Colorado Checking In

[chaynes745]

I got pummeled by a large hailstorm on I-70 in Kansas. The glass all survived, but the body didn't.
Can anyone recommend a good paintless dent repair company you've used in Colorado Springs or Denver?
I'm closer to C-Springs and that would be my preference, but I don't mind going to Denver for quality work at a reasonable price.

I used Pro PDR in COS for my minor hail damage. They were good and were recommended to me by a friend. They technically aren’t an authorized Rivian body shop, but they have experience with Rivians (they had just finished one before mine that was in worse shape). It’s dumb what they make them go through to become an authorized Rivian shop; they can’t do it because they only do PDR and not full on body work. The only downside was I had to order the parts they needed, which was just the bed rail caps, and they took it off my bill. They worked well with my insurance (State Farm) even when they needed a supplement.

Our only choice in town for an authorized shop is Eurocars and they suck (I’ve used them a couple of times for my Tesla). I went to Jewell in Denver for my tailgate damage and I would NOT recommend them either, for multiple reasons, even though they are an authorized Rivian body shop.

I can agree with @Spaceball1. I got my R1T’s hail damage fixed at Pro PDR. They did a great job and there is no evidence of any damage left. I was probably the Rivian that was fixed right before his, and also ran into the issue of having to order parts through Rivian for the shop, but it was a minor inconvenience to be able to get my truck looking like new again.

Overall, the work was great. The communication was great. And they worked with Geico throughout the process to get it all fixed. Would highly recommend them.

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[Aardvark]

I can agree with @Spaceball1. I got my R1T’s hail damage fixed at Pro PDR. They did a great job and there is no evidence of any damage left. I was probably the Rivian that was fixed right before his, and also ran into the issue of having to order parts through Rivian for the shop, but it was a minor inconvenience to be able to get my truck looking like new again.

Overall, the work was great. The communication was great. And they worked with Geico throughout the process to get it all fixed. Would highly recommend them.

Based on recommendations in this thread, Pro PDR was on my list to get an estimate. Not only were they the lowest cost, but they impressed me the most as really knowing what they're doing, and they have experience with Rivians. I plan to go with them as soon as I jump through all the insurance hoops.
As an aside, I had an unpleasant experience with another large repair shop. I place very high value on integrity and honesty. The rep at this company told me with a straight face that he could do the work for about $5,000 if I was paying out of pocket. But if I used insurance, he would bill USAA over $10,000, and I would make back my deductible. I couldn't out of there fast enough, and when my adjuster called me for info, I mentioned this brush with insurance fraud. This is why our rates are so high...

 

[zefram47]

It’s a beautiful day. I think we’ll head out to Rollins Pass West and spend the day at Yankee Doodle Lake. I got new AT tires for the truck and I need to break them in a bit.. ?

What tires did you end up getting? I'm still eyeballing the Nokian Outpost nAT, but have a set of winter tires/wheels, so I'll just get them next spring. My Pirellis are finally down to 5 and 6/32nds, so they're done at about 18k miles on that set of tires.

 

[Sgt Beavis]

What tires did you end up getting? I'm still eyeballing the Nokian Outpost nAT, but have a set of winter tires/wheels, so I'll just get them next spring. My Pirellis are finally down to 5 and 6/32nds, so they're done at about 18k miles on that set of tires.

I got the Toro OutCountry AT III EV tires. You can read about my take on them here.
https://www.rivianforums.com/forum/...-mounted-will-update-over-weekend-test.28240/

 

[richpike]

Anyone have updates on the new RAN chargers in Flagler off I70 by the diner?



Open s00n?

-Rich

 

[Aardvark]

Anyone have updates on the new RAN chargers in Flagler off I70 by the diner?



Open s00n?

-Rich

I didn't even know this was in the works until reading your post.
This is great news! It closes the final non-Supercharger-or-RAN gap for my regular trips between Colorado Springs and Philadelphia. On the return leg with elevation gain, I can't make it from the Oakley SC to home (Limon SC is not compatible with non-Teslas).
Thanks for highlighting this soon to be RAN.

 

[DeafPug]

There was a post on Oct 18 at https://www.rivianforums.com/forum/...tral-california-to-colorado.34662/post-639407 that said the station was still under wraps. Should be available for my next I-70 trip…

 

[Spaceball1]

I didn't even know this was in the works until reading your post.
This is great news! It closes the final non-Supercharger-or-RAN gap for my regular trips between Colorado Springs and Philadelphia. On the return leg with elevation gain, I can't make it from the Oakley SC to home (Limon SC is not compatible with non-Teslas).
Thanks for highlighting this soon to be RAN.

Has anyone tried using the V3 Tesla chargers in Limon? I thought all V3s were compatible with the NACS adapter. This site is unique because it has 6 V2 chargers and then later they added 8 V3 chargers on the other side of the lot. I used this several times before we sold our Tesla (both before V3s were added and after). Wonder if for simplicity they just tell us the whole site is not compatible.

 

[Aardvark]

Has anyone tried using the V3 Tesla chargers in Limon? I thought all V3s were compatible with the NACS adapter. This site is unique because it has 6 V2 chargers and then later they added 8 V3 chargers on the other side of the lot. I used this several times before we sold our Tesla (both before V3s were added and after). Wonder if for simplicity they just tell us the whole site is not compatible.

I haven't tried to plug in but both the Rivian and Tesla app shows the station is incompatible.
This is a mixed V2 and V3 station. I read on the forum about another mixed station also being incompatible.

 

[DeafPug]

Has anyone tried using the V3 Tesla chargers in Limon? I thought all V3s were compatible with the NACS adapter. This site is unique because it has 6 V2 chargers and then later they added 8 V3 chargers on the other side of the lot. I used this several times before we sold our Tesla (both before V3s were added and after). Wonder if for simplicity they just tell us the whole site is not compatible.

I didn't try using it, but as was mentioned, this site is not compatible with other EVs. You can see this on the official Tesla map at https://www.tesla.com/findus?v=2&filters=party,nacs. The "Other EVs" filter have the MagicDock on the charging stations. The "NACS" filter is for if you have a NACS to CCS-1 adapter from Rivian (Tesla) or one of the 3rd party adapters.

As far as I know, there are no mixed v2/v3 sites which support other manufacturers, even with the adapter. This is done to avoid confusion on which pedestals are compatible and which are not. In the message at https://www.rivianforums.com/forum/threads/colorado-checking-in.309/post-581950, it was pointed out that Beaver, UT had a mixed site and supported NACS, but that upon closer inspection, Tesla installed the v2 and v3 hardware on opposite sides of the building and considers them two separate sites.

"All v3s are compatible with NACS" is an invalid statement. Many, and possibly most, of them are compatible, but there are several v3 sites that do not support NACS and the decision if a specific site supports it is strictly up to Tesla's discretion. Unfortunately, Tesla hasen't given us all the variables for that decision matrix.

The best thing we have is the FindUs web page on the Tesla web site.

 

[Aardvark]

Based on recommendations in this thread, Pro PDR was on my list to get an estimate. Not only were they the lowest cost, but they impressed me the most as really knowing what they're doing, and they have experience with Rivians. I plan to go with them as soon as I jump through all the insurance hoops.
As an aside, I had an unpleasant experience with another large repair shop. I place very high value on integrity and honesty. The rep at this company told me with a straight face that he could do the work for about $5,000 if I was paying out of pocket. But if I used insurance, he would bill USAA over $10,000, and I would make back my deductible. I couldn't out of there fast enough, and when my adjuster called me for info, I mentioned this brush with insurance fraud. This is why our rates are so high...

Thank you @Spaceball1 and @chaynes745 for the Pro PDR recommendation in Colorado Springs. I got the R1S back today and the workmanship was excellent. My car no longer looks like the surface of a golf ball after being hammered by hail in Kansas.
My impression of Pro PDR:
- excellent, responsive communication
- fair price
- quick turn around of 5 days (no replacement parts needed)
- plus, they detailed the car inside and out before pick up

All around a good customer experience.
Picking it up day was also timely. I got to use my Rhino recovery strap today for the first time, extracting a car from the snow-filled ditch in front of my house. Worked like a champ.

 

[Ohm Boy]

You will be really happy with your Rivian in Colorado!! We have an R1T and R1S both Gen 1 and they are wonderful. Congrats on your order!!! ?

 

[Aardvark]

OK I'm ready for true confessions now that my heart rate is back to normal. I made a rookie winter off-road mistake when heading into the Pike Natl Forest to cut a Christmas tree last week.
I decided to go up and over the mountains west of Monument on a narrow, rutted, dirt forest service road I've used before in the summer (see where this is going?). For context, it's 1.5 car-widths wide, granite wall on one side, and 100 to 300 foot drop on the other.
The road was snow-free at the 7000' level so no problem, I thought.
By the 9000' level, I'm in a combination of packed snow tire tracks from the couple of other trucks that tried this, and deep snow. Because of some good size rocks, I'm in Off-Road/high, low regen.
We had a few white knuckle moments as the R1S slid sideways, but inched along at 10 mph. There are few more sickening feelings than pointing 7500 lbs of truck straight ahead, and having it go sideways.
I'm on the OEM 20" ATs. I have 25000 miles on them, and about 6/32" of remaining tread. When I could find a level trailhead to pull off, we put on our new AutoSocks on the front wheels.
I've used Socks before on other vehicles with great success, but if I'm being honest, in this case I could feel no difference. Maybe because I used only 2 Socks instead of 4? Not only that, but when we took them off in Woodland Park, these new $300+ Socks had a number of tears and holes.
I've been reluctant to get a dedicated set of rims and snow tires, but I I'm reconsidering, and thinking about a set of Blizzaks like I used to use on my Model X. They were fantastic in the snow.

Oh, and I did not argue with my wife when she suggested we take the highway back home!

 

[Nachyomama]

OK I'm ready for true confessions now that my heart rate is back to normal. I made a rookie winter off-road mistake when heading into the Pike Natl Forest to cut a Christmas tree last week.
I decided to go up and over the mountains west of Monument on a narrow, rutted, dirt forest service road I've used before in the summer (see where this is going?). For context, it's 1.5 lanes wide, granite wall on one side, and 100 to 300 foot drop on the other.
The road was snow-free at the 7000' level so no problem, I think.
By the 9000' level, I'm in a combination of packed snow tire tracks from the couple of other trucks that tried this, and deep snow. Because of some good size rocks, I'm in Off-Road/high, low regen.
We had a few white knuckle moments as the R1S slid sideways, but inched along at 10 mph. There are few more sickening feelings than pointing 7500 lbs of truck straight ahead, and having it go sideways.
I'm on the OEM 20" ATs. I have 25000 miles on them, and about 6/32" of remaining tread. When I could find a level trailhead to pull off, we put on our new AutoSocks on the front wheels.
I've used Socks before on other vehicles with great success, but if I'm being honest, in this case I could feel no difference. Maybe because I used only 2 Socks instead of 4? Not only that, but when we took them off in Woodland Park, these new $300+ Socks had a number of tears and holes.
I've been reluctant to get a dedicated set of rims and snow tires, but I I'm reconsidering, and thinking about a set of Blizzaks like I used to use on my Model X. They were fantastic in the snow.

Oh, and I did not argue with my wife when she suggested we take the highway back home!

I really like my Falken Wildpeak A/T3Ws. A/T4ws are out now but I imagine they’re similar. They’ve pulled me through 12”+ powder and packed snow. Ice is ice but still better than some other tires I’ve had. Decent in the summer for off-roading too.

 

[usulio]

Thanks for sharing. Off camber and slippery is scary in a Rivian. Probably in other vehicles too. But there was a guy on these forums (R.I.P. Power?) who insisted the quad motors are especially bad in camber slippery conditions because of how their traction control works.

I've played around a bit on both winter tires and the OEM ATs, and decided no thanks. I'll stick to summer wheeling if cliffs are involved. I'm not sure different tires would've made that pass much better, either snow tires or AT. But your tread depth is getting low so maybe that's the main issue.

Autosocks are supposed to get small holes and it's supposedly fine. (They're also only meant for pavement not gravel or rocks underneath, I think.) I'm not sure they're much benefit if you have AT tires. Both autosocks and ATs are good in fresh snow and bad on ice. Maybe autosocks are better on packed snow surfaces? But I wonder if chains would have helped more in your situation.

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