winkawak

Couple of month ago, i met this stang owner at stuart when i was fishing, he has an 12' mustang gt auto. Tonight i saw him again there, didnt see his stang, we chatted for a little while and he told me he got hit at a intersection few days ago. A driver ran a red light and hit him on the passenger rear quarter panel going somewhere around 45mph. Hes okay and showed me a picture of the impact and it does not look pretty. Everything located around the passenger quarter panel got smashed inward. Repair cost was estimated around 15k, hes also pushing the insurance company to total the car. He had to leave early and i didnt get a chance to ask him about repair. So my question is a frame damage like this is it even repairable or worth repairing? I know rear suspension parts can be replaced and like new but what about the bent track bar frame mount, strut tower mount, uca mount..etc how would this frame parts be repaired?

winkawak

no one know? i guess i have to wait til see him again.

jimkaray

Without pictures, its hard to guess to what extent the car has frame damage. Even with pictures it has to be evaluated by an experienced shop.
The same basics thought would apply - the damaged parts have to be straightened or replaced. Bolts on are easily replaceable. Body panels & structural frame less so. A body shop will use a frame machine to straighten the frame. The car gets bolted down solid to the frame machine and then hydraulics are used to push & pull it back into the proper alignment. Modern frame machines use lasers to precisely measure for dimensional correctness. Where its too badly bent it may be necessary cut out the bad and replace that section with new or scavenged parts from another wreck's good parts. I haven't looked but I'm sure there are videos up on youtube if you're interested to see how a frame machine works.

winkawak

Thanks for the reply, wasn't looking for exact answer but yours will do. From what I saw looks like the trunk along with the passenger quarter panel needs to be cut out. Hope his car gets totaled, can't imagine any repair after this will feel the same again. I have a personal question, is it possible to bent the phb frame mount from constant wot? If so is that frame mount replaceable or bendable?

jimkaray

Haven't been under there in a while but I believe the mounts are all welded. If I understand your concern I don't think you need to worry about anything bending. If you are talking about running it hard at the track you'd have to be heavily modded. Straight line racing won't stress it at all.

winkawak

No im just curious, what would they do once that frame mount is bent? Do they cut it out and weld in a new one or bend it back (strength compromised)?

Derf00

Mustangs are Unibody construction, that means that there is no 'Frame' to speak off. Not like a truck or older cars where all the panels bolted to it.

Unibody construction means that the seams where the panels weld together form the 'frame'. They do mount to a substructure but by itself is very weak.

When a truck gets into an accident and gets a bent frame, you can in most cases put it into a frame stretcher and fix it. When a unibody car gets frame damage, it can often total it. The reason is that if the frame is compromised enough, so is the safety of the car. It is much more expensive and difficult to fix the frame on a unibody than a traditional frame (truck).

At 15K for repairs they may be looking at totaling it depending on what the state and insurance company allow for value/repair ratio. if not he should look at getting a diminished value claim from the insurance company whose driver is at fault.

winkawak

Saw his friend last night at the bridge, yea its totaled.