Intro:

Bought new, '02 Black SS, T-top, Hurst, ASR. Bone stock and beautiful. Are you getting old when a factory stock looks better than anything else? Also have '98 Suburban 2500 (not stock) for exploring the mountains. Do building maintenance for a living.

Frame:

Sadly the car lost an encounter with a concrete wall. Most the talk from Insurance Co. and Auto Body shops indicates it is likely a total loss. I want to keep/repair the car. The pivital question will be the condition of the frame. The radiator is still in place and the car ran after the incident. Specifics aside, what in general (if a fair question) is the group experience with frame straightening on the F-body cars?

Other questions that come to mind are: how do I gauge a fair salvage value, had an extended warranty through dealer I assume they will say all bets are off since the crash, ...

Any help/perspective in dealing with the situation would be helpful. I have never wrecked a car, no I wasn't driving.

Thanks,


Paul

 

Hey Paul !! Thx for registering with us and welcome to the forums !!!!!!!!!!


Any pics of the SS prior to hitting the wall ??

 

Only in her mind's eye, air bag sorta hard on the memory.

P.

 

The gen 4 cars do not have a real frame as they are unibody construction. There is a front subframe/engine cradle. If it is badly bent it is best to pick up a good one at a salvage yard and replace it. The real problem is if the body is bent to the piont where it cannot be straightned properly, and then the car will never track right. Keep in mind that certain body parts are highly stressed and made of light gauge high strenght steel and loose strenght if heated in an effort to fix them.

 

I have a brother in the body shop business and I've seen Him do amazing things on a frame machine. You have to find a body shop that has an experienced frame man and have Him look at Your car, He'll give it to You straight, and see if it can be fixed.

 

Thanks for the info, in particular the detail about the unibody.

Regards,

Paul

 

Uncle Bill has a good point, you need to deal with a good collision shop, not just some one that pulls out fender dents.