What to watch out for - collision repair

[2018ExpyPlatinum]

Good Lord!!!!!!!! 13 grand! That could go up too after they tear it apart. Good luck and hope it's done right. Glad you and your family are ok.....keep us in the loop.

 

[MxRacer965]

It was “done” Friday. Went and checked it out and noticed the bumper cover wasn’t fully clipped on underneath the headlights. Get one side on and the other wanted to pop back off. Back apart to figure out what gives. Supposedly I should have it back today. There were a couple bumper parts that weren’t fully clipped together as well (around the tow hooks) so I assume whoever assembled it must have missing some small detail. Guess it’s gonna cost them! I kept saying to take their time, I’d rather have it “right” instead of fast. Said the same thing to my neighbor as his family owns the shop. I can’t see why it wouldn’t go back together perfectly either. No structural damage, and all parts are new OEM.

Hopefully today it’s back in my garage. Other than that everything looks good.

 

[Michael Shepherd]

Wow, I am simply floored that it cost over $13,000 to repair the damage indicated in the image in the original post (attached below).

View attachment 37645

 

[2018ExpyPlatinum]

Glad she's back. Looks good from here and hope all is well. Did they do an alignment, or not needed?

Any increase in cost, or was $13,000 the final number?

Thanks for keeping us in the loop.

 

[flying68]

Wow, I am simply floored that it cost over $13,000 to repair the damage indicated in the image in the original post (attached below).

View attachment 37645

Not surprising. Looks like front bumper, grill, light assembly, front quarter panel, and possibly hood. Not to mention and parts inside that were damaged including inner fender. Aluminum panels, so cost is higher and labor is higher. Then paint and because it is metallic it will be hard to match.

 

[MxRacer965]

It’s finally back in my driveway. They adjusted the gap between the fender and the door, it was a bit large, as well as fixed the bumper cover attachment. It looks like nothing ever happened. It was $13K and some change...$13,337 I think. No alignment needed, it was a small deer and all that “stuff” where it hit was largely plastic. And a beer can for a fender. Didn’t do any damage to the hood thankfully.

I do have an odd camera gremlin though that I noticed when pulling back into my garage. The front camera is wonky. The first view you get when pressing the camera button is the 360 view along with a straight ahead view. Straight ahead is fine, then the back and sides show up on the 360 view, but the front doesn’t even though it appears to use the same camera as in the straight ahead portion. I did some checking and when I just turn the vehicle on without starting it the entire 360 view works just fine, including the front camera. If I start the engine the screen flickers quickly after about 5 seconds and I lose the front of the 360 view but straight ahead still works.

If I press the camera button again (2nd time) I get just straight ahead, which works fine. If I press again (3rd time) I’m supposed to get another “composite” front view that I think uses the mirror cameras as well as the front. That view just gives me the front camera straight ahead. That view actually worked at least once as I was testing the cameras, but has since stopped. It’s going back tomorrow of course. Any idea what it could be? Obviously it’s not a poor connection. Calibration/programming of some sort?

 

[scottdm]

Repair work looks good. Glad you're on the downhill side of the project! You may want to consider having clear bra installed on the new bumper before it gets chipped up. Prior repaired/repainted bumpers that I've had always seemed to get rock chips more easily than the factory paint. Normally they say at least 30 days to allow off gassing before clear bra would be installed on new paint.

 

[MxRacer965]

Repair work looks good. Glad you're on the downhill side of the project! You may want to consider having clear bra installed on the new bumper before it gets chipped up. Prior repaired/repainted bumpers that I've had always seemed to get rock chips more easily than the factory paint. Normally they say at least 30 days to allow off gassing before clear bra would be installed on new paint.

I guess the shop “bakes” the paint from what I understand. It all looks factory quality. I’m pretty picky, and even more so on a $85K rig that I only have 8,500 miles on! The only way I can tell any work was done is where the fender bolts to the body under the hood is glossy, unlike the factory side. Otherwise you’d never know. My neighbors family owns the shop, and they have certifications from just about everywhere, including Ford and Subaru. I guess those two are pretty stringent compared to most others. Or so he says...

At any rate seems like they did great work and have all the right technologies to work on the latest stuff. I may still do a clear bra as you mention. My wife’s MKS had the bumper cover done and it has chips in it...

In thinking about the camera issue I’d guess calibration; makes sense if something wasn’t done the vehicle would disable any views that could put the vehicle “at risk”. And since the front 360 view is probably just the regular front view with some software wizardry, I can see needing calibration...

 

[scottdm]

My 2020 F350 had similar camera issues with the bed camera mounted in the 3rd brake light. It would work fine some days and other days when toggling through the camera views, it was fuzzy, blurry, or would just skip that view. Took the 3rd brake light apart and reseated all the connections and added dielectric grease to keep any water out and it's worked fine ever since. Maybe one of the connectors on your front camera just needs to be reseated. The o-ring gasket on my camera connector required a lot of effort to compress and get the connector to fully click into place, so I suspect it was never seated correctly from the factory.

 

[MxRacer965]

My 2020 F350 had similar camera issues with the bed camera mounted in the 3rd brake light. It would work fine some days and other days when toggling through the camera views, it was fuzzy, blurry, or would just skip that view. Took the 3rd brake light apart and reseated all the connections and added dielectric grease to keep any water out and it's worked fine ever since. Maybe one of the connectors on your front camera just needs to be reseated. The o-ring gasket on my camera connector required a lot of effort to compress and get the connector to fully click into place, so I suspect it was never seated correctly from the factory.

I initially thought connection as well, but it’s only an issue roughly 5 seconds after starting the vehicle. And the camera is definitely on since I can see straight ahead with no issues. It’s just the front 360 view that doesn’t work. And even then it will work for an unlimited amount of time as long as the engine isn’t running. It’s back at the shop, they are gonna hook it up and the owner said they’d probably pay the $150 to hook up with asTech and figure it out. Guess I’ll find out soon either way!