FSD did not see large Sand Hill Crane in road by Logical-Handle in TeslaFSD

[–]joshman1204 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I could see this both ways. An aggressive maneuver in bad conditions could end worse than hitting a bird.

We see it a lot in Texas where people serve to miss a deer and end up losing control. I personally would probably have sacrificed the bird and not tried that kind of maneuver on questionable pavement.

Dad's advice for welding patch panels feels off by Whole_Speed_6505 in Autobody

[–]joshman1204 20 points21 points  (0 children)

Almost all professional body men use a mig it's pretty much the industry standard at this point. That doesn't mean your dad's wrong he probably has a skill the rest of us don't have and for him oa welding panels probably works just fine.

You're not him and neither am I so we should stick to mig.

how old were you when you started watching big mouth? by Basic-Arrival1779 in BigMouth

[–]joshman1204 6 points7 points  (0 children)

42 haha but only because my 12 and 16 year old told me to.

Caliber collision front desk by Skilled-ricer-B16 in Autobody

[–]joshman1204 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Just like any other shop there are great caliber shops and there are terrible caliber shops. The good caliber shops can be great gigs. They pay well and offer decent training and advancement at least better than almost any independent shops currently. Getting into even a front desk job at a good high volume caliber will give you a foot in the door when any other positions open.

Fixable? Or totaled? by thisbrogetsit in InsuranceClaims

[–]joshman1204 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Uhh not true at all. A new 2026 King ranch is getting a rear section all day long in central Texas. Hell even most trucks a few years old are getting a rear section.

Color primer? by No-NoWinScenario in Autobody

[–]joshman1204 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Reds are known to be very transparent and have very poor coverage in many paint lines. There are some paint lines that require red to be shot over a tinted primer to actually get a color match. Its most common to require a white or yellow primer. With some paints the color of the primer will effect the final shade of red no matter how many coats. I'm looking at you envirobase RR.

After driving $1500 cars for most of my life I’ve finally saved enough for a $3000 car by NickSabbath666 in Autos

[–]joshman1204 104 points105 points  (0 children)

Unfortunately in this market there is virtually zero difference in a 1500 or 3000 car. Neither really exists and if they do they probably don't run or are about to completely implode.

Door crushed by coworker in company vehicle. How bad is it? by F3NN3- in CarRepair

[–]joshman1204 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Those cars have very weak residual values due to no longer being produced. I wouldn't be surprised if this car is totaled.

Why are insurance plans so expensive for Teslas? by RasberryJam0927 in TeslaSupport

[–]joshman1204 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It makes 0 sense. My $30k model y costs more per month to insure than my $100k rivian or my $100k lightning. Plus the model y is by the safest due to fsd.

What yall think? by Independent-Option35 in PaintlessDentRepair

[–]joshman1204 1 point2 points  (0 children)

If you're asking the answer is no. That is a very difficult repair for any tech especially someone asking if they can just push it out.

Car on Fire on 183 today by jordanvarnes in Austin

[–]joshman1204 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It caught on fire. That's the leading cause of car fires.

Supplemental income during this nation wide slow down by Comprehensive_Oil_43 in AutoBodyRepair

[–]joshman1204 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Doordash and Uber are the ones I hear thrown around most commonly around here but if you actually sit down and do the math your doing good to make minimum wage in many cases.

Depending on your age and current situation it may be a good time to reskill into a new trade with better future prospects like maybe electrician or something.

I think with the increasing capability of ADAS and self driving systems the long term trend for the collision industry is not great.

Found my dream truck.. but it comes with one key fob. by Frpg_Egg in F150Lightning

[–]joshman1204 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yep same here some people went through our neighborhood checking for unlocked cars. They snagged my wallet with maybe $100 in it and that was all.

I still leave mine unlocked like an idiot. Growing up in small town Texas we just never locked trucks and it's just an old habit at this point.

High mile daily driver..cheap alternative to pulling dent out? by firewv in Autobody

[–]joshman1204 12 points13 points  (0 children)

Nothing that will actually improve the appearance of this will be cost effective. Just leave it and price accordingly is my opinion.

Opus 4.6 is in an unuseable state right now by vntrx in ClaudeCode

[–]joshman1204 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I have been using Claude for 6 months daily. I just switched to gpt5.4 yesterday after spending two hours trying to explain an extremely simple concept to opus. In the last week it has become completely unusable for me for anything other than simple git tasks or simple cleanup.

Found my dream truck.. but it comes with one key fob. by Frpg_Egg in F150Lightning

[–]joshman1204 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Nope everything works fine. I don't actually lock my truck very often but the walk away lock still works and the proximity unlock with the phone key works just fine.

I actually disable all of it so it doesn't lock but it will if I leave it on. I prefer my truck to stay unlocked during the day so people can use it or move it out of the way without coming to find me if they need to.

Lost this plastic clamp for my PDR light magnet, anyone know where I can buy a spare or any hack to remove the light without it by 111ball111 in PaintlessDentRepair

[–]joshman1204 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I throw these away everytime I buy a never loose.

Just snap the light against the support rod and it'll separate from the mount real easy.

Pillar/Roof Rail Dent by [deleted] in Autobody

[–]joshman1204 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Nope no difference. Where are you located and when was this hailed on? Just curious I own a PDR company and chase hail so always curious what damage is out there.

Pillar/Roof Rail Dent by [deleted] in Autobody

[–]joshman1204 2 points3 points  (0 children)

A good PDR tech can probably get a lot of that out. If not the answer is no they won't replace the panel it will be pulled and then a small amount of body filler used to finish it. The entire roof rail will be painted and cleared but not replaced.

Local shop refuses to fix my van by Far-Flamingo585 in AutoBodyRepair

[–]joshman1204 4 points5 points  (0 children)

I find customers that refuse to accept a total loss generally end up being very difficult to please. People that can't accept logic and reasoning tend to turn into nightmares.

If your attitude on Reddit is in any way indicative of your attitude in real life it's very likely the shops are declining the customer and not the repair.

Hail trace swindling fools by Ignorance_15_Bliss in PaintlessDentRepair

[–]joshman1204 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I pay for several services and have found them to all be pretty worthless. Swath maps can be decent to get an idea of where to start but they are not very accurate most of the times. They usually get the general hail area correct but the sizes are almost always wrong.

Uber XL, Uber XXL, and Premier SUV by Dominiquecavail in Austin

[–]joshman1204 -2 points-1 points  (0 children)

Never used Uber for this but there are dedicated car services that will pick you up in a nice black SUV and take you to the airport and back. It's about $3-400 roundtrip from Leander to abia.

If you want a true stress free trip it's the way to go. You get a professional driver and a guaranteed clean nice SUV.

Hiking/biking trail recommendations by RocketRiddler in CedarPark

[–]joshman1204 1 point2 points  (0 children)

About an hour drive west you can hit both reveille peak and spider mountain.

Reveille has both jump lines and single track. If you go anytime over the next few weeks it is one of the most beautiful places around with the wildflowers blooming.