Body Construction And Material Repair Guidelines: Volkswagen

What is the MPa of the front lower rail? What is the outer uniside made of: steel, aluminum, or composite? Can heat be used to straighten or is it cold straightening only? What are the repair limitations? These are just some of the questions that the RTS team fields on a daily basis.

As we know, today’s vehicles can be constructed from a wide variety of materials. Knowing if the OEM provides information on body construction materials and repair guidelines is a crucial step in providing a complete, safe, and quality repair. Let’s see what Volkswagen has to say.

After you access the body repair manual, you will be able to locate the construction material breakdown in the body repair manual (BRM) under: Galvanized Body Parts and High-Strength/Highest Strength Hot Formed Body Panels. It begins with an explanation of the vehicle assembly before providing a color-coded chart and key explaining what the type of steel and MPa is on the identified body parts. The subsequent pages within this area provide colored illustrations that breakdown the various vehicle components.

Repair guidelines are located in the General Information; Body Repairs, Body Collision Repair manual under: Damage, Evaluating. It is within this section strengthened steel body panels are explained as well as various cautions, such as "For safety reasons, high-strength body panels must not be heated when reforming as with normal body panels!"

Volkswagen vehicle-specific body repair manuals can be found at: www.erwin.vw.com

For additional Volkswagen information, check out the Volkswagen OEM Information page.

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