acdii

I know first hand that whether steel or aluminum, the body does absorb a lot of energy. You should have seen what was left of my 14 after a 47MPH impact into another F150. The right fender was the size of a pizza box, the hood crumpled, and portions of the inner structure were all bent up, the cab was slightly damaged on the passenger side, but was intact. The frame does absorb some of it, it was bent and rippled, but the understructure and body panels do the most of the energy absorption. There are also a lot of plastic parts embedded under everything that also absorb energy. Aluminum can absorb more energy than steel does mainly due to it being softer. Think of a big fluffy pillow for the aluminum and a thin hard pillow for steel, punch them, which one will have more cushion.

shortride

iTrader: (1)

Some of you that has been around for a while may remember this. A guy in an 2009 F-150 hits 3 cows at 65 MPH and walks away. It would be interesting to see a late model Aluminum F-150 after the same accident.

READ THE STORY HERE

Stu Cazzo

Do any older truck owners realize they have aluminum panels on their trucks? My 2013 has an aluminum hood.

Summers22

iTrader: (2)

True, its not the body panels that would save you in a crash, its the structural supports and designs thereof that provide protection.

SCORGE

I think aluminum has more than earned its keep

jeffwoodall

I apologize in advance, but I am not smart on this subject matter and have comments/questions. I have a 2016 Ford F150, so obviously it has an aluminum body. I am getting ready to have a minor ding taken out of the driver's door (most people may be able to live with it, as it is very minor, but my OCD will not allow this). I have an estimate around $500, primarily because they will have to fix the minor ding and then will apply clear coat over the entire door instead of trying a blend job. None of the local body shops have the equipment to do major work on an aluminum body. One of the guys told me they would have to invest $50K in the necessary equipment. I find that hard to believe. Anyway, the point of this post is that I am worried about the body shop that I choose to do the repair, cross contaminating my vehicle since they are not in the habit of working on aluminum vehicles. From what I have read, the contamination would result from them doing bodywork on a steel vehicle that may be near my truck, or even from using a sander on my truck that has been used on a steel truck. Is this true and do I have anything to worry about? I am thinking since these guys don't have a lot of experience working on aluminum vehicles, this may not be an area where they take the proper care. Thanks

shortride

iTrader: (1)

I think I would get a second or third opinion.

jeffwoodall

I was attempting to get opinions from people on here as to if I have valid concerns about getting this minor work done with the contamination issues with steel and aluminum. I'm not sure the body shop guys will put the vehicles in separate areas or try to avoid cross contamination issues mentioned in this thread. I am not sure what you mean by your response. I stated I have been to several body shop folks and obtained estimates on the work, that is not the issue.

Flyboygsxr

Go to a shop that knows how to work with aluminum. Some ford dealerships have body shops too. Good luck

acdii

Here is where Aluminum vs Steel rears it's ugly head. Aluminum tends to hold it's shape, so when hardened aluminum gets a ding it is very difficult to flatten it. With a steel panel, a skilled dent removal guy can massage the panel from the back and remove the dent, and usually without any damage to the paint, but you can't massage aluminum in the same way. Dings are very difficult to remove due to the bounce back, OTOH it is more difficult to ding aluminum as it is with steel.

What your were quoted most likely is to grind away the paint, add some filler, smooth and block and repaint.

Have you tried looking for a ding and dent removal pro? See if you can find a shop who deals with this company, https://www.dentwizard.com/paintless-dent-repair.aspx

Ah I found a dent remover video.