Frame check, Council ID
Auto Frame Testing
Measure and verify chassis alignment after an accident, so the frame is true for proper safety and performance.
Chapter 01
How a vehicle tells you its frame is out
A bent frame rarely announces itself. It shows up as a door that closes with a different sound than it used to, a gap between hood and fender that is wider on one side, a steering wheel that sits off center on a straight road, or a tire that wears down on one edge long before the other three. Each of those can have a boring cause. Together, after an accident, they point at the structure.
The photo on this page is a Jeep Wrangler after a front-end collision. The crumpled grille is what a customer sees. What a body shop worries about is how far the hit traveled back along the rails, because a vehicle that was pushed even a little off true will carry that into every repair that follows.
On US-95 around Council, the usual causes are a deer strike, a slide off the shoulder or a rear-end hit at the highway pull-offs. Any of them is worth a measurement, whether or not the paint looks scratched.
Jeep Wrangler with front-end collision damage before repair
Measured against points, not judged by eye
Eyeballing a frame does not work. Two sides that look the same can be a few millimeters apart at the points that matter, and a few millimeters at a mounting point becomes a lot more at the wheel. The honest way to check is to measure from known points on the underbody, side to side, front to back and corner to corner, and compare the numbers to what that vehicle is supposed to read.
If the numbers say the structure moved, it is pulled back and measured again, and that repeats until the readings come back true. The measuring happens before the cosmetic work starts, so nothing gets painted on top of a problem, and again afterwards, so the result is a number and not an opinion.
Brad Easley Auto Body is a two-man shop, which means the person reading the measurements is the same person who decides what happens next. There is no hand-off to another department and no second estimate to wait for.
Chapter 03
Why a true frame matters after the paint dries
Safety systems depend on the structure sitting where the engineers put it. Crumple zones fold the way they were designed to, sensors point where they should, and the wheels track straight so tires last. A vehicle repaired on a bent frame can look right in the driveway and behave wrong on a wet highway.
Written-down measurements also help at the other end of the job. They are the clearest record to hand an insurer that a claim was repaired properly, and Brad deals with the insurance company directly. They help at resale too, because a buyer or a lender asking about prior damage gets an answer backed by numbers instead of reassurance.
From a Google review: “he is very skilled at what he does”
What gets checked along with the frame
Collision Repair
Frame measuring usually sits inside a larger repair: structure, panels and paint put back in order.
READ THE CRAFT
Steering and Suspension Repair
A frame that is true still needs an alignment, and worn shocks, struts and components get diagnosed here.
READ THE CRAFT
Rear-End Damage Repair
Rear impacts push on rails and floor as well as the bumper, and those get measured too.
READ THE CRAFT
Back to all services, the story of a family shop since 1995, the blog, or send Brad the details on the contact page. The bay is open Mon-Fri 8:30am-6pm.