3 ms·
This is off topic but I’ve wondered why cat panels are designed in a way that makes them so difficult to fix yourself. It would be nice if I could patch em up o
by codazoda 4y ago
This is off topic but I’ve wondered why cat panels are designed in a way that makes them so difficult to fix yourself. It would be nice if I could patch em up or change the color myself, like I can with my walls at home, without making my machine stand out.
- SV_BubbleTime 4y agoThis is a deep topic. But the short version is that let's take a paint called PR4 from the factory. If they were spraying this color in the morning in the winter, and or afternoon in the summer, even at the factory it won't perfectly match. Now give the recipe of PR4 to a body shop and it doesn't matter, they'll need to match it anyhow. As to why panels aren't replaceable. It's cost and weight. If your panel just unbolts, you have the weight of bolts and fasteners, durability of it becoming loose, assembly time at the factory, etc. For modern vehicles, a lot of the class-A body panels you see are structural components. Without these, you would need a stiffer unibody or frame. Cost and weight top to bottom.
- jstarfish 4y agoThere have been a few attempts at user-removable body panels for color-swapping. The BMW Z1 is the only one I could find in 2 seconds searching, but I could swear Pontiac or someone tried this too.
- SV_BubbleTime 4y agoEveryone has tried it here and there. Honda elements have replaceable fenders iirc, but it doesn’t change the math. You can be lighter and cheaper if you don’t plan on swapping panels out. Body shops are pretty good at what they do. Fancier cars like McLaren go the entire opposite direction. Some panels have no way of coming out at all they are part of the carbon tub, other panels must be cut out with a knife because they don’t bolt on anywhere.