Insurance and bodyshop nightmare?

[Roy2001]

To my instinct or extremely limited knowledge of bodyshop and stainless steel, it is extremely hard to repair the stainless steel sheet/shell.

Now think about a dent, you can easily fix it using paste, buffering and painting. But how can you fix it with bare stainless stell?

Further more, the only way to fix from any kind of accident (local road crash or parking lot scratches) is part swapping.

Any thoughts?

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[Regenshire]

My assumption (knowing next to nothing about body repair) is that body shops will order replacement panels from Tesla and afix them. That is likely the cheapest method to fix damage to the skin. It doesn't need paint, so that likely is fairly low on labor costs I would assume.

 

[Roy2001]

My assumption (knowing next to nothing about body repair) is that body shops will order replacement panels from Tesla and afix them. That is likely the cheapest method to fix damage to the skin. It doesn't need paint, so that likely is fairly low on labor costs I would assume.

I doubt since a lot of minor scratches costs a few hundred dollars would need thousands of dollars to replace parts.

 

[CyberGus]

 

[charliemagpie]

If it's a minor scratch on paint, from a few bucks to a few hundred.
If it's a minor scratch on SS, steelo pad, and buffer it out.

If it's a more significant dent, the SS panel I expect would cost more, and the labour to replace it would be the same, but there is no paint. CT repair would be cheaper.

Overall, maybe there is no significant difference. We would have to see the cost of SS panels.

 

[Roy2001]

If it's a minor scratch on paint, from a few bucks to a few hundred.
If it's a minor scratch on SS, steelo pad, and buffer it out.

How about a ding or small dent?

 

[SSonnentag]

Oxyacetylene torch and a ball peen hammer?

 

[Jhodgesatmb]

To my instinct or extremely limited knowledge of bodyshop and stainless steel, it is extremely hard to repair the stainless steel sheet/shell.

Now think about a dent, you can easily fix it using paste, buffering and painting. But how can you fix it with bare stainless stell?

Further more, the only way to fix from any kind of accident (local road crash or parking lot scratches) is part swapping.

Any thoughts?

Don’t. Problem solved.

 

[Jhodgesatmb]

How about a ding or small dent?

Dings of the kind you are talking about won’t happen to these panels. Watch the shopping cart video today.

 

[cvalue13]

How about a ding or small dent?

The intent, I believe, is that the SS panels will rarely experience a “small dent”

Joe Rogan fitting his compound bow at you notwithstanding

 

[CyberGus]

If you get a dent, just shoot up the area with a tommy gun and tell people you meant to do that

 

[rbalkun]

They hit the truck with a sledgehammer and it didn’t leave a scratch….maybe you should get a different vehicle if you think you’ll do a more forceful impact .

 

[charliemagpie]

How about a ding or small dent?

Small dents can be removed by a technique that doesn't require painting, that would be cheaper.

But in that hypothetical, in a similar impact, the CT would not have a dent at all.

If the CT was dented in an impact, what would happen if it was a normal car ?

IMO, the CT is at least no more expensive. Probably cheaper on average.

 

[pat11215]

To my instinct or extremely limited knowledge of bodyshop and stainless steel, it is extremely hard to repair the stainless steel sheet/shell.

Now think about a dent, you can easily fix it using paste, buffering and painting. But how can you fix it with bare stainless stell?

Further more, the only way to fix from any kind of accident (local road crash or parking lot scratches) is part swapping.

Any thoughts?

no worries there are alternatives ...

 

[mhaze]

Small dents can be removed by a technique that doesn't require painting, that would be cheaper.

But in that hypothetical, in a similar impact, the CT would not have a dent at all.

If the CT was dented in an impact, what would happen if it was a normal car ?

IMO, the CT is at least no more expensive. Probably cheaper on average.

Guys that fabricate commercial kitchen stainless steel equipment can cut out a piece from the CT panel,, tig weld back in a piece, and use abrasive pads to sand down the weld until you can't see it at all. Then the entire Cybertruck panel would have to be refinished, essentially sanded down for a uniform appearance.

This is routine with classic and custom mod cars, although it is with mild steel and not stainless.

Whether these processes are cheaper or more practical than ordering new panels are separate questions.

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