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We laser measured a 2019 Civic in Tacoma and the numbers didn't match my tape at all
I've been pulling frames with my old tape and tram gauge for 15 years and never had a comeback, so I figured I was dialed in. Last week a kid brought in a 2019 Civic that got hit in the left rear quarter and the door gaps were off by about 3mm front to back. I set it up on the rack the way I always do and got everything looking good with the tape. Then my shop owner rolled in a laser measuring system he picked up used for $4,200 and let me run it against my work. The laser said my left rail was still 5mm short and the strut tower was tweaked in a way my tape could never see. I fixed it the right way after that and the door closes like glass now, but it bugs me thinking how many cars I sent out with hidden pulls. Any of you old school guys make the switch to laser or do you still trust your tape for everything?
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young.kim19d ago
Watched a buddy of mine go through the same thing last year. He swore by his tram gauge for almost 20 years and one day his boss brought in a laser setup and caught a bent rail on a Camry he'd already signed off on. He was sick about it for weeks, kept saying he probably let a bunch of cars go out twisted over the years. What got him was that the tape only shows you what you measure, and you can't measure what you don't know to check. He runs the laser on every frame job now and says he'd never go back. The old tools still have a place but they just can't see the whole picture.
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