The reality of aluminum body panels.

[roadhunter]

Now = Internet Trolls. I expected better from Forbes. It wasn't news, it was a thinly veiled hit piece.

Wow. I post an article that confirms common sense and proves that it does cost more to fix aluminum and all you can say is that I'm a troll? LAffin. You are in complete denial buddy. You guys can pretend all you want but it wont' change the reality of the situation. Aluminum costs more to fix than steel and setting up a body shop to repair aluminum costs $. Some get too caught up with this being Ford and don't realize other manufacturers have used aluminum panels. This is not just a Ford issue. Clearly this upsets Ford people so they deny and claim the whole thing was rigged. But we can see right through that act..

 

[roadhunter]

I am sure this was also news to TBN members and why the link to the Forbes article, and the entire text of the article, was posted here.

It sees to have upset you that I posted the entire article. Why?

 

[MikePA]

Wow. I post an article that confirms common sense and proves that it does cost more to fix aluminum and all you can say is that I'm a troll? LAffin. You are in complete denial buddy. You guys can pretend all you want but it wont' change the reality of the situation. Aluminum costs more to fix than steel and setting up a body shop to repair aluminum costs $. Some get too caught up with this being Ford and don't realize other manufacturers have used aluminum panels. This is not just a Ford issue. Clearly this upsets Ford people so they deny and claim the whole thing was rigged. But we can see right through that act..

I am not a Ford person. I've never owned a Ford. I never said repairing aluminum would be cheaper. I didn't say the test was rigged, it was simply poorly executed as others have mentioned. A controlled experiment would have done the same damage to an aluminum paneled truck and a steel paneled truck, eliminated the damage done to non aluminum parts and compared the costs. The fact that repairing aluminum panels is more expensive is not news, particularly to people who post/read this forum. It was all discussed, by someone who clearly knew his way around a body shop, last fall when it was just a rumor that Ford was going to use aluminum panels.

And thanks for seeing 'right through that act.' My exact thought when I saw the thread title and who started the thread.

It sees to have upset you that I posted the entire article. Why?

1. If people want to read it, they can click on the link.
2. The article was written by Edmunds and on the Forbes site. Is it copyrighted by either of them? Maybe. © Edmunds.com, Inc. © 2015 Forbes Media LLC.

 

[JDgreen227]

So what about the aluminum.... did anyone notice the $887.00 tail light? YIKES! 1/50th of the cost of the truck is one tail light!

Reading your post made me think of my '79 F150 Ranger...with the special Walnut Glow paint, the 302 V8 and automatic, power steering and brakes and a rear step bumper and rear sliding window and a radio, it cost me less than $7000 out the door with tax and plates. And today a tail light costs $887?? I know crash parts are way overpriced, but....

 

[roadhunter]

1. If people want to read it, they can click on the link.
2. The article was written by Edmunds and on the Forbes site. Is it copyrighted by either of them? Maybe. © Edmunds.com, Inc. © 2015 Forbes Media LLC.

So you are mad because I posted the article and its' copyrighted. Strange. Why in the world does that even matter to you? There is obviously more to this story. Might also be why you called me a troll for posting a forbes article. So what's the real scoop?

 

[Scooby074]

Look, I have no love for Ford, despite owning one, but that test was a crock of sheet.

If I took 2 swings at any one of my steel bodied trucks like that, Id have caved in the whole box side. No question the aluminum is more dent (and hopefully rust) resistant. Any time there is new wide spread technology like alu panels there will be a cost bringing shops up to speed, thats a part of doing business.

The end cost, even considering the tail light/sensor unit really wasnt that bad (the base model tail light without the sensor is a reasonable $106). Dad was backed into recently and had his fender and a small portion of the drivers door pushed in and the quote was $2000. Thats for a plain steel fender and poping a small (fist sized) dent and painting the fender and drivers door. Thats what a "fender bender" costs to have fixed in a pro body shop these days. So the bill for the F150 at $3k isnt out of line at all, and of course this repair used all Genuine Ford parts Id imagine, so that increases the cost considerably too.

I do a bit of Autobody as a hobby and I think the Edmonds article was more than a little unfair and tried to play up the "high" cost to people who are unfamiliar with just how expensive time and materials are in an actual body shop (people seem to have the misguided idea that I should be able to do rockers on a car for $200 in my home shop! I cant even buy the materials for that lol). A steel body would likely be about the same end cost IMHO, but doing a "control" likely wouldnt have fit into the yarn Edmonds was trying to spin.

 

[MikePA]

So you are mad because I posted the article and its' copyrighted. Strange. Why in the world does that even matter to you?

As a member of TBN and as a TBN moderator.

Might also be why you called me a troll for posting a forbes article. So what's the real scoop?

It is common sense to call the posting of a poorly conducted test that involved only a Ford thinly veiled brand bashing.

Click Here for an article on the same topic that mentions Audi and Jaguar, too and it's from December, 2013.

 

[roadhunter]

As a member of TBN and as a TBN moderator.


It is common sense to call the posting of a poorly conducted test that involved only a Ford thinly veiled brand bashing.

Click Here for an article on the same topic that mentions Audi and Jaguar, too and it's from December, 2013.

LAffin. So it bothered you because you think it was unfair that Ford was singled out. And now you mention an article about other manufacturers like Audi and Jaguar. Great comparison. Pretty clear what you issue is here. You are upset and think that Ford was "bashed" in the article. So you decided to call me a troll because I posted the article. Next time try to make it less obvious.

 

[sld]

Road hunting is illegal and unethical.

 

[Diamondpilot]

At the end of the day I believe aluminum will save money. If it's that tough to dent then the hail storm that did $4800 in damages to my 2013 Ford Edge would have probably not left a mark.

Chris