That week we had three Teslas in the shop at once was a real eye opener

Last month, we got three Model 3s in for front-end work from separate fender benders. Everyone in the shop was grumbling about the aluminum and the special procedures, saying it was a pain and not worth the hassle. I get it, it's different. But by the third one, I started seeing a pattern in the repair manuals and the way things clip together. It's just a new set of rules to learn, like when we switched from mostly steel to more plastic panels. The second car took me two hours less than the first because I stopped fighting it. My buddy Steve said, "It's just a car, Leo, stop overthinking it," but I think that's the wrong way to look at it. Has anyone else found that once you get past the initial weirdness, the repair process on these actually starts to make some sense?

4 comments

4 Comments

christopher94311d ago

Wait, you got three of them in a week? That's wild. I've only seen maybe two total in our shop this whole year. The idea of having to deal with that much aluminum and special adhesive all at once sounds like a nightmare. I'd be the one grumbling too.

shanelee11d ago

Ever try batching the prep work for all of them at once? I got through a stack by cutting all the aluminum first, then doing all the adhesive mixing in one go. It still sucked, but it was way less messy and saved some time.

blair_webb11d ago

Nightmare" is a bit much, it's just three jobs back to back.

jennifer20411d ago

Batching the prep is a game changer. I started grouping all the surface cleaning and primer steps too, so you're not constantly switching tools. It cuts down the mental load as much as the cleanup time.