[wwiiavfan]

Cars can be repaired better than new. Hell, I’ve taken two cars, one smashed in the front, the other in the back. Cut them in half and welded them together the right way — in my garage. No jigs, no fancy nothing. Didn’t even do an alignment. That car drove as straight and true as anything from the factory.
As long as you take your time and do it right, there’s nothing to be afraid of.

[sengli]

That front sub-frame is mostly aluminum. Its flimsy as hell, compared to the old 70's type cars. That would be a mess to mess with.

[BlaqWhole]

Originally Posted by Dave-ROR

I fix them myself actually. And they are often track cars and race cars. I'm currently on #8, been selling them after having fun with the cars for a bit.

I doubt the car above has any real unibody damage. Suspension arms, lots of airbags, Body panels, bumper cover, etc - yes. But nothing that can't be fixed by unbolted and bolting things back up plus possibly some minor spot welds. There are a LOT of measurements one does to ensure that it's back to spec.

The liability issue surrounding airbags is where most insurance companies end up totaling a car. Insurance companies require all new SRS modules even if the original just needs to be reset and requires all new airbags even if perfectly good ones are available from other cars (rear end hit cars for example).

Heck I'm kind of mad I missed this one, been looking for an SS 1LE with this kind of damage specifically but haven't found one going cheap enough to make financial sense to buy yet.

But I do understand why people have a fear of these (I used to not want to touch one with a 10' pole!). I suspect if you saw how undamaged they often are and how Insurance companies will total cars that absolutely are not destroyed or even close to it you might change your mind though.

Originally Posted by wwiiavfan

Cars can be repaired better than new. Hell, I’ve taken two cars, one smashed in the front, the other in the back. Cut them in half and welded them together the right way — in my garage. No jigs, no fancy nothing. Didn’t even do an alignment. That car drove as straight and true as anything from the factory.
As long as you take your time and do it right, there’s nothing to be afraid of.

The problem isn't that they can be fixed correctly. The issue is that everyone says they can fix it correctly. Just like you guys are saying. And maybe you can. Maybe you will. Or maybe you won't. There is no telling until long after the fact when the owner experiences some troubles with it. I've seen just about every repair shop or repair man and they all say the same things that you guys are saying. But the truth of the matter is that in most cases, these cars with this type of damage will not be repaired correctly and will never run right again. And I understand that this may sound insulting to you. But you know that this is the truth. I had a car with far less front end damage than this one in the pic. And I took it to a repair shop who promised the moon and stars..."oh it'll ride better than when it was new", "I've been doing this for decades", "we're the number 1 rated 5 star shop in the state", "we have this award and that award", you name it they said it. And those were all words. When I got the car back it never ran right again to the point that I wish I had never bought it in the first place. These days I would not trust anyone doing any type of repair work for front end damage on a car on this level of performance. And I would not buy a car knowing that it had any front end damage. Again I am glad this car got totaled out instead of the insurance company trying to get it repaired. If someone in the future repairs it and sells it then I can only wish them good luck.

[Dave-ROR]

Originally Posted by BlaqWhole

The problem isn't that they can be fixed correctly. The issue is that everyone says they can fix it correctly. Just like you guys are saying. And maybe you can. Maybe you will. Or maybe you won't. There is no telling until long after the fact when the owner experiences some troubles with it. I've seen just about every repair shop or repair man and they all say the same things that you guys are saying. But the truth of the matter is that in most cases, these cars with this type of damage will not be repaired correctly and will never run right again. And I understand that this may sound insulting to you. But you know that this is the truth. I had a car with far less front end damage than this one in the pic. And I took it to a repair shop who promised the moon and stars..."oh it'll ride better than when it was new", "I've been doing this for decades", "we're the number 1 rated 5 star shop in the state", "we have this award and that award", you name it they said it. And those were all words. When I got the car back it never ran right again to the point that I wish I had never bought it in the first place. These days I would not trust anyone doing any type of repair work for front end damage on a car on this level of performance. And I would not buy a car knowing that it had any front end damage. Again I am glad this car got totaled out instead of the insurance company trying to get it repaired. If someone in the future repairs it and sells it then I can only wish them good luck.

I'm sorry to hear that your repair experiences were not as good as others. And no, I wouldn't agree that I "know that this is the truth" because it's absolutely not.

Everyone has to go with their own experiences though, I respect your experience with previously repaired cars that you've owned.

[BlaqWhole]

Originally Posted by Dave-ROR

I'm sorry to hear that your repair experiences were not as good as others. And no, I wouldn't agree that I "know that this is the truth" because it's absolutely not.

Everyone has to go with their own experiences though, I respect your experience with previously repaired cars that you've owned.

Then you must have a lot of trust in people.

[Dave-ROR]

Originally Posted by BlaqWhole

Then you must have a lot of trust in people.

I have a lot of trust in MYSELF. As mentioned before, I rebuild cars myself.

[Matos1LE]

Originally Posted by wwiiavfan

Cars can be repaired better than new. Hell, I’ve taken two cars, one smashed in the front, the other in the back. Cut them in half and welded them together the right way — in my garage. No jigs, no fancy nothing. Didn’t even do an alignment. That car drove as straight and true as anything from the factory.
As long as you take your time and do it right, there’s nothing to be afraid of.

Yeah sure... and it will probably rip in half upon having its next accident. Better than new rofl.

[wwiiavfan]

Originally Posted by Matos1LE

Yeah sure... and it will probably rip in half upon having its next accident. Better than new rofl.

Guess that 3 years of Tech School auto body training was time wasted for me, then. Tell me, what training have you had to base your opinion on?

[fosterelli]

Agree to disagree and move on. Everyone on this forum will have varying degrees of confidence in significantly repaired vehicles. No sense beating the dead horse.

[Matos1LE]

Originally Posted by wwiiavfan

Guess that 3 years of Tech School auto body training was time wasted for me, then. Tell me, what training have you had to base your opinion on?

Master's in mechanical engineering and 11 years industry experience... but please, feel free to tell me how you know more about materials than me. Explain, in your own words, how a structure that has been cut in half and welded in a garage can be better than an intact one from the factory. One built via validated processes, with millions of engineering dollars behind them, and over a century in combined experience across a massive team of skilled engineers, material scientists, etc... that's right, you can't.

[unavailablezl1]

I would never drive a wrecked car. Every car that I have owned, when someone crashed into me, I would get it fixed and then sell it. No way would I ever drive and for sure buy a "fixed" car.

I only buy new cars anyway so I know who drove it before me.

I am sure there are magic fingers out there that can fix anything. But the cost might be more than it is worth.

[Akirasoft]

Originally Posted by Matos1LE

Master's in mechanical engineering and 11 years industry experience... but please, feel free to tell me how you know more about materials than me. Explain, in your own words, how a structure that has been cut in half and welded in a garage can be better than an intact one from the factory. One built via validated processes, with millions of engineering dollars behind them, and over a century in combined experience across a massive team of skilled engineers, material scientists, etc... that's right, you can't.

I'm not what the other dude might be referring to BUT.... Cars from the factory are frequently engineered to a price point...

I would perhaps say if someone took a salvaged car and turned it into something like a rally car where everything was caged up and seam-welded you could theoretically end up with something stronger than as it came from the factory. This is beyond what I can do in my garage (or in anyone's garage for that matter) but it is not beyond what some professionals are capable of.

There are of course limits to everything but I'm just throwing the above out there for consideration...

[Vtor_ZL1]

Originally Posted by sengli

That front sub-frame is mostly aluminum. Its flimsy as hell, compared to the old 70's type cars. That would be a mess to mess with.

Completely FALSE.


I'd take wreck in modern car ANYDAY compared to 70's junkers.


Today.. the car is the airbag.. in 70's you were the airbag,

[wwiiavfan]

Originally Posted by Matos1LE

Master's in mechanical engineering and 11 years industry experience... but please, feel free to tell me how you know more about materials than me. Explain, in your own words, how a structure that has been cut in half and welded in a garage can be better than an intact one from the factory. One built via validated processes, with millions of engineering dollars behind them, and over a century in combined experience across a massive team of skilled engineers, material scientists, etc... that's right, you can't.

Hey, guess what, I have a Mechanical Engineering degree and 27 years of Engineering experience, earned after I got my Auto Body training. But keep digging.
The car I fixed had every factory spot weld drilled out and welded back together which was the preferred method of repair to retain the original structural integrity and crumple zones.
All I’m saying is that writing off a damaged car is certainly someone’s right, but an uninformed one. A properly repaired car is nothing to be afraid of.