Hand wash only, air dry...

[DirtyOil]

Ouch!!

http://www.f150forum.com/f118/aluminum-vs-steel-well-idk-after-happened-360594/

[dodge_guy]

Fordlover wrote:

dodge guy wrote:
I have run all my cars through a car wash with the antenna mast still on. All my Fords, and Chryslers. Never an issue. Unfortunately it takes one persons failure for everyone to learn. Now that we know a car wash will rip the antenna base out of an aluminum F150 those that have them know they need to be removed.

gotta love your logic here. 1 Antenna ripped out of F-150= all F-150's will have the antenna ripped out.

Warning warning: Suburban has door destroyed by carwash, hand wash only!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ynVm1P88lQ

My point is that we don't know the situation that damaged the f-150. Could be aluminum isn't strong enough, could be issue with car wash equipment.

Looks suspiciously like a steel bodied Ram to my eye.

What I'm saying is. Now that we know it is a potential weak spot, anyone with an aluminum fender with an antenna mounted to it should remove it. Not because of the truck or car wash, but because it will remove a potential problem.

[Fordlover]

dodge guy wrote:
I have run all my cars through a car wash with the antenna mast still on. All my Fords, and Chryslers. Never an issue. Unfortunately it takes one persons failure for everyone to learn. Now that we know a car wash will rip the antenna base out of an aluminum F150 those that have them know they need to be removed.

gotta love your logic here. 1 Antenna ripped out of F-150= all F-150's will have the antenna ripped out.

Warning warning: Suburban has door destroyed by carwash, hand wash only!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ynVm1P88lQ

My point is that we don't know the situation that damaged the f-150. Could be aluminum isn't strong enough, could be issue with car wash equipment.

Looks suspiciously like a steel bodied Ram to my eye.

[Fordlover]

steve-n-vicki wrote:
my local chevy dealer is certified by ford to repair the aluminum bodies, wonder if they know something ?

Yep. Ford sells 700,000+ aluminum F series trucks a year. If you can't repair them, you are going to miss out on being able to repair the best selling vehicle on the road for the last >35 years. Not to mention Aluminum has been around as panels on vehicles for 20+ years (My 2002 Explorer hood is aluminum) and is likely here to stay.

[2112]

I worked at a car wash when I was a kid in the '70s. We had a wrench to remove all antenna's. The kid at the end would hand tighten it back on. There were signs stating remove antenna, not responsible for damage etc.

The only incident I witnessed there was a pickup came through that had a bedrail with a rope tied to it. We missed it. The overhead brush grabbed the rope, yanked off the rail and banged up the truck and the car behind it before we could hit the kill switch. The truck had the front windshield and roof smashed. The following car had a banged up hood, roof and smashed windshield. The old lady in the car was freaking out. She thought she was going to die. Of course all us kids are standing around saying 'Ah cool, did you see that? Man. look at that car!' Most exciting day I had at the car wash 🙂

[Perrysburg_Dodg]

steve-n-vicki wrote:
my local chevy dealer is certified by ford to repair the aluminum bodies, wonder if they know something ?

Do some checking and I bet you find out that the owner of that dealership owns at least one Ford dealership. They most likely run one body shop for their different dealerships.

Don

[dodge_guy]

I have run all my cars through a car wash with the antenna mast still on. All my Fords, and Chryslers. Never an issue. Unfortunately it takes one persons failure for everyone to learn. Now that we know a car wash will rip the antenna base out of an aluminum F150 those that have them know they need to be removed.

[soren]

My little brother was the area manager for a rental agency that had about 500 vehicles on the road, in his territory. He not only had his employees trained to alway remove antennas before entering "rag beater" car washes, but they were well aware that they would serious consequences for any damage to a car as a result of being too lazy to unscrew the thing, and put it in the car, beforehand. I can't imagine why the car wash is at fault here? I don't need to be told to not drive a dually through one. To not leave a case of empty beer cans in the bed. To not leave a whip antenna in place, or do any other dumb thing before entering one. I'm not sure why the lack of a sign somehow makes your own stupidity somebody else's fault? Now the bigger issue is why anybody would take ANY vehicle they care about through a beater rag car wash in the first place? I check first, and if it isn't touchless, I move on.

[Huntindog]

steve-n-vicki wrote:
my local chevy dealer is certified by ford to repair the aluminum bodies, wonder if they know something ?

They probably know that GM has been using some aluminum body parts for a few years now... And those parts sometimes need fixing.

[steve-n-vicki]

my local chevy dealer is certified by ford to repair the aluminum bodies, wonder if they know something ?

[DirtyOil]

Bird Freak wrote:

Perrysburg Dodgeboy wrote:

FishOnOne wrote:

Bird Freak wrote:
Everyone saying sorry for damage to his truck should see this for what it is. OP is not the owner. He owns a Ram. Now take it for what it is. Just saying!

Good call as I would say your calling out the trolls.

BTW... My Super Duty manual says to "Remove any external accessories including the antenna before entering a car wash".

LOL just because the OP has a Ram and posts about an issue with a Ford he is a Troll? Good to know for the next time you two post your Ram this GM that posts LMAOGood to know for the next time you two post your Ram this GM that posts LMAO.

The issue is with the side brushes not the overhead brush. In every car wash the side brushes turn clockwise and wide vehicles tend to push the brushes further into the side of the vehicle. By doing this an antenna can end up wrapping itself around the the center of the brush ripping it off the truck.

Given the Ford is now all aluminum that means so is the ant fender mount. Aluminum tends to rip under stress and if you look at the pic you can clearly see it ripped the whole ant assembly out of the fender.

A steel fender would withstand this and the ant would snap off at the stud. Does this mean Ford has a defective truck? NO, no it doesn't. It means you remove your antenna before going through a car wash or pay the piper!

BTW I have not seen a car wash that did not say you have to remove the antenna from the vehicle. I have been to car washes all over the country and seen it!

Don

I don't think I have posted anything negative about Ram or GM. Some of their owners yes!

LOL... Did I tell y'all, my truck is in the shop? Dealership is doing EGR/DEF delete...:B

Bird and my Buddy Fish... I'da bought me a ford if I could have got the same creature comforts and a Cummins for the same price I got the ram for.

[Perrysburg_Dodg]

It tore the whole antenna assembly out of the fender. This is not a car wash issue, it is an poor design. A simple under cut on the antenna mast would allow it to snap off easier and not have the whole antenna rip out of the fender!

Ford is going to have a lot of unhappy customers with repair costs like we are starting to see. That and the fact that not every Ford dealership is able to do these repairs along with the parts shortage.

Don

[Roger10378]

When I was working at a major car plant in the late 60's they installed a new automatic car wash on the property. All of their production had the windshield antenna so they did not include the system to go around the antenna. When it was finished all the contractors lined up to get a "free" car wash. The 7th or 8th car/truck was in the wash by the time word got back that it was snapping off all the antenna's. Sure car washes do occasionally snap off an antenna. They are made to break off easily, but I have never seen one tear the mount off of the fender.

[Bird_Freak]

Perrysburg Dodgeboy wrote:

FishOnOne wrote:

Bird Freak wrote:
Everyone saying sorry for damage to his truck should see this for what it is. OP is not the owner. He owns a Ram. Now take it for what it is. Just saying!

Good call as I would say your calling out the trolls.

BTW... My Super Duty manual says to "Remove any external accessories including the antenna before entering a car wash".

LOL just because the OP has a Ram and posts about an issue with a Ford he is a Troll? Good to know for the next time you two post your Ram this GM that posts LMAOGood to know for the next time you two post your Ram this GM that posts LMAO.

The issue is with the side brushes not the overhead brush. In every car wash the side brushes turn clockwise and wide vehicles tend to push the brushes further into the side of the vehicle. By doing this an antenna can end up wrapping itself around the the center of the brush ripping it off the truck.

Given the Ford is now all aluminum that means so is the ant fender mount. Aluminum tends to rip under stress and if you look at the pic you can clearly see it ripped the whole ant assembly out of the fender.

A steel fender would withstand this and the ant would snap off at the stud. Does this mean Ford has a defective truck? NO, no it doesn't. It means you remove your antenna before going through a car wash or pay the piper!

BTW I have not seen a car wash that did not say you have to remove the antenna from the vehicle. I have been to car washes all over the country and seen it!

Don

I don't think I have posted anything negative about Ram or GM. Some of their owners yes!

[IBcarguy]

That must have made you sick. I use the car wash and keep a little wrench in my center console to remove the antenna before I enter. I sometimes wondered if it was a waste of time but after seeing what happened to your truck, I'm glad I do it. I've never been through any car washes that didn't have a sign that said to remove your antenna though.