it, causing slight buckling such as you describe when it gets warm and subsequently cools at night. Or perhaps some of the reinforcing ribs under the roof panel are not properly bonded to the upper sheet metal? That's quite possible. At this point I absolutely do not trust GM and their manufacturing process anymore. It seems that they only stress profits and minimizing of labor costs and therefore they cut quality of parts and quality control as far as they can. The results speak for themselves.

mcnwil · October 21, 2014

Take a look a this thread, may be similar to your situation.

http://www.gm-trucks.com/forums/topic/163922-mysterious-dents-crinkles-along-bed-fender/

Dirtbiker · October 21, 2014

I have had hail damage repaired by a dent removal place and they did a great job. It cost about $500 to remove about 30 dents but you can't tell they were there and it is cheaper than repainting.

Their technique was to push the sheetmetal out from the back of the panel.

I would deffinitely do it again.

SteveBBB · October 21, 2014

My neighbor had hail damage and used paintless dent repair and it came out flawless. He had over 20 small dents. This was almost 2 years ago and it still looks perfect.

06sierraman · October 21, 2014

^^^ very interesting thread. thanks for responses

deputy · October 23, 2014

I had a dent appear on the passenger side of the roof.

Took it back to the dealer They fixed it.

I asked my salesman if the truck had any hail damage fixed. He said no to his knowledge

kevaviation30 · August 5, 2015

I noticed a few one day on my 14 Sierra slt. Now see about 8. Dime size. Hard and soft parts of roof. Have had truck 2 years so I doubt dealer will do anything. Just knock off 1000 during trade maybe.

Uncle Frank · September 15, 2015

I'm keeping my preferred PDR expert in business with my 2015 Silverado 1500. I just discovered a couple of ripples on the passenger side roof. I didn't do anything so they must have occurred after going through a car wash or were there when the vehicle was purchased. Who knows, but the metal is as thin as paper on the truck. All in an effort for better fuel economy.

Donvan514 · November 8, 2015

Paintless dent repair is awesome. There are so many bad body shops and a lot of them will wave up the sheet metal while making the repair.

Fastrac · November 15, 2015

Had a B/W gooseneck hitch installed for our camper. after using it a couple times i noticed some small dents on rear fender. After trying to figure out what was going on , came to realize it was from my knees standing on tire to unhook the gooseneck. heres a pic. Metal is very thin.

Edited November 15, 2015 by Fastrac

pm26 · November 17, 2015

Had a B/W gooseneck hitch installed for our camper. after using it a couple times i noticed some small dents on rear fender. After trying to figure out what was going on , came to realize it was from my knees standing on tire to unhook the gooseneck. heres a pic. Metal is very thin.

But it is very strong steel. Professional grade.

MikeT173 · April 10, 2016

I bought a 2014 Silverado 1500 Crew Cab Z71 in February 14. After having the truck for about two months I found a bunch of small dents on the roof. I noticed them after going through a hands free car wash. While in the car wash when the power washer would come up the right side of my truck the roof would pop really loud. The dents were in one spot in about a 12" circumference on the back left side. I took it to the local dealer and they took the windshield out, and everything in the overhead. They said they could not find anything wrong but they put a silencer across the back half of my truck. They also messed up my factory windshield when they put it back in. They replaced it with an after market one. I made them take it out and put a GM factory one back in. They would not repair the dents. Also the popping noise was still in the roof with the dents. I put 30,000 miles on it and then I traded it in on a 2015, 2500 Crew Cab Z71. I just found today the exact same size dents almost in the exact same spot on my 2500. I have only 11,000 miles on it. I am a huge Chevy man but now having 2 brand new trucks with the same kind of dents in the roof for no reason is really making me think about every buying another GM truck.

What do you guys think about this problem?

Dnt · April 10, 2016

These problems could be related to actions at the factory. They have a fairly large area right before "Inspiration point" called final line repair (Paint Hospital), It is simply a body/paint shop. You guys would not believe how many uhoh's happen in a car and truck factory on a daily basis. On a good day they probably only have a hand full of cases to repair but on a bad day well who knows lets just say vehicles can get parked for a few days waiting. The guys do a great job on repairs real artists but once you massage thin metal it can unpredictably do things that a undisturbed surface will not. If you have one that is rippling up I would see if maybe GM could pull the final assembly repair notes on that unit.