Celette vs Car Bench

[RC70SCoupe]

Both are Porsche approved.
I know many use Celette for major body straightening. Many will say ONLY use a shop with Celette.

Who has had experience with a shop who uses Car Bench?

[Ivan Fuller]

We have an Auto Robot with analog full 3D measuring system it will do all that a celette bench will do & some. any point on the car under body or random external panel points (hinge posts for example) +/- 1mm - we use this regularly when having to fabricate panels or section in parts panels such as fenders. Celette from the day is much more limited.

[David Liam]

I am personally obsessed with Celettes, I like Celettes like I like Porsches. I read about them in the manual when I was a kid, so that's all I needed to see, I was hooked.

Celettes with all the factory mounting points, no measuring needed. Still tons of on the fly fitment, endless double-checking and finesse, but still nice to know it's built Celette true. 3D measuring is key, I agree with Ivan on that one. But, it ultimately comes down to gaps no matter what, hand-built car, nothing is perfect or exact from chassis to chassis.

Why are you asking about Car Bench? What are you trying to do?

[RC70SCoupe]

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Why are you asking about Car Bench? What are you trying to do?

My 1970 911 was involved in a "fender bender"
The local repair shop uses a Car Bench Piranha for straightening.
Trying to educate myself via the Forum on benefits or disadvantages of Car Bench

[BillJones]

The main issue should be how the bench is configured.

Car Bench do supply the complete range of fittings to allow a 911 to bolted to their base jig and checked/straightened without the need to measure in an identical manner to the Cellete jigs shown in the Workshop Manuals.

Most commercial repair shops rent these brackets from their local Car Bench Distributor for a daily fee.

More recently Car Bench have developed a 'Uni-Bracket' system which uses adjustable brackets that can be set up for a wide range of cars. The settings used are provided as a download from a Car Bench Website and using this method is significantly less expensive.

If you use the specific 911 brackets I don't see much real difference and it is possible to bolt a Celette brackets on a Car Bench frame and vice versa.

I can imagine using Uni-Brackets may involve a little more risk but should work OK with a skilled operator.

As has been said even using a jig will still not remove the need for some skilled panel fitting.

All of the other window frame and other fixtures shown throughout the Workshop Manual would be invaluable but are difficult to find.

[mrar]

We needed to hire the mounting clamps to be able to use the caroliner when straightening early 911 as the standard supply setup didn't cater for all models. What matters most more often than not with many of these different systems (as Bill mentions above) is the skill of the operator/tradesman when using the bench.

[bob joyce]

We needed to hire the mounting clamps to be able to use the caroliner when straightening early 911 as the standard supply setup didn't cater for all models. What matters most more often than not with many of these different systems (as Bill mentions above) is the skill of the operator/tradesman when using the bench.

unfortunately this is the bottom line.... you cant rely on any one system or tooling to do the work.... it has to be perfectly performed …. they did not have celete jigs for building the pyramids....
obviously these systems and tooling's were deployed to reduce /eliminate man error... but they don't totally eliminate error because they have to be properly setup and maintained...