That 'Half Price' Totalled Audi R8 Has Been Repaired For $500
A few days ago, we were looking at the Audi R8 bought by YouTuber Samcrac. It was an insurance write off due to a crack in the front frame, and as a consequence, it went for about half the going rate of an early manual V8.
The insurance estimate for the repair is $29,522, but with a little DIY work to bring the two sides around the crack back together followed by an intensive welding session (which also involved strengthening the unaffected side as a preventative measure), the frame is back together for a mere $500. Well, plus the cost of replacing the windscreen, after a mallet mishap had smashy consequences.
That’ll be $1150 for the part, plus labour, and due to one of the magnetic ride dampers being bent, a replacement aftermarket set of dampers will need to go in at some point. Even so, Samcrac is confident that he’ll still be in possession of the “cheapest Audi R8 on the planet” once all the work is done.
It is worth noting that using the axle stand as the anchor point for the hydraulic puller really isn’t advisable for reasons that should be quite obvious, and the potential strength of the method used to fix the frame - which didn’t involve the use of the Audi-approved reinforcement plates fitted to R8s from 2011 onwards - has inevitably caused quite a bit of debate in the YouTube comments.
What do you think of the repair?
Growing up on a diet of World Rally Championship highlights and lengthy Gran Turismo 2 sessions, a life in cars was as good as inevitable for Matt.
Comments
I have a bad feeling about this…
You’re not the only one….
“reapired for $500”
Audi R8 windshield: $1000+
I would do some ndt on those welds before putting the R8 through serious use. And then repeat the ndt at least once a year to detect failure of the weld/bracket before stuff goes wrong. You never know what kind of engineering has been done on the frame by the manufacturer. Claiming that a welded fix is stronger than before the defect without proper design engineering and testing is just stupid.
Wait wait is that bolt holding something on with an… unhooked carabiner?
That’s where they put the puller on for straighten the frame.
so you never bothered your erse watching the video ??
Lmao just go to a pay and spray
that weldings seam looks like it was made by a blind Pig with two wires and some Tin Foil….
looks like an aerial view of lava flow
And you could do better?
The thumbnail be like ‘STONGER THAN FACTORY!’
“Repaired for $500”. Forgetting the price of the shocker? Oh, and the windscreen to repair it to a roadworthy condition.
They said 500$ for the frame
Don’t you mean “This guy” ?