Repairing a Flooded Tesla Model S : HOW-TO

[Galve2000]

welcome to Tesla land. I was quoted roughly $4,000 to repair the passenger side rear quarter panel that has a dent I didn't even SEE. (i was parked near the beach and think a fellow beachgoer accidentally tapped me. sucks.

I will have same repaired in a few months when my road trip schedule quiets down.

That said. it should not take more than a few days to get a rear quarter panel. And the repair should be "about a month" I still think it is a long time.. again:

welcome to Tesla land.

 

[Chopr147]

It is obviously ridiculous and leaves me with an extreme fear of getting into an accident and needing parts. For a company that is so customer friendly it makes no sense to me. It cannot be the money because they will make plenty either way and probably more by having parts available. Is it their always ramping up and cannot take the time to make spare parts? I really would like to know the reason.
My daughters leased Hyundai last year needed a fender prior to giving back the lease. I actually got one on Ebay,same color , bolted right on and looked untouched by the time I finished. Sure not OEM but Hyundai did not notice. Now i'm not saying I would use an Ebay part on my S but you get the idea, it's not rocket science Elon! It seems EVERY Tesla owner involved in an accident is stuck trying to get parts for months at a time. Can you afford to rent a car for 2 months? I can't.

 

[jaguar36]

Does the MA law allow for exceptions based on safety or structural parts? The rear quarter panel is absolutely a structural part, but it seems like it would completely defeat the purpose of such a law if it did.

 

[SevenWithaT]

Just to share what I learned.
To my knowledge, the aluminium body is very different from the steel body. It has little to none structure memory. That's why if you were to crush a coke can, you would almost never bring it back to the original shape. They are hard to weld, too.

I had a BMW F10 before my current car. It has an aluminium front. My wife rear-ended it into an SUV at low speed, around 40 Km/h. It was totaled because the aluminium frame was bend. I did try to bring it to a really good shop in Toronto. When asking the shop why estimate for my repair was that high, the person was nice enough to take me to their specialized area for aluminium body repair. What I learn was:
1. Although al. and steel bodies look the same, they require different machine
2. Aluminium debris is poisonous. The area has to be sealed.
3. A special tool is needed for welding aluminium
4. There isn't a concept of pulling aluminium body. The body can be molded , only.

 

[LoL Rick]

Have your friend get in touch with Jack Rickard at EVTV. The guys there just finished taking apart a white 2013 model S that looked like it was hit in the front. From what I saw on the video, they were very careful with everything. They said not a single plug was cut.

 

[BigAirHarper]

Oh boy. Hearing stuff like this makes me so nervous. Yikes.

 

[JRP3]

Yeah it's a brewing crap storm that's building for Tesla. It's wrong on so many levels, hard to believe Elon approves, but even harder to believe he's not aware of it.

 

[BigAirHarper]

but even harder to believe he's not aware of it.

If this ever happens to me I'm going to be blowing up his Twitter account, and I don't even have an account.

 

[bkp_duke]

Just glancing at the MA Right to Repair law, it looks like Tesla might be breaking the law here. There appears to be no distinction on structural or non-structural parts by that law.

Granted, I'm not a lawyer, nor do I play one on TV.

 

[fabi]

Just to share what I learned.
To my knowledge, the aluminium body is very different from the steel body. It has little to none structure memory. That's why if you were to crush a coke can, you would almost never bring it back to the original shape. They are hard to weld, too.

I had a BMW F10 before my current car. It has an aluminium front. My wife rear-ended it into an SUV at low speed, around 40 Km/h. It was totaled because the aluminium frame was bend. I did try to bring it to a really good shop in Toronto. When asking the shop why estimate for my repair was that high, the person was nice enough to take me to their specialized area for aluminium body repair. What I learn was:
1. Although al. and steel bodies look the same, they require different machine
2. Aluminium debris is poisonous. The area has to be sealed.
3. A special tool is needed for welding aluminium
4. There isn't a concept of pulling aluminium body. The body can be molded , only.

The E60 had an aluminum-front. Only hood, fenders and side panals (which won't by broken in a low speed crash) of the F10 are made of aluminium.

F10

• fabi
• Aug 30, 2016

 

[SevenWithaT]

... Anyways, back to the flooded car.

Btr_ftw, since you have opened up everything. Is the facelift bumper different in terms of mounting points? I have been thinking if I can upgrade my bumper to an OEM facelift bumper lately, or it requires a different type of fender?

 

[hsctiger93]

Strange and perhaps ignorant question: Didn't Tesla open source all of its patents on Model S? Would that not make all of its parts equally free of IP restrictions? If so, what prevents an entrepreneur from opening up a parts business?

 

[jaguar36]

Strange and perhaps ignorant question: Didn't Tesla open source all of its patents on Model S? Would that not make all of its parts equally free of IP restrictions? If so, what prevents an entrepreneur from opening up a parts business?

Patents aren't the same thing as copyright, the patent thing really doesn't mean much.

That being said I don't belive that most car companies copyright the body panels, and for many cars knock-offs are available. However, the tooling costs for something like the rear quarter panel would be extreme, and the volumes would be tiny so no-one would ever do it.

 

[mikes_fsd]

Strange and perhaps ignorant question: Didn't Tesla open source all of its patents on Model S? Would that not make all of its parts equally free of IP restrictions? If so, what prevents an entrepreneur from opening up a parts business?

I think the cost of a stamping die --- let alone a stamping press, would prevent that. (in the case of a quarter panel or any other stamped part)

Just like with Toytoa/Honda eventually there will be aftermarket manufacturers for many components.

 

[Seagee]

Hey Rich ! Just read the entire 86-page thread straight through last night (until 4:30am). Total page turner ! Can’t thank you enough for taking the time to document your journey and enlighten the rest of us. Thanks too to Ingineer, Jason & everyone else for sharing their vast experience and contributing to our collective, communal knowledge. So generous of you guys !

I actually run a department at a fancy-pants law school near you, Rich and will look into the MA Right to Repair law.

One Question: in Post #1640 you show the car’s insurance report and talk about acquiring them for any salvage vehicle you buy. Can you let me know how to go about getting such reports ?

 

[Btr_ftw]

Hey Rich ! Just read the entire 86-page thread straight through last night (until 4:30am). Total page turner ! Can’t thank you enough for taking the time to document your journey and enlighten the rest of us. Thanks too to Ingineer, Jason & everyone else for sharing their vast experience and contributing to our collective, communal knowledge. So generous of you guys !

I actually run a department at a fancy-pants law school near you, Rich and will look into the MA Right to Repair law.

One Question: in Post #1640 you show the car’s insurance report and talk about acquiring them for any salvage vehicle you buy. Can you let me know how to go about getting such reports ?

1) buy a salvage car
2) look to see which ins company signed title last
3) call company and ask for insurance appraisal
4) wait 2 weeks
5) never get the appraisal
6) repeat step 3 several times

 

[Seagee]

Just took a look at the MA Right to Repair law and it only mandates that manufacturers shall make available for purchase by owners :

"the same diagnostic and repair information, including repair technical updates, that such manufacturer makes available to its dealers through the manufacturer's internet-based diagnostic and repair information system or other electronically accessible manufacturer's repair information system."

and...

"all diagnostic repair tools incorporating the same diagnostic, repair and wireless capabilities that such manufacturer makes available to its dealers."

Unfortunately it doesn't say anything about guaranteeing the right of owners to purchase the actual PARTS needed to make any repairs after diagnosing them via all this information & tools.

Tesla may actually have another loophole here to skirt even the existing requirements, but I don't want to spell it out publicly and make things worse. Incidentally, the original MA Right to Repair ballot initiative passed with 86% of the vote. That is a HUGE number for a ballot initiative as I'm currently involved in the MA campaign to Vote YES on 3! to prevent cruelty to farm animals.

Here is a link to the full text of the MA Right to Repair law in case anyone wants to read it directly.

 

[Seagee]

1) buy a salvage car
2) look to see which ins company signed title last
3) call company and ask for insurance appraisal
4) wait 2 weeks
5) never get the appraisal
6) repeat step 3 several times

Ha ! Got It. Your good-natured sense of humor has been really refreshing throughout.

 

[fabi]

Btr_ftw, since you have opened up everything. Is the facelift bumper different in terms of mounting points? I have been thinking if I can upgrade my bumper to an OEM facelift bumper lately, or it requires a different type of fender?

The Model X has different radiators (not vertical installed) and another air-intake below the T(esla) Badge in front. If the Facelift Model S has the same as the model x radiators and intake-architecture in won't work on pre-Facelift Model S.

 

[jaguar36]

... Anyways, back to the flooded car.

Btr_ftw, since you have opened up everything. Is the facelift bumper different in terms of mounting points? I have been thinking if I can upgrade my bumper to an OEM facelift bumper lately, or it requires a different type of fender?

Nope, the front subframe is completely different on the facelift cars, you couldn't retrofit a facelift bumper on a nose cone car. There is an aftermarket bumper that looks similar though.