Home Forums Gear Hunting Trucks and Four-Wheel Drives Alum. Trucks - can most repair shops even fix them ?

I was unlucky enough to have a gal remove the plastic front grill from my truck this year.

I asked the repair teck's if they had seen an aluminum body ford yet.

They said no one has the repair equipment to fix them... Hmm....

Find out who the local dealer uses if they don't have their own paint and body shop.

If it's just bolt off and bolt on with only a little persuasion needed to align things no biggy. If any refinishing is needed or painted panels need some love, you better find someone who is trained and qualified for it.

Not only is the aluminum harder to weld, but it is also much more easily damaged.

I doubt that. Take it to the dealer to get fixed.

If shops want to be in business they better get used to fixing aluminum because it's here to stay. BTW...your trucks already have aluminum body panels. The hoods on most trucks are aluminum and have been for quite some time.

Any my truck was damaged by a shopping cart at the grocery store, and it's not aluminum.

The hood on my 02 Ford is aluminum...its not like this is new tech.

(Meanwhile fewer than 10 percent of the professional collision shops in the United States are certified for aluminum repair, according to industry insiders.) Quote from following article.

http://autoweek.com/article/car-news/aluminum-and-ford-f-150

I asked this question to a body shop man I have used over the years. He is now 70 years old and semi-retired. He told me there was no way he would be purchasing the equipment to do the aluminum work as it would be right at $35K. Interestingly enough he taught welding and auto body repair at the local community college. He said he knew the techniques and they really are not anything new but he could not justify spending that much for equipment.

So, the consumer will pay for that equipment with increased insurance costs and higher repair fees....just a fact of life I guess.

Being in the business as a Factory Rep I can tell you that in the STate of New Mexico there is only 3 body shops Aluminum certified, and none of them were dealers ( I was there until Nov 2015).

Certification is done by I Car.

Aluminum automobile body panels will surely be more common in the near future. Ford is an innovator in this regard. Refer to the use the use of aluminum in the Land Rover products etc. Fiat is signaling that the next Jeep Wrangler due in 2017 will use aluminum body metal as well.

From what I am reading the aluminum is not repaired with welds, they are using repair techniques learned from working on aircraft.

We are talking about Military grade metallurgy products and techniques in this relatively new automobile application.