Bent Frame

Very few cars have “frames” these days. Most cars, including the Mazda Protege, are of “unibody” construction, which means the body and the frame are all one piece. There may be a front “sub frame,” which is replaceable, but the main structure of the car is still its unibody, not a separate frame.

In my opinion, once a unibody is substantially bent, it will never be “the same.” It may be straightened to “within specifications,” but it will never be as strong as it was when new, or exactly the same shape.

Think of any metal object you own, large or small. A frying pan. A metal sculpture. A soup can. Can you subject any of these to a large impact and then bend it back into EXACTLY the shape it was before the impact? No, of course you can’t. It’s no different with an automobile.