Aluminum body damage video

ACZL wrote:
Wasn't it either the Pontiac Fiero or Saturn cars that had plastic body panels? Didn't hear much of an uproar then and both were GM cars. Well I take that back. I do recall now about parking A Ford 6.4 Powerstroke (?) next to a plastic panel car and when the truck went into re-gen it would throw flames out and thus melt the plastic.

Its human nature to chip away at number 1

Wasn't it either the Pontiac Fiero or Saturn cars that had plastic body panels? Didn't hear much of an uproar then and both were GM cars. Well I take that back. I do recall now about parking A Ford 6.4 Powerstroke (?) next to a plastic panel car and when the truck went into re-gen it would throw flames out and thus melt the plastic.

As far as not wanting that vehicle again - that would be your choice. You can always sell//trade it.

had a GrandAm stolen from a mall parking lot once. About midnight that night I made a statement that turned out to be true. i said, just my luck that thing will turn up somewhere. Sure enough the next morning (Sunday) some framer called the police about my car setting out in his corn field after harvesting a bunch of corn with it. The guys even kicked some of the side panels in as a good bye gesture.

That vehicle came real close to a total but the ins company would not total it. I guess I can see their point.

So after long time the old poncho came back to the house. It ran and we kept it.

Stuff happens.

One thing I do know for an absolute fact is that my aluminum horse trailers hold up much better then the steel trailer that they replaced. Every time a horse kicked the side of the steel trailer it dented and the paint peeled. I was constantly sanding and painting it to control rust but that was a losing battle. Five years on the first aluminum trailer and no rust or dents, except for the steel wheels that need to be sandblasted and painted. I still have an aluminum canoe over 40 years old with a few dents but it still works fine and has not required any maintenance.

I love the aluminum body on my 2016 F150, no rust or dents in it. On my old F250 the bed had cosmetic dents from tire failure and I tried to find one in a junk yard to replace it but they were all rusted out. I will stay with aluminum if given the choice. I am about to sell an old Nissan truck mainly because it is rusting out.

Listen to yourselves, "UNh, that wouldn't have happened if it were steel..." What a load.

...and if it were steel they'd just bang out the dents, weld it back together, and cover it with an inch of Bondo... How's that better than having all new body panels?

Pick your poison; dented steel or ripped aluminum I will admit that when I watched that video, images of a shredded beer can danced in my head.

I agree with some others about not wanting that truck back no matter how good it looks coming out of the body shop.

I've got a 15 with steel tray still gets dents in it from way les force than he is swinging that pair of pliers, I have also used to rip high tensile steel sheet by hand after making a small cut to start not hard at all.
Frank.

BenK wrote:
Military grade is similar in misconception...6061T is used by the military and can be marketed when used in non-military applications as "military grade" aluminum...pure marketing to those not in the know (not educated on the matter)

Agreed, "military grade" is nothing but a BS marketing term. Back in my Boeing days we made lots of parts out of 6061 alloy for both military and civilian aircraft. Aircraft skins were typically 2024T0, so that material used on a KC-130 might technically be "military grade", but in reality you can just about poke through it with a nail file.

I don't have a dog in this fight, but damage to the new Ford bodies can get pretty interesting. I saw an F-150 that hooked something low and sharp. like, maybe a knee high, I beam style, guard rail post. From the back of the front wheel arch to the step bumper, all sheetmetal below the point of impact was simply missing, including the bottom of the door skin. Looked like somebody ran a grinding wheel straight down the truck, then ripped all the skin off, below the grind line. For better, or worse, it was nothing like what you would expect with a steel skin.

There will always be nay sayers for any change. I remember when they went from cast iron block to aluminum block there were many expert naysayers. Now we have compressed carbon, Oh No!

I remember being told years ago that aluminum was a scarce metal and should not be wasted on things like car wheels. Folks come up with the dumbest ideas as to why progress should not take place. Those folks should go back to wooden wagon axle bearings and oxen. That worked for hundreds of years and make cross country trips, east coast to west.