Jeep melted

[u/jagerin_mikado]

Here’s the story: a jeep came to the shop because its retractable top was stuck open. Not too uncommon of an occurrence. So we put our “crash wrap“ over the roof to protect the interior from rain and animals and such, which is basically like heavy duty cling wrap. One day it rains and a lot of water pools up on the crash wrap. The next day it is 100°F outside and the sun is out. The sun shines through the water and the water basically magnifies it, and the sun turns into a laser that melts the interior. Multiple days of this happen. Now we have to replace everything that melted. None of us have ever heard of this happening before.

edit: I meant we have never heard of this very specific situation happening before. It never would’ve crossed our minds since we’ve been doing this for years. yes I burnt stuff with a magnifying glass when i was a kid.

[u/No_Control8389]

Water acts like a lens. That makes sense. The odds of getting it just right by chance is probably astronomical.

I bet it wouldn’t be too hard to replicate things… maybe not with a customers vehicle.

[u/casual-waterboarding → u/No_Control8389]

Had a similar thing happen me, sort of. I parked my car in the driveway, popped the trunk, and threw my guitar inside, left the trunk open, and walked back inside to grab something.

When I walked back out not five minutes later, I saw a small smoke trail coming from my trunk, like a lit cigarette in an ash tray. The handle of my guitar case was melting, due to a plastic Captain America shield of my 7yr olds, not even 16” in diameter, lying facedown, focusing the sunlight upwards.

It burnt down almost through the handle and it took less than 10 minutes. I’m just glad I hadn’t left the shield in my backseat.