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

[fxdb96]

Our Fleet mechanics were at an updater today, and it was mentioned that the new pickups will be more expensive to fix dents etc. Ford is saying if there is a crease in a panel, you cant hammer it out, just replace it,which = more $$, Aluminum wont retain its strength I guess when its creased. Not a lot of shops will have fluency on fixing aluminum I bet either..
Quarter panels are 6 months behind backordered presently as well..

Do they hammer out "creases" on steel panels?

 

[clemsonfor]

Actually Ford requires you to become certified to fix the aluminum F150's. Rumor is that the tools alone are around $25,000. The insurance companies are probably going to force you to take the truck to a certified shop to be repaired. Some companies are even refusing to write new policies on private owners with F150's (not fleet). My wife is an insurance broker representing numerous companies and has been dealing with these headaches since the new F150 was announced.

In this state an insurance company cant force me to take my vehicle anywhere!!!??? I have used a guy that works out of his house in his yard and looks like a back yard guy, they don't care one bit.

 

[dodge man]

They do still hammer out dents and dings but it has to be pretty minor. All those plastic parts on cars can be fixed also but more often than not they put new ones on. I've seen guys do amazing things with badly damge panels before. I had a car restored and the body guy did fantastic things with the old panels but you couldn't get replacement ones at the time either.

 

[coobie]

H,mmm

 

[adventure bob]

A crease in an FE panel stretches the metal. Now your talking a real skilled panel guy to fix the crease and shrink the panel back. Can be done, but not worth it on something that's not 50years old or older or that theyre not making parts for anymore. That type of craftsmanship is just not all that common unless your willing to pay for it.
Looking into the Ford certified issue: Theyre "bonding" panels together i.e. gluing them. Joe bubbas backyard repair shop is going to have a tough time with bonded AL.

 

[sd455dan]

Do they hammer out "creases" on steel panels?

Use a Stud gun and then pull the crease out and a (little shrinking tool work) and quality filler then surfacer, sealer and then base coat, clear coat panel painting to match??

for a really small shop that is what I have seen.

those bonded panels were featured on a weekend car truck show IIRC the crew took a regular F 150 and made an aftermarket Raptor out of it.

Took some time for them to get the factory bonded panels off....

 

[CJONE]

Same way ram and Cummins slammed ford and gm for using urea and now they use it too. It's just instant ad tools with no consequences down the road

I think the AL will be of little concern in a few years and it'll be harder to find shops that do quality work on steel vehicles

Brett

Yup, buyer beware! I remember doing repairs on aluminum in the 90's and didn't think twice about it. CJ

 

[Diamondpilot]

No one repairs anything anymore. The cut out the bad and install a new panel. It's been that way for 20 years.

It's cheaper now days with the labor rates.

 

[bosshoss]

That is the thing with GM. They knock what others are doing then a few years later do it themselves. Remember the GM commercials slamming the "man step" in brand X's tailgate? Guess what they have in their bumpers. How about the "retro" look performance cars, Guess what they have now. I can think of a few more but why? To date I have owned more new GM vehicles but the way they are advertising now makes them look like a bunch of politicians. CJ

My 2002 Avalanche had steps in the bumper well before the Ford "man step" was available.

 

[toddbailey]

A crease in an FE panel stretches the metal. Now your talking a real skilled panel guy to fix the crease and shrink the panel back. Can be done, but not worth it on something that's not 50years old or older or that theyre not making parts for anymore. That type of craftsmanship is just not all that common unless your willing to pay for it. Looking into the Ford certified issue: Theyre "bonding" panels together i.e. gluing them. Joe bubbas backyard repair shop is going to have a tough time with bonded AL.

They have been glueing "bonding" panels for years. That's how most truck bed repairs are done they buy the bed sides cut off the offending panel glue on new one its a fairly quick process. Only difference with an AL panel would be different adhesive.

 

[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.