If your vehicle is involved in an accident, frame damage may have occurred from the impact. You cannot see frame damage with the naked eye unless it’s severe. However, even slight frame damage can cause drivability and cosmetic issues that continue being a bother.
You can take your car to body shops for an assessment and estimate. If your car has damage, body shops technicians will write up how much it costs to fix it. You can either have the damage pulled by hand or with a dedicated machine.
Symptoms
The biggest problem associated with frame damage is worn tires. If your car does not ride straight, the body could rub on the tires, causing them to fail several thousand miles too soon. The premature wear will eventually cost you much more than would have been spent on frame repairs. Hitting a bump with this tire issue could send you flying into the next lane, resulting in another collision.
A minor, but annoying, symptom of frame damage is poorly aligned body panels. Your doors could rub on the fenders if your frame sits out of alignment. Other components may not fit correctly causing you to need custom parts.
Manual Pulling Method
If your vehicle’s frame doesn’t deviate more than an inch, technicians could possibly pull it out by hand. Technicians will wrap a rope or other device to your frame and slowly pull it out using another vehicle. Alternatively, the vehicle’s own weight can straighten out scrunched sections.
Frame Machine
Texas body & frame technicians prefer to place all vehicles on the dedicated frame machine. Technicians strap the vehicle down to keep it in place during the service appointment. Technicians take several measurements to determine exactly where the pulls should occur. The frame machine produces all of the pressure needed to pull out the frame the perfect amount.
After finishing your vehicle repairs, you will have a chance to look it over and determine your satisfaction level. You may still need to have the auto body shop replace dented body panels and broken light bezels. However, you should be able to see if the repairs meet your expectations from this preliminary inspection.
