Russian BMW Body Repair

[02SE]

The collision industry leaders are right. Improperly secured chassis which won't retain squareness adequately. Lots of work hardening of metal that has not been understood or accounted for, and welds that may or may not be comparable to OEM, have very likely changed the crash integrity of the car for the worse.

That level of work might've been acceptable on the cars of 40 years ago, which were less than precisely built.

 

[Trav]

That may be all true but I see cars repaired today with body lines nowhere near that good, it cant be too far out that's for sure.
Those so called "industry leaders" are nothing more than a pack of A holes on steroids IMO.
They would find fault in a craftsman who had the skill (very few people in this world have that skill today) to form a new fender for an antique with an English wheel and hammer and bag because he didn't use a 100 ton press and laser measurements.

I find fault in their assessment, they talk about the aluminum strut tower, in fact its not much more than just a cast aluminum cap connected to a sheet metal part which is part of BMW's mixed materials concept, they tried to insinuate he was working with aluminum up front, the cap was not touched on this car, did he check it for cracks or defects with dye? We don't know that either.
Should he have replaced the front frame rail or cap? Possibly but if the rail damage didn't go beyond the point he pulled probably not, we don't know that but we can assume with the skills he has he does know.

Damage did not appear to go into the floor pan area or the inner supporting panels for the rear quarter so basically he pulled the front part of the rail, B and C pillars and did a rear quarter. These A holes even chastised him for using a piece of 2x4 instead of their $300 (guessing) plastic block. Anyone with half an brain can see why he used a piece of 2x4 so the chain didn't bend the edges of the post.
They even chastised him looking at what he was doing and using a self fabricated simple measuring tool. If they think that's a third world repair they should come as look at 99.9% of the shops around here.

If they had bought the car, checked the measurements and alignment then crash tested it and it was bad then all well and good but they just tore the man apart at the behest of some company (probably Car-O-Liner).

 

[demarpaint]

Originally Posted By: Trav
That may be all true but I see cars repaired today with body lines nowhere near that good, it cant be too far out that's for sure.
Those so called "industry leaders" are nothing more than a pack of A holes on steroids IMO.
They would find fault in a craftsman who had the skill (very few people in this world have that skill today) to form a new fender for an antique with an English wheel and hammer and bag because he didn't use a 100 ton press and laser measurements.

I find fault in their assessment, they talk about the aluminum strut tower, in fact its not much more than just a cast aluminum cap connected to a sheet metal part which is part of BMW's mixed materials concept, they tried to insinuate he was working with aluminum up front, the cap was not touched on this car, did he check it for cracks or defects with dye? We don't know that either.
Should he have replaced the front frame rail or cap? Possibly but if the rail damage didn't go beyond the point he pulled probably not, we don't know that but we can assume with the skills he has he does know.

Damage did not appear to go into the floor pan area or the inner supporting panels for the rear quarter so basically he pulled the front part of the rail, B and C pillars and did a rear quarter. These A holes even chastised him for using a piece of 2x4 instead of their $300 (guessing) plastic block. Anyone with half an brain can see why he used a piece of 2x4 so the chain didn't bend the edges of the post.
They even chastised him looking at what he was doing and using a self fabricated simple measuring tool. If they think that's a third world repair they should come as look at 99.9% of the shops around here.

If they had bought the car, checked the measurements and alignment then crash tested it and it was bad then all well and good but they just tore the man apart at the behest of some company (probably Car-O-Liner).


A-holes on steroids, I like that one. I agree, real easy to criticize, I wonder if they even possess half of his skill set.

 

[funflyer]

Looks like some those "industry leaders" couldn't get close enough to a car to make a repair even if they wanted to

That short fat guy, with the bling, can hardly stay on his feet and almost fell over several times in the video. Give Arthur a few of those over-engineered, million dollar BMW tools and I'd bet he'd make some of those "collision industry's most decorated experts" look like Boyscouts.

 

[PimTac]

I’d be interested to know the story behind the accident. Maybe the driver was someone that was targeted so the dump truck t-boning the car took care of that problem.

I know, I watch too many tv shows.

 

[02SE]

While the 'industry leaders' could have been more professional in their replies, they are spot-on with their overall assessment.

People praising 'Arthur' for his methods, clearly lack the expertise in the area to understand why the 'industry leaders' are being critical of the repair methods.

 

[Trav]

What exactly is their assessment? I heard one say he should have cut the rail off and replaced it with another chiming in "yep after it has been pulled". Cutting it off and welding a new one could possibly be weaker structurally that what he did.
Other than that nothing about how it should be done differently except for the fact he is using a puller found in most US body shops.

Their assessment is not spot on by any stretch of the imagination. They keep taking about safety but don't have the car in front of them or have even seen any more than we have in a video. If the tested it in anyway and found fault then fair enough but that's not the case. All I heard is sour grapes.

 

[Whipcitywrencher]

I think the Russian guy has a talent and patience for body work, that not too many have.
It's not factory but what body work of that magnitude would be.
(Safe)
I'd Feel safer in the BMW than in this car.

 

[Trav]

You get it Pete.

 

[JHZR2]

Much of auto body is now selling out to insurance companies. The per hour rates many of these shops are willing to take are really low, and the “direct referral” agreements many shops take are a green light to work to the insurance company’s “standards” versus OEM.

Industry leaders are potentially sellouts and so their thoughts may be true, but they may also need to be taken with a grain of salt, since they may not actually do anything to better to hit their masters’ price point.

Originally Posted By: Eddie
26 days X 8 hours a day = 208 work hours X $125/Hr = $26,000 labor + parts? That would be approx US cost to do the same job IF you could locate a body man that capable. Ed


Don’t know about those rates. Auto body is generally in the $45-55/hr range for most paint and metal work, even in high cost places like NJ. Certain elements like hvac and electrical bill higher, but it was interesting to me to see the allowable rates for auto body vs other typical trades work. Much lower.

 

[SirTanon]

Ugh.. the people in that video are such idiots. Also, the number of logical fallacies they employ in that video is ridiculous

I see so many strawman arguments, tu quoque, personal incredulity, etc.. claims in the video that I can't take a thing they are saying seriously.

For crying out loud, Arthur is clearly good at what he does, and I have never see him claim that the cars he is repairing in his videos are "as good as new" or 'structurally flawless'.. he's fixing cars with what little he has, and doing a great job. I can't fault his outcomes. So what if he's not using brand new state-of-the-art hardware. If anything, it makes his results that much more amazing.

 

[circuitsmith]

I looked up the Road & Track article they criticized.
They made it sound like R&T unconditionally endorsed Arthur. Not true:

https://www.roadandtrack.com/car-culture/buying-maintenance/a13595724/totaled-7-series-body-repair/

 

[WhyMe]

i have watched a lots of his vids. he is a master body man. one thing that has me concerned on these fixes is do they replace the air bags? lots of cars are totaled due to the high cost of air bag replacement

 

[BMWTurboDzl]

Originally Posted By: PimTac
I’d be interested to know the story behind the accident. Maybe the driver was someone that was targeted so the dump truck t-boning the car took care of that problem.

I know, I watch too many tv shows.


Just Youtube Russian drivers. It is the Wild West over there.