CM Visit: LKQ Coatings
Curious about how vehicle technology is affecting the professional bodywork repairer, Rob Marshall ventures to the HQ of LKQ coatings in Milton Keynes to discover how the trade is reacting.
Even if you do not buy parts to repair your car yourself, there is a good chance that your garage is supplied with components from Euro Car Parts, one of Europe’s largest parts suppliers.
The company is expanding rapidly; since 2016, for example, it acquired the majority of the Andrew Page vehicle parts distributorship, but its reach is expanding beyond what the typical DIYER might see. Through its Workshop Solutions brand, for example, Euro Car Parts has entered the garage equipment and training markets, offering products that range from ramps to clothing.
Through its parent company, LKQ Corporation, Euro Car Parts has also entered the professional body repair market, with LKQ Coatings becoming a division of the company. From its UK headquarters in Milton Keynes, LKQ Coatings offers bodyshop professionals the chance to discover more about not only the latest in consumables and repair techniques but also training developments, plus information about the latest complexities involving modern vehicle repair. Naturally, CM jumped at the opportunity to attend a special training event and find out more about this area of the industry.
Body beautiful
As regular CM readers will testify, car manufacturers are obligated to comply with strict tailpipe CO2 emissions regulations, which is one of the primary drivers of technological development. This affects not only repair methods for mechanical parts but also bodywork. Thinner, high-strength materials require more sophisticated techniques than the 0.8mm-thick mild steel panels that used to be the universal standard. Power-tec, the professional repair tools division of The Tool Connection, demonstrated repair techniques at the event and explained that even the composition of aluminium panels is changing. For example, certain all-aluminium bodied models from the early 2000s tended to possess very brittle panels, whereas many of the latest panels have more silicon added to the metal mix, which makes the panel more prone to developing splits.
Splitting also afflicts plastic panel repairs, which is an issue when repair costs need to be shaved and the costly option of replacing the entire moulding is to be avoided. For this, Power-tec demonstrated the use of nitrogen welding, which ensures a stronger repair and reduces the chance of the material separating again afterwards.
Advanced Driver Assistance Systems
While systems, such as automatic wipers and reverse cameras/sensors, have been fitted for many years and require virtually zero maintenance, a new generation of technology requires careful attention to ensure that each component works properly, post-repair.
In order to gain a maximum five-star Euro NCAP crash safety score, for example, a new model must have Autonomous Emergency Braking, Lane Support and Speed Assistance Systems available throughout its entire range. These Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) are creating major challenges not only for bodyshops but also for conventional garages.
Whether camera-based (such as speed limit sign/lane/pedestrian recognition systems) or relying on lasers (including adaptive cruise control), all these systems require recalibration, even after suspension geometry is adjusted. Note also that some crash mitigation systems, for example emergency autobrake, may use either one, or both of these hardwares. Regardless, without calibration, these safety systems might fail to operate, or will do so incorrectly. Misalignment of a windscreen camera by one degree can cause an inaccuracy of up to seven metres, highlighting why the procedure is so critical to safety.
With all this sophistication relying so much on accurate adjustment, it’s remarkable that the calibration process is so time consuming and low-tech. Essentially, the car must be positioned accurately in front of a calibration board, which is comparable to a human eye test. The processes were explained in-depth to us at the event, with one company offering digital boards as an alternative for bodyshops with limited storage space.
Keeping cool
Aircon systems are also experiencing changes. While the positioning of the aluminium condenser in front of the main engine radiator has always made it vulnerable to impact damage and corrosion, the regassing side of the repair is evolving quickly for environmental reasons.
Most cars on British roads use R134a as their air-conditioning refrigerant, which is 1300 times more damaging than carbon dioxide from a global warming perspective. R1234yf is only four times as harmful and was mandatory in all cars sold in the EU after 2017, although some car-makers adopted it from 2013. Now that many of these vehicles are out of warranty and leaving main dealer workshops, more aftermarket garages and bodyshops have had to adapt.
Autoclimate is part of the Euro Car Parts group and now one of the biggest sellers of professional automotive airconditioning equipment. It explained to CM that R1234yf is still growing in popularity, despite the regassing market being split 60/40 in favour of the new gas already. We are now in a ten-year window, in which professional workshops will have demand from their customers to service both the older systems that use R134a and the R1234yf for newer vehicles. With
R134a production being restricted and cars that use it reducing in number through scrapping, it is only a matter of time before demand for the older gas is withdrawn. Interestingly, work is ongoing to make aircon operate solely on CO2; certain high-end Mercedes-benz models feature such systems already and it is thought this can be used to help to reduce battery temperatures on future electric vehicles.
Despite holding the tutorials in an informal atmosphere, LKQ Coatings provided much food for thought about how the body repair business is upskilling for new vehicle developments. Learning not only about how current models are constructed but also how a new range of repair products has evolved is critical, both to ensure the survival of an independent repair industry and also to keep costs down for the consumer, so that older vehicles are not scrapped unnecessarily and remain on the road.