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Ever wondered how panel beaters fix a damaged car?

Here are the 5 steps to Panel Beating:

1. Shrinking/Stretching

2. Planishing

3. Welding

4. Filling

5. Sanding

Shrinking/Stretching

This involves applying heat to the damaged area of the panel whilst using a special hammer to reshape the metal. This technique is used together with Planishing to restore the panel to original shape and contours.

Planishing

A planishing hammer is used to finely shape and smooth the panel surface. This metalworking technique helps push out the damaged metal where the metal is pushed against a shaping tool, known as a dolly or stake.

Welding

Welding may be use to join pieces of metal together by melting the work pieces together, once cooled it becomes a strong joint ensuring a strong vehicle structure. There are several ways to weld, such as by a gas flame or an electric arc but is dependent on the type of materials to be joined.

Filling

This involves adding putty filler to fill in some small holes in the surface so the original shape and contours can be achieved. It needs to be applied carefully our onto the area as fast as possible as once it hardens it’s not usable anymore. As the filler hardens, then it’s time to smoothed and shaped by sanding.

Sanding

Sanding is the procedure used to finely shape and smooth area ready for spray painting. Depending on the stage of work, a different texture can be achieved by changing the coarseness of the sanding pad.

After the preparation is completed, the car can be spray painted and be realigned if necessary, where the car is placed on a hydraulic lift then ensuring the chassis and other parts of car are properly aligned. This is important as the impact of collisions may have effected the under body of the car.

This is just a general idea of the process of accident repairs, for more information please give us a call on (03) 8521 3496 and we’ll be happy to answer any questions or concerns.

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We generally recommend you to change your air filter every 20,000-25,000 kms.

Changing your air filter regularly helps improve the fuel efficiency, reduce emissions and can prolong your engine life. If the air filter is clogged by dirt or sand it will reduce the oxygen supply for the internal combustion in the engine. Learn more here.

Standard copper spark plugs last around 20,000 – 30,000 kms.

Iridium or Platinum spark plugs can last for 80,000 – 10,000 kms

The spark plugs play an important role in your engine, they produce electrical sparks that ignites the mixture of fuel and air in your engine’s combustion chambers, causing the pistons to move up and down.

If your spark plug is worn out, it is recommended to get it replaced as soon as possible as it is instrumental in the movement of pistons which get the car wheels going. Bad plugs cause misfiring of the engine which makes the engine shake, reduce fuel efficiency, problems starting engine and poor acceleration.

If you are unsure, check out our quality car service packages, where we will inspect the spark plugs and notify you if they need to be replaced.

Ranges from 30,000 km – 90,000 km as it largely depends on driving habit.

For example: if you drive more aggressively especially in a busy city areas and brake with more force, more often – then it’s likely you will need to replace them sooner than someone who travels quiet long distance country roads. Or if you are driving on mountainous roads, going up and then down is also a factor. Because when you are braking downhill often it’s going to burn through those pads very quickly. So it really depends, but generally 3 years if you average 10,000kms/year then you would change them.

As a rule of thumb, if they are less than 25% then you should change it. If it’s more than perhaps you could change them next service. Badly worn pads can also damage your rotors making them uneven and they are normally much cheaper to replace than the rotors.

It is a hydraulic fluid used in the brake system – transfers the pressure applied from the brake pedal from when you step on it to the brake mechanisms of the car.

The brake fluid is hygroscopic thus absorb water/moisture from the atmosphere. If water gets in then it will decrease the performance and reduce the boiling point of the fluid (thus require change quicker) – when the brakes are applied alot of heat is generated therefore they need to have a high boiling point to be able to function properly.

Recommended change is every two years – need to drain the old fluid out and add new in. As this type of fluid ages and the corrosion inhibitor degrade over time and the chemical composition changes thus topping up won’t actually help.

Brake fluid change will ensure a normal and safe brake system operation, its replacement on a regular basis will also extend the life of brake components.