ASE B4
STRUCTURAL ANALYSIS
AND DAMAGE REPAIR
Master frame inspection, unibody measurement, stationary glass, and structural welding to conquer the exam.
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ASE®, the ASE logo, and "ASE Certified" are registered trademarks of the National Institute for Automotive Service Excellence. asecollisiontestprep.com is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by ASE. The patch shown above is the official credential issued by ASE to technicians who pass the ASE B4 exam, shown here for educational reference. Official certification can only be earned by passing the ASE exam at a Prometric test center.
Pay figures are illustrative and vary by experience, certification, location, employer, and flat-rate production. Per the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2024; 49-3021 Automotive Body and Related Repairers), median pay was $51,680 per year, with the lowest 10 percent earning under $36,390 per year (about $17 per hour, typical of entry-level or uncertified workers) and the top 10 percent earning over $87,040 per year. Experienced, ASE-certified collision technicians working flat rate in busy shops are among the top earners, where $65,000 to $100,000 or more is attainable. Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, bls.gov.
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ASE B4 Sample Flashcards
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ASE B4 Test Overview
What to expect on exam day: question counts, timing, and how the scored questions break down by task area.
Required every 5 years
ASE B4 Task List
Every task the ASE B4 exam can cover, organized by the four official task areas.
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A. Frame Inspection and Repair
- Diagnose, repair, verify, and document repairs on underbody and upperbody structural damage using three-dimensional measuring systems (mechanical, electronic/computerized, laser), and dedicated or universal fixtures, in accordance with manufacturer specific procedures/industry guidelines.
- Check the vehicle with a tram gauge to determine further diagnostic procedures.
- Lift, anchor, and support vehicle for repair and realignment.
- Repair and align mash/collapse damage (change in length from body zero).
- Repair and align sag/kickup damage (change in height from datum).
- Repair and align sidesway/sway damage (change in width from centerline).
- Repair and align twist damage (vertical misalignment in the center section).
- Repair and align diamond damage.
- Diagnose, repair, or replace damaged frame, frame horns, side rails, cross members, frame brackets, supplemental restraint system (SRS) and advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) sensor mounting locations, and front, rear, or center sections in accordance with manufacturer specific procedures/industry guidelines.
- Replace protective coatings, restore corrosion protection to repaired or replaced frame areas and anchoring locations.
- Repair or replace stress-cracked frame members in accordance with manufacturer specific procedures/industry guidelines.
- Diagnose damaged mounting locations for steering, suspension, and powertrain components, which can cause vibration, steering, and wheel alignment problems, in accordance with manufacturer specific procedures/industry guidelines.
- Perform stress-relieving procedures in accordance with manufacturer specific procedures/industry guidelines.
- Determine the direction of impact and the extent of direct and indirect damage.
- Identify the frame type and composition; plan the methods and sequence of repair in accordance with manufacturer specific procedures/industry guidelines.
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B. Unibody and Unitized Structure Inspection, Measurement, and Repair
- Diagnose, repair, verify, and document repairs on underbody and upperbody structural damage using three-dimensional measuring systems (mechanical, electronic/computerized, laser), and dedicated or universal fixtures, in accordance with manufacturer specific procedures/industry guidelines.
- Check the vehicle with a tram gauge to determine further diagnostic procedures.
- Lift, anchor, and support vehicle for repair and realignment.
- Repair and align mash/collapse damage (change in length from body zero).
- Repair and align sag/kickup damage (change in height from datum).
- Repair and align sidesway/sway damage (change in width from centerline).
- Repair and align twist damage (vertical misalignment in center section).
- Diagnose damaged mounting locations for steering, suspension, and powertrain components, which can cause vibration, steering, and wheel alignment problems, in accordance with manufacturer specific procedures/industry guidelines.
- Identify, diagnose, repair, or replace the supplemental restraint system (SRS) and advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) sensor component mounting locations (collision avoidance, adaptive cruise control, park assist, etc.).
- Determine the direction of impact and the extent of direct and indirect damage.
- Identify the structural composition; plan the methods and sequence of repair, in accordance with manufacturer specific procedures/industry guidelines.
- Repair, align, and/or replace center section components (cowl, bulkhead, roof, roof rails, pillars, floor, stationary glass openings, door openings, rocker panels, and crossmembers).
- Repair, align, and/or replace rear section components (quarter panels, rear compartment opening, package shelf, wheelhouse assemblies, rear body panel, rails, floor pans, crossmembers, and the mounting points of suspension and powertrain components).
- Repair, align, and/or replace front section components (aprons, strut towers, upper and lower rails, crossmembers, and the mounting points of steering, suspension, and powertrain components).
- Perform stress-relieving procedures in accordance with manufacturer specific procedures/industry guidelines.
- Replace protective coatings; restore corrosion protection to repaired or replaced unibody structural areas and anchoring locations.
- Restore noise, vibration, harshness (NVH) materials and structural foams in accordance with manufacturer specific procedures/industry guidelines.
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C. Stationary Glass
- Identify, remove and/or replace front and rear modular/stationary glass, including heated, non-heated, and glass equipped with electronic accessories (cellular, satellite, collision avoidance, antenna, rain sensor, etc.) in accordance with manufacturer specific procedures/industry guidelines.
- Identify, remove and/or replace side and roof modular/stationary glass including glass equipped with electronic accessories in accordance with manufacturer specific procedures/industry guidelines.
- Determine correct pinch weld preparation, adhesive selection and application in accordance with vehicle manufacturer specific procedures/adhesive manufacturer directions for use.
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D. Welding, Cutting, and Joining
- Identify structural composition; determine the correct joining process in accordance with vehicle manufacturer specific procedures/industry guidelines.
- Set up and adjust welding equipment for the material to be welded (steel, aluminum).
- Determine proper welding technique (push, pull, and gun angle) for the type of welds being made.
- Determine correct welding process in accordance with vehicle manufacturer specific procedures/industry guidelines (GMAW, MIG/MAG, MIG brazing, Squeeze-Type Resistance Spot); identify the electrode, wire type, diameter, and gas to be used in specific welding situations.
- Protect all vehicle systems and components from damage during welding and cutting operations.
- Prepare the metal to be joined; assure good joint fit-up.
- Identify the type of weld/bonded joint (butt, butt with backing, lap, etc.) for the repair being made.
- Determine the correct type of weld (continuous, stitch, skip, plug, spot, etc.) and preparation for each specific welding operation.
- Identify the causes of welding defects (burn through, cracks in metal, cratering, porosity, improper penetration, excessive spatter, distortion, and waviness of bead); make necessary adjustments.
- Identify the proper cutting process (abrasive, mechanical, plasma arc) for different materials and locations in accordance with manufacturer specific procedures/industry guidelines.
- Remove damaged structural steel and aluminum components; replace in accordance with vehicle manufacturer specific procedures/industry guidelines.
- Restore protective coatings; restore corrosion protection before or after welding operation.
- Remove and install welding/weld-bonded panels according to manufacturer specific procedures/industry guidelines.
- Perform test weld; visually evaluate and destructive test each weld type (continuous, skip, STRSW, plug, etc.).
- Identify structural composition; determine correct riveting process (rivet joining, rivet bonding, etc.), size and type of rivet, and adhesive to be used in specific joining situations in accordance with vehicle manufacturer specific procedures/adhesive manufacturer directions for use.
- Set up, adjust, and test rivet equipment for the material to be joined.
ASE B4 Key Terminology
Click any term below to reveal its exact definition.
ASE B4 Questions, Answered
The things candidates ask most about the B4 test, answered straight.
The ASE B4 Structural Analysis and Damage Repair test has 60 questions in 75 minutes, about 75 seconds each. Only 50 count toward your score. The other 10 are unscored pilot questions ASE is trialling for future tests, and they are not marked on screen, so treat every question as if it counts. The recertification version is shorter: 25 questions in 30 minutes.
Five, and each one is defined by what it moves relative to. Mash, also called collapse, is a change in length from body zero. Sag, also called kickup, is a change in height from datum. Sidesway is a change in width from centerline. Twist is vertical misalignment through the center section. Diamond is a parallelogram shift where one side moves rearward relative to the other. They appear in both of the big content areas, once for full frame vehicles and once for unibody. If you can say which reference plane each condition violates, you can usually name it from a set of measurements with nothing else memorized, and you can explain why the pull has to be set up the way it is.
The task list treats them as two different jobs. A tram gauge is the quick comparative check used to decide what diagnostic work to do next, usually by comparing a point against its mirror image on the undamaged side. Three-dimensional measuring, whether mechanical, electronic or laser, along with dedicated or universal fixtures, is what you use to diagnose, repair, verify and document the repair against the vehicle maker's published dimensions. The word worth noticing in the task list is documented. Before and after readings printed from the system are the evidence that the structure is back within specification, and the test expects you to be measuring during the pull, not only at the end of it.
Lifting, anchoring and supporting the vehicle for repair and realignment is listed as a task in the frame area and again in the unibody area, which tells you how ASE views it: nothing you do afterward is valid if the setup is wrong. The ideas behind the questions stay consistent. Anchor at the points the vehicle maker names, use enough anchoring to resist the pull rather than the minimum that merely holds the car still, and set the anchors so the pull works against them instead of dragging the body across them. Anchoring locations are also one of the places the task list specifically tells you to restore corrosion protection afterward, because the clamps bite through the coating.
Yes. Identifying the structural composition and planning the method and sequence of repair in line with the vehicle maker's procedures is a task in both large content areas, and the phrase manufacturer specific procedures runs through the whole ASE B4 task list. That is the answer the test is looking for when a question asks where a rail may be cut, whether a part may be straightened or must be replaced, or whether heat is allowed at all. Modern structures mix mild steel, high strength steel, ultra high strength steel, aluminum and castings, and the allowance for heat, for straightening and for sectioning is different for each of them and is set by the maker, not by shop habit.
Because bonded glass is structural. The windshield helps carry roof crush load and, on many vehicles, provides the backstop the passenger airbag deploys against, so a bad bond is a restraint system failure waiting to happen. The content area is small, 4 of the 50 scored questions, but it is specific: identifying, removing and replacing front, rear, side and roof modular glass, including glass carrying heating elements, antennas, rain sensors, cameras and other electronics, and above all correct pinch weld preparation and the right adhesive, applied the right way. The two things these questions turn on are following the adhesive maker's directions alongside the vehicle maker's procedure, and respecting the stated safe drive away time instead of guessing it.
Same processes, higher stakes and a different emphasis. ASE B4 has 12 scored welding questions and they are framed around structural joints: identify the structural composition first, then determine the joining process the vehicle maker calls for, set the machine for steel or for aluminum, choose push or pull and the gun angle, and choose the joint and the weld type. Cutting is called out separately, with abrasive, mechanical and plasma arc each being correct in some places and wrong in others. Weld defects are listed by name, including burn-through, cracks, cratering, porosity, improper penetration, excessive spatter and distortion, so expect to be asked to read a defect back to the setting or technique that caused it.
Of the 50 scored questions, Unibody and Unitized Structure Inspection, Measurement, and Repair is the largest at 18, Frame Inspection and Repair is 16, Welding, Cutting, and Joining is 12, and Stationary Glass is 4. The two measurement and repair areas are therefore more than two thirds of the test, and their task lists overlap heavily, which is good news for study: measuring, anchoring, the damage conditions, stress relieving, impact direction and corrosion restoration are all examinable twice. The unibody area then adds the center, front and rear section components and the restoration of noise, vibration and harshness materials and structural foams, which candidates coming from a full frame background often have not worked with.