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- Dec 9, 2024
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I figured I would share this 25 Air that we have in the shop right now, as this is a great example of the sticker shock syndrome that we deal with. This customer reported that he backed up over a curb and noticed the right side of the bumper cover popping out/warped, and that the quarter wheelhouse liner was loose. Most people would look at this and say, no big deal, that should probably be a few thousand to fix, maybe less.
Lower diffuser is also cracked on the right side from the impact:
And the bumper tab is ripped on the right side:
However, upon removal of the bumper cover, we can see that the aluminum body shell has significant damage behind the bumper bracket and wheelhouse liner:
The white triangle shape in the middle of the photo is actually the seam sealer from the inside of the trunk, meaning that the aluminum has split open and water can now enter the trunk area (which is right where one of the 12 volt batteries sits on top of the floor).
The small circles you see around the perimeter of the flanges are self piercing rivets (SPRs), and in between the aluminum panels is a layer of structural bonding adhesive. Given that the aluminum has torn/cracked in multiple areas, the rear floor pan, the rear wheelhouse, the quarter close out panel, and the outer quarter panel will all need to be replaced (the outer quarter is due to how the panels overlap, and the closeout panel extends up into the trunk trough area).
To replace the floor pan, the rear drive unit/rear suspension assembly must be dropped out of the car, the vehicle placed on our dedicated fixtures bench, and then we can rivet/bond in all the new panels. After that, all the adjacent panels to the right quarter (along with a new rear bumper fascia) will also need refinishing (upper trunk, lower trunk, right rear door, right uniside jambs.
We do not have this one fully written up and assessed yet, but we have done this job many times already on other cars, this will surpass $30,000 in repair costs.
For those that may be thinking, "Bend the flanges back, squirt some seam sealer into the joint, paint it, and the job will be 10% of my ball park figure", sure you can do that, but the crash worthiness of the vehicle has not been restored, and it will not perform the way Lucid engineered it to react in a subsequent accident.
Lower diffuser is also cracked on the right side from the impact:
And the bumper tab is ripped on the right side:
However, upon removal of the bumper cover, we can see that the aluminum body shell has significant damage behind the bumper bracket and wheelhouse liner:
The white triangle shape in the middle of the photo is actually the seam sealer from the inside of the trunk, meaning that the aluminum has split open and water can now enter the trunk area (which is right where one of the 12 volt batteries sits on top of the floor).
The small circles you see around the perimeter of the flanges are self piercing rivets (SPRs), and in between the aluminum panels is a layer of structural bonding adhesive. Given that the aluminum has torn/cracked in multiple areas, the rear floor pan, the rear wheelhouse, the quarter close out panel, and the outer quarter panel will all need to be replaced (the outer quarter is due to how the panels overlap, and the closeout panel extends up into the trunk trough area).
To replace the floor pan, the rear drive unit/rear suspension assembly must be dropped out of the car, the vehicle placed on our dedicated fixtures bench, and then we can rivet/bond in all the new panels. After that, all the adjacent panels to the right quarter (along with a new rear bumper fascia) will also need refinishing (upper trunk, lower trunk, right rear door, right uniside jambs.
We do not have this one fully written up and assessed yet, but we have done this job many times already on other cars, this will surpass $30,000 in repair costs.
For those that may be thinking, "Bend the flanges back, squirt some seam sealer into the joint, paint it, and the job will be 10% of my ball park figure", sure you can do that, but the crash worthiness of the vehicle has not been restored, and it will not perform the way Lucid engineered it to react in a subsequent accident.
