This is Why You Should Never Cut & Shut

[nirtime]

How many of you are aware of a practice known as cut and shut? Essentially a cut and shut occurs when a vehicle has been hit badly and the badly damaged area cut along the factory welds and then replaced with same area from a good shell. This is often the practice where a car has been involved in a front end collision and the entire front of the car is cut off and a new front is rewelded in place. Sometimes this happens for the rear of the car as well.

At the very basic level of comparison, you can say two crashed cars were cut up and welded to become one again. Once the two have become one, the fused together car is usually repainted and prior to painting all the welds are ground down and body filler is used to hide any joints.

This practice is very unsafe as it changes the properties of the metal. If done incorrectly, the car has the potential to break at the welds if involved in another accident. Generally, the crumple zones do not crumple as intended by the manufacturer and while some people believe that a properly cut and shut repair is safe, I take the stance that it is not at all safe.

Usually cut and shut cars are repaired to look like new again on the outside; body lines match up perfectly, doors open normally, every panel gap is perfect as it should be. However, close inspection reveals some interesting findings. When a cut and shut is studied from the under carriage, unusual welding is generally present. There may also be imperfections in the chassis rails that look as if they had been damaged previously. Economical repairs involve using body filler to smoothen the appearance of crumpled rails while a new front cut is welded on. Sometimes the repair is so poorly done that the car does not drive in a straight line.

Cut and shuts greatly change the handling characteristics of a vehicle in addition to the safety aspect. A car may not handle as it should under heavy braking, cornering or possibly acceleration. In fact, it may not even drive in a straight line or it may make strange sounds. A car that requires maintenance may exhibit similar symptoms so it is wise to visually inspect the area in question to really determine whether or not the car has been welded together.

Not much information is available on the internet that I could have found to truly give you a very clear picture of what you are looking for so based on my findings, I felt it was best to show you the following:

[video=youtube;yjxM9chAe1k]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yjxM9chAe1k[/video]
In this video, a Ford Focus is economically cut and shut. When crashed against the same car in its original condition, the cut and shut does not crumple as intended and the findings are very shocking to say the least.

[video=youtube;pG6mLhRM550]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pG6mLhRM550[/video]
This is the procedure of "cut and shut" . Quite a nightmarish scenario.

The car broke apart at the welds. Just imagine what would have happened if there were passengers not wearing their seat belts in that backseat.

http://www.leek-news.co.uk/Driver-L...hut-cars-car/story-24724482-detail/story.html

The above article shares the story of a driver who purchased a car without doing all the necessary inspections. Maybe he did not know.

In making this thread, I have high hope that people will come to understand that a cut and shut is serious business and if done incorrectly can cost them their lives. It may be more affordable than purchasing another car but is money really worth your life?

 

[LadyDeath]

Man this is some scary things. Alot of people do this in Trinidad. As a third world country, if our car is written off because of an accident we cannot afford to buy a new car. Some people simply buy the cuts of another car and replace it by welding it on to the original . There are alot of front cuts selling in the bamboo that many just buy and replace not knowing the dangers of this! It's a very risky move to do this as you many not know how well it is welded on. In the case of an accident, some cars might hold while others might not.

On the other hand, some people try to sell their cars after it has been written off and restored by the 'cut and shuts' method. These buyers don't know this history and are being put into a dangerous situation unknowingly.

 

[nirtime]

The half cuts sold in the Bamboo aren't for welding, they are designed to provide the parts necessary for doing an engine swap or getting hard to find parts.

Some people do use them for welding and thats not what it should be used for at all. Its not a good practice.

Chances are if someone resorts to welding on a new front end, theres a good chance they probably won't be able to afford to have it done to a meticulous standard which is what worries me most of all. The kind of things people do, from plating a new floor pan to hide a crumpled one and then compensating for a wonky driver's seat with washers...

I do understand not being able to afford another car and so if I were in that situation, i'd let insurance play its part and I'd see myself travelling for as long as needed or depending on how strapped I am and the insurance pay out, I'd get another car that was within reach. Money is no price to pay for your life and thats what makes me not sleep very soundly at night on the days I do look at cut and shut repairs.

Thats also a problem, sometimes people repair the cars and nobody knows about it as its done very quietly. Then its palmed off on some unsuspecting buyer who parts with hard earned money and then they end up sooner or later realising whats wrong. Thats one of the reasons I felt that I needed to make this thread.

It goes without saying I cannot sleep at night when I look at a cut and shut on the internet. It gives me nightmares. Maybe i'm overly enthusiastic but its very scary to know what goes on sometimes.

 

[Mad racer]

Oh the car in a very bad condition so that,s are the result of this cut amp shut.So i never do that because results are verse.

 

[nirtime]

Oh the car in a very bad condition so that,s are the result of this cut amp shut.So i never do that because results are verse.

Good to hear you didn't do it, its not safe.

 

[LadyDeath]

I wish we were like the US to implement the vehicle record system which records everything that has been done to a car for example . how much paint jobs a car had, how much accidents the car had been through etc. This will be able to inform a new buyer about the history of the vehicle and make a fair decision before purchase. Cut and Shut should only be done by professionals and have the car tested before use .

 

[nirtime]

I do believe cut and shut is illegal in some parts of the world. However, the history is so sketchy sometimes due to people falsifying information that you really can't rely on it too much as people often tend to do.

Seeing as though we don't have anything of that sort, a proper check by a mechanic or even yourself is something mandatory as there are a few cut and shuts that run around Trinidad. As for how they were shut, well no one else besides the laborer knows.

 

[Mad racer]

Yeah i am not in the habit to do the unsafe works because these are not health and risky thing going to be serious on roads mostly.