Help Needed,

A corvette takes a severe hit in the front slightly off to the drivers and does damage to headlamp, the wheel, frame rail, and other items. Dealer states that front frame-rails on a corvette are replacable and done relatively easily is this hogwash ??? Any pics or facts would be appreciated as concerned its away for dealer to hide or mask frame damage.

 

It's not too difficult to cut out and weld the new piece in. A few members here have had their frames repaired.

 

Say it aint so Scott. I heard that the C5 can have certain parts of the frame replaced. Actually saw the new factory rail section before it was installed on a ZO6 last year. Repair was perfect. If you want the best body shop take it to one of our own (Corvette owner) Call Maurice Degollada @ Stuttgart International. The shop is located in Ft. Lauderdale, 1055 NW. 51st Ct. 954 563-5011 They do many high end autos and you must have a recommendation to get into the shop. Now thats a busy body shop He has a ZR1 sitting in the shop that he bought brand new, decided the factory paint sucked and stripped and re-painted the entire car just after delivery. He and his brother Marcos will hook you up with some fantastic work. I'm sure you did not notice that my passenger door was hit, thats because even I can't tell. They repaired the door and matched the silver perfectly. I highly recommend these guy's.
Bob

 

For what it's worth they also rebuilt my son's EVO after he wrecked it. The front of an EVO is ALUMINUM, again you cannot tell that a repair was made and it had EXTENSIVE damage.

 

I have the factory repair manual at the house that has the procedure for splicing in a new frame rail, as long as it's done by a competent shop I wouldn't see any problems.

 

As mentioned above, as long as a good shop does the work there shold be no problem. My car was in an accident shortly after having it (a friend wrecked it). The car had 30,000 miles at the time, now it has right at 100,000 and there has never been a problem.

Good luck

 

I bought a wrecked (in front) 2001 coupe which had both pass and driver side frame rails bent in at about 45 degree angles. The Driver side was worse, as the bend was right through where the front bolt for the suspension cradle goes thru the frame. Also, the frame was kinked in hard at that location.

I went to a highly recommended frame shop and they pulled the frame on both sides, and it's going to look like new when everything's put back on. I DID NOT have to replace the frame. The frame can be replaced, either in 1/3 sections or the entire side, but I'd much rather have the existing frame straightened if possible, rather than having to replace the front 1/3.

Also, on mine, although the only damage appeared to be the front rails being bent inward, once they were straightened, my frame shop found that the frame was slightly bent upward at the firewall, and they had to straighten that also.

Also, keep in mind that the inner wheelwells are glued to the frame, and if there is frame damage, you're likely going to have to replace the inner wheelwell assembly. This repair is also critical, as there doesn't appear to be much tolerance/adjustment for the outer fender which is screwed to the inner fender. IE: better glue the inner wheelwell in place correctly, or the outer fender is not going to align properly.

All this said, my '01's in the body shop right now having the inner wheelwells glued on and front body work done. I haven't driven it yet, so I don't know if I have any issues due to the frame straightening, but I'm hoping not. I don't think I'm going to since the frame shop told me all measurements were correct, and I was able to replace mechanical components (radiator/A/C condensor, etc) with no problems.

Time will tell. Bill.