Ford aluminum body reduces repair cost

[Groover]

1)Ford F-150 (31.8% below average)
2)Ram 1500 (14% below average)
3)GMC Sierra (10.7% below average)
4)Chevy Silverado (10.3% below average)
5)Toyota Tundra (8% below average)
6)Nissan Titan (13.5% above average)

Since all of the trucks are below average I assume that the baseline is all vehicles on the road though I don't see that stated in the article.

Pickup insurance costs

It looks like Edmunds jumped the gun on the risk of aluminum.

Edmunds test

One thing that I find interesting is that the F150 had more of the expensive stuff that Edmunds broke than other brands during this time period and still come out well.

[travelnutz]

I have news for you! My ordered new 2004 Chevy 2500 Duramax crew cab 4X4 long box red truck is now 15 years old, has well over 200,000 miles on the odometer and We live in Michigan where they always use salt on the roads in winter and have for my entire 77 years living here.

The truck has never been garaged even one day of it's life. Sits outside on our wide (14' wide at the road widening to 36' wide) northside driveway always that goes back thru the gate to my toy barn/workshop. The home garage is on the south side of the home and is for our other vehicles. Our truck does NOT have a speck of rust on it anywhere and has original paint which is still very bright and shiny and no paint peeling either. The truck still looks new as there's no dents or rust on the chrome either.

That's one reason we still keep it along with the only repairs ever needed or done was replace the front brake pads, replace the fuel pressure sensor, and so far replace 2 burned out light bulbs. The truck was bought for hauling our RV's and that's all it's ever done too for 15 years so far. We have other vehicles for our other transportation uses.

GM trucks have 2 sided G-60 galvanized exterior steel body panels with some later years aluminum panels being used also.

Rust in 10 years on GM trucks is totally bull unless it has been in accidents and been improperly repaired. Ours is already 15 years old and is rust free just like about all the GM trucks you'll see around here at that age or even older. Not so with either other truck brands and especially Dodge/Ram as at 6+ years old they have lots of rust especially on doors and/or fenders around the wheels and the tailgates/beds also.

[wilber1]

dodge guy wrote:

wilber1 wrote:

dodge guy wrote:
That’s all great! But what happens when the paint starts falling off when the aluminum starts corroding? All the manuf can’t keep paint on the aluminum panels they have now, wonder how it will look with full aluminum!

Every Land Rover ever built has been aluminum. Jaguars have had aluminum bodies since 2003 and the XK120 used aluminium panels in the late 40's. We will be seeing a lot more aluminum in future. If you use etching primers you can even get paint to stick to chrome plating.

And now let’s see how it works on truck that get abused?

I’m not against aluminum, but I’ll wait and see.

You don't think Land Rovers get abused?

Land Rovers make up about 75% of the vehicles on the Falkland Islands which have about 10KM of paved roads and all roads aren't far from the ocean.

[Sport45]

My ‘00 F-250 had an aluminum hood. At least I think it did, never tried a magnet on it. After 15 years and over 180,000 miles the hood had several rock chips but not a bit of peeling paint.

[Grit_dog]

^ Move to the upper midwest and call me in 10 years and tell me how much of your truck is left....

[FlatBroke]

valhalla360 wrote:
Does it factor in replacing 75% of the body on a steel truck when it rusts away at 10yrs?

Funny how my GMC is 17 years old and never has seen the inside of a garage. Paint is as good as it was when I first brought it home and not a bit of rust anywhere. You’ll have to come up with something better than that statement.

[TurnThePage]

There was an era of peeling paint on most vehicles. Aluminum had nothing to do with it. The aluminum hood on my old '97 F150 is still sporting the original paint with zero peeling. My steel '92 Dakota peeled like crazy though.

[spud1957]

Yep, and almost every one had peeling paint!

WOW, quite a statement. That is absolutely not true. Unless you have some sort of data research that confirms this.

[mich800]

dodge guy wrote:

mich800 wrote:

spud1957 wrote:

dodge guy wrote:
That’s all great! But what happens when the paint starts falling off when the aluminum starts corroding? All the manuf can’t keep paint on the aluminum panels they have now, wonder how it will look with full aluminum!

The aluminum body for the F150 has been out since 2015 so there are some trucks on the road for almost 5 years.

There is not one post on the FTE/F150 website regarding paint peeling. So that would tell everyone it's a non-issue.

S

The hoods have been aluminum for decades.

Yep, and almost every one had peeling paint!

Hyperbole does not make it true. I have not seen any higher percentage of paint damage or defects on aluminum than witnessed on steel.

[dodge_guy]

wilber1 wrote:

dodge guy wrote:
That’s all great! But what happens when the paint starts falling off when the aluminum starts corroding? All the manuf can’t keep paint on the aluminum panels they have now, wonder how it will look with full aluminum!

Every Land Rover ever built has been aluminum. Jaguars have had aluminum bodies since 2003 and the XK120 used aluminium panels in the late 40's. We will be seeing a lot more aluminum in future. If you use etching primers you can even get paint to stick to chrome plating.

And now let’s see how it works on truck that get abused?

I’m not against aluminum, but I’ll wait and see.

[dodge_guy]

mich800 wrote:

spud1957 wrote:

dodge guy wrote:
That’s all great! But what happens when the paint starts falling off when the aluminum starts corroding? All the manuf can’t keep paint on the aluminum panels they have now, wonder how it will look with full aluminum!

The aluminum body for the F150 has been out since 2015 so there are some trucks on the road for almost 5 years.

There is not one post on the FTE/F150 website regarding paint peeling. So that would tell everyone it's a non-issue.

S

The hoods have been aluminum for decades.

Yep, and almost every one had peeling paint!

[Grit_dog]

Nope, aluminum is the devil Billy Bouche!
Oh wait it’s the savior because repair costs are 31% less......
Cr@p.....I don’t know what to believe! Lol

[wilber1]

dodge guy wrote:
That’s all great! But what happens when the paint starts falling off when the aluminum starts corroding? All the manuf can’t keep paint on the aluminum panels they have now, wonder how it will look with full aluminum!

Every Land Rover ever built has been aluminum. Jaguars have had aluminum bodies since 2003 and the XK120 used aluminium panels in the late 40's. We will be seeing a lot more aluminum in future. If you use etching primers you can even get paint to stick to chrome plating.

[mich800]

spud1957 wrote:

dodge guy wrote:
That’s all great! But what happens when the paint starts falling off when the aluminum starts corroding? All the manuf can’t keep paint on the aluminum panels they have now, wonder how it will look with full aluminum!

The aluminum body for the F150 has been out since 2015 so there are some trucks on the road for almost 5 years.

There is not one post on the FTE/F150 website regarding paint peeling. So that would tell everyone it's a non-issue.

S

The hoods have been aluminum for decades.

[spud1957]

dodge guy wrote:
That’s all great! But what happens when the paint starts falling off when the aluminum starts corroding? All the manuf can’t keep paint on the aluminum panels they have now, wonder how it will look with full aluminum!

The aluminum body for the F150 has been out since 2015 so there are some trucks on the road for almost 5 years.

There is not one post on the FTE/F150 website regarding paint peeling. So that would tell everyone it's a non-issue.

S

[dodge_guy]

That’s all great! But what happens when the paint starts falling off when the aluminum starts corroding? All the manuf can’t keep paint on the aluminum panels they have now, wonder how it will look with full aluminum!