What hit my trailer?

[RichHog]

Was on the road back to Houston from Waco on HWY 6 when I heard a loud POP sound. Pulled over thinking it was a tire blowout but after a walk around every thing looked ok. Then after a dinner stop I saw this dent on the back side corner of the trailer. I was on the open road, no bridges, nobody along side of me then I heard it. Going the speed limit. Something just wham hit the trailer from the air.
Ant thoughts from the community?

[Zybane]

Wow, that is really weird. There were no other trucks or vehicles of any kind around you when this happened? Did you have anything in the pickup truck bed that flew out?

What is strange is that whatever object hit you, had some weight to it to cause that much damage. Can you get on a ladder to scrape up some of those brown marks? Sometimes just feeling or smelling the residue can clue you in.

Did you come from a camping area that had trees? My best guess without more information would be you scraped a branch pretty good and the pop sound going down the road later was either a coincidence or it was from a temperature change relieving stress on the dent(s).

I have a feeling those brown marks will smell like a tree. Please keep us informed!

[ROBERTSUNRUS]

Hi, my guess is that the trailer was backed up under a tree branch and then pulled forward. It looks like a tree did it and the marks look like whatever hit it, went both ways. I see scratch marks that zig zag.

[OTRA15]

Bob . . . a good guess based solely on the photo, but the OP suggests otherwise IMO:

Originally Posted by RichHog

Was on the road back to Houston from Waco on HWY 6 when I heard a loud POP sound. Pulled over thinking it was a tire blowout but after a walk around every thing looked ok. Then after a dinner stop I saw this dent on the back side corner of the trailer. I was on the open road, no bridges, nobody along side of me then I heard it. Going the speed limit. Something just wham hit the trailer from the air.
Ant thoughts from the community?

The size of the dents suggests something fairly large and heavy [not just a hailstone], and the numerous linear scrapes indicate that the mass(es?) had a granular surface, like a large mass of frozen ice which had partially melted in the air on the way down IMO.

Good suggestion from Zybane to scrape debris samples out of the scratches, but I would handle these samples carefully, because frozen chunks of "blue ice" from airplanes' holding tanks have been reported before, albeit infrequently.



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_ice_(aviation)
https://www.foxnews.com/printer_frie...letIce,00.html
https://www.google.com/search?q=ice+...nt=firefox-b-1

You might want to call the highway patrol for that stretch of road to see if anyone else reported something like this. Your insurance company might require a police report to be filed anyway?

Please keep us updated!

Peter

[HHPJ]

Did you walk back to the point of impact to see what hit you? Something that big would still be visible on the ground even if shattered...

[ROBERT CROSS]

I agree with PNW Bob

Looks like more of a horizontal than a vertical dent.
Too many variations in the depth & scratches going in both directions.

As said here on the Erie...'low bridge everybody down'

WNY Bob
🇺🇸

[Countryboy59]

Something dropped from an overpass, or you scraped a tree while turning. By the length of the drag marks I would say it wasn’t a high speed impact. It’s minor so you may not even have noticed it when it happened.

The “pop” was probably something else as you wouldn’t hear something that far back.

[RichHog]

So my first thought was a large bird hit it but the scratch marks don’t look like blood. The highway was a four lane road with a median in between. When I heard the pop we hadn’t crossed under a bridge and no vehicle passing. I believe we had gassed up earlier and hadn’t noticed this. We had not been at a campsite where there were any trees the night before. Repair costs will be $2400 with one panel being replaced by insurance.

[Bill M.]

Definitely not your lucky day. Glad you can get it fixed. I do not know what could have caused it. Large bird would've been my guess also. Still is. Was it a windy day? Maybe some wind born debris?

[carl2591]

So i guess I and we need to start looking up and down when walking around trailer at fuel stops, before leaving etc. Maybe video around as well to view later if needed.

Ever figure out what it was?

[RichHog]

Some wind but not much. My first thought was maybe a flying tire by the look and size. Whatever it hit it just right in the back. Only one panel damaged.

[smithcreek]

Many of the individual scratches have a "V" shape that appears to start in one direction, then reverse directions. So, whatever hit it first went from back to front and made full length scratches all the way from one end to the other while making the dent.

Then whatever made the dent went in the other direction, but since the dent was already there, most of the scratches in that direction are much shorter, only a few inches long until the object was not touching the panel anymore due to the depth of the dent.

That's my theory and I'm sticking to it! It lends some credence to other posts saying it was caused by backing up into something then pulling away.

All that is beside the point though, if it was me I'd tell people it was a meteorite.

[SteveSueMac]

Count me in the group who thinks this is backing in to a somewhat hefty branch of a tree and pulling out - and the pop was something else entirely - so it’s connected in your mind but not in actual time. I have no scientific data to back that up so it’s pure conjecture....

Scrape some of the schmootz off the roof and odds are good it’s tree gunk. Please let us know!!

[delongj]

Blew up the picture and noticed a lot of material from whatever hit your trailer resting in the rivets. Also noticed that whatever hit it came in at an angle and left at an angle - not smeared across the top of the trailer but even with the height of the trailer. It must have been heavy enough to bust the tension of the aluminum. It probably didn't have any sharp edges and it wasn't strong enough to flatten the back end. Something could have come up out of the bed of your pick-up if you were driving one but not likely unless you were going at a high enough speed to lift something heavy from the bed and high enough into the air to hurl it against the trailer. What makes me think it was a man made object are the "V" designations caused by the object punching down into the metal. Wonder if the object was made of plastic and had gray paint on it?

[Gene T]

Reviewed/investigated a lot of vehicle damage in my career. A tree limb would not leave marks and residue in bottom of depressions. There is plenty of residue up there to figure out what it is. Rather than just have us all guess, I would strongly recommend going back to the area it happened. It's not dirty ice that is likely now melted or ran over numerous times by other vehicles. That is, if you really what to know. Your insurance company may want to know. Stuff falling from the sky are handled differently than something put in motion by another vehicle or person or your mistake. My two cents.

[Dingo Girl]

Subscribing to this.

[WestieHouse]

This was our damage to a front end cap after hitting a bird on US 97 in OR at about 60 mph. Repair was about $4,000. Close inspection identified blood specks, the shape of the dent, and tiny fragments of feathers. Insurance covered under comprehensive. No police report needed.

We also were fortunate that only one panel was damaged.

[Jekerrville]

It is most likely a tire off of a Jayco SOB. Sibling issues.

[smithcreek]

Originally Posted by smithcreek

Many of the individual scratches have a "V" shape that appears to start in one direction, then reverse directions. So, whatever hit it first went from back to front and made full length scratches all the way from one end to the other while making the dent.

Then whatever made the dent went in the other direction, but since the dent was already there, most of the scratches in that direction are much shorter, only a few inches long until the object was not touching the panel anymore due to the depth of the dent.

That's my theory and I'm sticking to it! It lends some credence to other posts saying it was caused by backing up into something then pulling away.

Along with what I posted above, it's possible the dent occurred when you weren't behind the wheel at all, but while you were parked at the diner, someone ran into you.

They were transporting something that was sticking out from the side of their truck, they pulled up too close next to you, scraped and dented your trailer, backed away after realizing what they did, then high tailed it down the road. Those scratches were clearly made going forward AND then going backwards and this would explain it.

[tmwinn1]

Pop was when your front tire ran over the tire carcass, airborne, it hit the rear of the A/S. Residue smell like rubber?
$4500.00 damage to the front of my car when the vehicle in front of me sent a carcass airborne into the grill and hood. Left residue... Just a hunch.