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.

[valhalla360]

Grit dog wrote:
Isn’t the easier way to reduce repair costs to not hit stuff?

Replaced the last two trucks because they were rusting away...without hitting anything.

[srt20]

In WI all steel rusts, and most aluminum tailgates on Ford SUV's corrode.

Sure, you might get someone who "says" their truck has never been washed, garaged, and is rust free. But they are lying.

There are massive amounts of late 00's steel bodied trucks with bad bad rust.

It is what it is.

[dodge_guy]

mich800 wrote:

dodge guy wrote:
Well my 13 Explorer hood has peeling paint on the hood. My buddy had an 05 Expedition with peeling paint on the tailgate. I worked in a body shop for 10 years and seen hundreds of cars come through with peeling paint on various aluminum panels.

Weird you worked in a body shop an never saw peeling paint on steel.

Only on the cars with known bad paint. You hardly ever see peeling paint on steel.

[mich800]

dodge guy wrote:
Well my 13 Explorer hood has peeling paint on the hood. My buddy had an 05 Expedition with peeling paint on the tailgate. I worked in a body shop for 10 years and seen hundreds of cars come through with peeling paint on various aluminum panels.

Weird you worked in a body shop an never saw peeling paint on steel.

[dodge_guy]

Well my 13 Explorer hood has peeling paint on the hood. My buddy had an 05 Expedition with peeling paint on the tailgate. I worked in a body shop for 10 years and seen hundreds of cars come through with peeling paint on various aluminum panels.

[Grit_dog]

Isn’t the easier way to reduce repair costs to not hit stuff?

[Fordlover]

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 hood on my 2002 explorer is aluminum, and still has all the paint. Not sure how that knowledge would have been lost between then and 2015?

[mich800]

spud1957 wrote:

dodge guy wrote:

spud1957 wrote:

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.

I live in the salt belt. That’s all the research I need!!!!

I'm sure you do but so does all of Canada and half the US.

It is observational bias. People see what they want. People make a hypothesis and find the data that supports it. Human nature and everyone does it to a certain degree. That is why simple anecdotal evidence does not equal scientific results.

[valhalla360]

FlatBroke wrote:
Live in northern Colo. 9 months a year. AZ 3 months a year. Believe me it has seen it’s share of snow and calcium chloride liquid. Pulled a fifth wheel through that stuff and it rusted the the frame right though the paint.

If you say so, but look at trucks in rust belt areas and you will be very hard pressed not to find rust...usually significant.

[FlatBroke]

valhalla360 wrote:

FlatBroke wrote:

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.

If you live in the desert SW, you could make it out of cheesewhiz.

In the north where they salt your truck annually...good luck getting 10yr without significant rust no matter how good you are about washing and trying to keep the salt off.

Live in northern Colo. 9 months a year. AZ 3 months a year. Believe me it has seen it’s share of snow and calcium chloride liquid. Pulled a fifth wheel through that stuff and it rusted the the frame right though the paint.

[spud1957]

dodge guy wrote:

spud1957 wrote:

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.

I live in the salt belt. That’s all the research I need!!!!

I'm sure you do but so does all of Canada and half the US.

[BillyBob_Jim]

valhalla360 wrote:


If you live in the desert SW, you could make it out of cheesewhiz.

LOL.....talk about repair costs? If in a fender bender you'll have to take it to JL Kraft.

[valhalla360]

FlatBroke wrote:

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.

If you live in the desert SW, you could make it out of cheesewhiz.

In the north where they salt your truck annually...good luck getting 10yr without significant rust no matter how good you are about washing and trying to keep the salt off.

[dodge_guy]

spud1957 wrote:

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.

I live in the salt belt. That’s all the research I need!!!!