Got a newer Ford? Dont dent it....

[mojoinco]

So, Lnd Rovers have always had aluminum panels. Unsure of the smallest one. Many vehicles have aluminum body parts. Miata's always have had aluminum hoods. Had a Citroen (no, not a candle) many years ago. Some parts of the body are aluminum. Audi A8's have been aluminum for many years. TIG welding aluminum has been around a real long time. It used to be called heliarc. There are even MIG machines for doing it. Just takes a shop wanting to do it and getting people certified for it.

The metals in modern cars are not your basic low strength steel, haven't been in a very long time. They are light weight, high strength steel. Repair requirements are very specific: certain areas must be replaced, not just a piece cut out on most vehicles, and using so much heat in certain places, etc. Very procedure oriented. That's why your insurance company may require a certified shop do work (not a specific shop, just certified).

And we will be seeing more and more aluminum in vehicles as the current administration increased the CAGE requirements. Aluminum based parts shouldn't be priced much more than steel parts -- the commodities market has been flat for quite a while (right in line with the price of crude oil, surprisingly). ALCOA is splitting in two, with one part being the mining and raw aluminum business (now the poor stepchild) and the other the specialist metals (largely aluminum) and parts business. I do expect the commodity/volume auto manufacturers to go through some building pain as they get there processes to work (remember the low VOC paint change over?).

 

[Copperhead]

Amazing the furor, misinformation, and consternation about aluminum body stuff. Commercial heavy trucks have been using aluminum bodies for several decades. One can even spec aluminum frames and drive axle housings. Like most things, the auto/pickup folks are the last ones to the party.

 

[roadhunter]

Amazing the furor, misinformation, and consternation about aluminum body stuff. Commercial heavy trucks have been using aluminum bodies for several decades. One can even spec aluminum frames and drive axle housings. Like most things, the auto/pickup folks are the last ones to the party.

LOL. This is funny.

What would you call the furor?

And what would you say is misinformation?

 

[roadhunter]

Notice how the conversation gets changed from body shops being able to repair aluminum to Alcoa splitting into 2 divisions and semi trucks using aluminum. This is about the ability of the auto body industry to do repairs on aluminum vehicles for the same cost of traditional steel body repairs.

The issue here is that only 15% of the body shops in the USA are certified to do aluminum repairs. Doesn't take a genius to see that this alone will drive costs up. So if you have an aluminum vehicle you are a very limited choices for repairs and those shops who have gone to the trouble, training, and equipment purchases to handle aluminum repairs are certainly going to pass those costs on to the customer. Maybe manufacturers like Ford can subsidize that training and equipment to some degree but then the costs will simply be passed along to the purchaser of the vehicle. One way or another consumers will pay for this whether it is through higher insurance costs or higher vehicle costs as these body shops, manufacturers, and insurance companies are not going to eat those costs.

 

[roadhunter]

Here is an example of the issue.
I did the ford service locator and searched for aluminum f Series repair.
Dealer Locator

Came back as 1 option and that was over 2 hours away in Rapid City. None of the dealers in Chadron, Rushville, Alliance, Scottsbluff, etc are certified.

Jaguar aluminum body repair. I punched in my zip code.
Jaguar Authorized Aluminum Repair Network Shops | Jaguar USA
Colorado, Utah, Minnesota, and Ohio are the closest repair shops to me.

Now please explain how that is going to result in a similar cost to repair an aluminum vehicle as a steel vehicle that I can take to just about any shop closeby and not have to drive outside the state to find a repair?

I look forward to your long and detailed explanation.

 

[Ford850]

With all this aluminum repair talk, it sounds like many of you have repairs often. Or at least occasionally. So now I'm curious... How often are most of you getting body repair work done on your trucks due to dents, etc?

 

[roadhunter]

With all this aluminum repair talk, it sounds like many of you have repairs often. Or at least occasionally. So now I'm curious... How often are most of you getting body repair work done on your trucks due to dents, etc?

How many nearby choices do you have for an aluminum certified Ford repair shop?
Dealer Locator

 

[Ford850]

How many nearby choices do you have for an aluminum certified Ford repair shop?
Dealer Locator

I have 20 within 1 1/2 hours. I think over a dozen within an hour. Pretty much every Ford dealer that does collision repair. In those same areas you searched by you... do all those ford dealers do collision repair?

 

[roadhunter]

I have 20 within 1 1/2 hours. I think over a dozen within an hour. Pretty much every Ford dealer that does collision repair. In those same areas you searched by you... do all those ford dealers do collision repair?

What's your zip?

I am not familiar with the Ford dealers capabilities but I know that I have no choices within 2 hours. Rapid City is just over 2 hours away.

I checked Casper Wyoming and there are no choices.

I checked Billings, MT. No dealer options there either but there are a couple of independent shops.

Nebraska there are only 3, Lincoln, Omaha and Crete. All 8 hours away.

Colorado has a few with Greeley and Ft Collins being closest, about 4 Hours away.

 

[Weedy Fields]

I have a '06 bmw, it has alum. panels. had the hood dented many years ago and had the local painless dent guy remove the dent, no painting req'd.

If I was in the market for a vehicle alum. panels would not bother me.