Current Events > Ford making their F-150s out of aluminum was a terrible idea.

(+) Yeah! (+)

Yes, it saves weight, but it also makes the vehicle difficult to repair and incredibly expensive to boot. Not too many body shops will work with aluminum outside of straight up panel replacement; if there's shaping or welding to be done you'll have to take it to a more specialized shop. Labor rates take a huge hike too - general body labor at my old shop was around $45/hr depending on what we negotiated with insurance, but I've seen aluminum rates as high as $110/hr!

Plus it's just easier to deform and damage, so if you do get hit, it's more likely to crumple.

Fuck you, Ford.

But its high strength military grade aluminum!!!
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treewojima posted...

Plus it's just easier to deform and damage, so if you do get hit, it's more likely to crumple.

That slows the deceleration of the car and prevents you from dying
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Dark_Garioshi posted...

That slows the deceleration of the car and prevents you from dying

Damn they should make it out of a cardboard derivative so it crumples even more.

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Aluminum doesn't rust tho.

Steel is great until it starts rotting away.
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Dark_Garioshi posted...

treewojima posted...

Plus it's just easier to deform and damage, so if you do get hit, it's more likely to crumple.

That slows the deceleration of the car and prevents you from dying

You can't use it in a unibody vehicle though, it'll compromise structural integrity (except for non-structural panels like the hood). These trucks are body on frame, so they can get away with it.

pogo_rabid posted...

Aluminum doesn't rust tho.

Steel is great until it starts rotting away.

That's a good point. Aluminum can oxidize and develop corrosion, but it's not like rust where it just eats away until you cut it out.

Rust is also more of a localized issue, since you're only really gonna run into it if they salt the roads where you live, or if the vehicle was just left out in the elements for an extended period of time.

DMC-12: Hold my beer.
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treewojima posted...

pogo_rabid posted...

Aluminum doesn't rust tho.

Steel is great until it starts rotting away.

That's a good point. Aluminum can oxidize and develop corrosion, but it's not like rust where it just eats away until you cut it out.

Rust is also more of a localized issue, since you're only really gonna run into it if they salt the roads where you live, or if the vehicle was just left out in the elements for an extended period of time.

True, but they coat the metals to prevent that. though if Ford really cared they'd anodize the surface like every gun manufacturer does, then proceed to paint it like a soldier.
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Tropicalwood posted...

treewojima posted...

pogo_rabid posted...

Aluminum doesn't rust tho.

Steel is great until it starts rotting away.

That's a good point. Aluminum can oxidize and develop corrosion, but it's not like rust where it just eats away until you cut it out.

Rust is also more of a localized issue, since you're only really gonna run into it if they salt the roads where you live, or if the vehicle was just left out in the elements for an extended period of time.

True, but they coat the metals to prevent that. though if Ford really cared they'd anodize the surface like every gun manufacturer does, then proceed to paint it like a soldier.

The coatings only last so long. With the amount of abuse many trucks go through, you'll get rotting frames in a couple years. The only real way to get around this is to galvanize the steel like Rolls Royce does, and that introduces a whole slew of it's own issues ie: disparate material corrosion.
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treewojima posted...

Plus it's just easier to deform and damage, so if you do get hit, it's more likely to crumple.

I get your fruatration, but the idea here is you want the vehicle to crinkle up instead of the driver and passengers.
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Tropicalwood posted...

treewojima posted...

pogo_rabid posted...

Aluminum doesn't rust tho.

Steel is great until it starts rotting away.

That's a good point. Aluminum can oxidize and develop corrosion, but it's not like rust where it just eats away until you cut it out.

Rust is also more of a localized issue, since you're only really gonna run into it if they salt the roads where you live, or if the vehicle was just left out in the elements for an extended period of time.

True, but they coat the metals to prevent that. though if Ford really cared they'd anodize the surface like every gun manufacturer does, then proceed to paint it like a soldier.

Lol, there have been loads of issues with aluminum hoods on Explorers and Mustangs that have bubbling paint all around the lip of the hood because of poor prepwork at the factory

SpriteLimit posted...

Dark_Garioshi posted...

That slows the deceleration of the car and prevents you from dying

Damn they should make it out of a cardboard derivative so it crumples even more.

Trabant used to make cars out cotton. That's close enough, right?

treewojima posted...

Tropicalwood posted...

treewojima posted...

pogo_rabid posted...

Aluminum doesn't rust tho.

Steel is great until it starts rotting away.

That's a good point. Aluminum can oxidize and develop corrosion, but it's not like rust where it just eats away until you cut it out.

Rust is also more of a localized issue, since you're only really gonna run into it if they salt the roads where you live, or if the vehicle was just left out in the elements for an extended period of time.

True, but they coat the metals to prevent that. though if Ford really cared they'd anodize the surface like every gun manufacturer does, then proceed to paint it like a soldier.

Lol, there have been loads of issues with aluminum hoods on Explorers and Mustangs that have bubbling paint all around the lip of the hood because of poor prepwork at the factory

So in your own words..... they fucked up when painting them. Not that it really matters if aluminum oxides, the layer is thin and it helps prevent further oxidization.
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treewojima posted...

Tropicalwood posted...

treewojima posted...

pogo_rabid posted...

Aluminum doesn't rust tho.

Steel is great until it starts rotting away.

That's a good point. Aluminum can oxidize and develop corrosion, but it's not like rust where it just eats away until you cut it out.

Rust is also more of a localized issue, since you're only really gonna run into it if they salt the roads where you live, or if the vehicle was just left out in the elements for an extended period of time.

True, but they coat the metals to prevent that. though if Ford really cared they'd anodize the surface like every gun manufacturer does, then proceed to paint it like a soldier.

Lol, there have been loads of issues with aluminum hoods on Explorers and Mustangs that have bubbling paint all around the lip of the hood because of poor prepwork at the factory

That's an issue with the manufacturing process, not the choice in material tho.

Look at it this way.

The C6 corvette has a steel frame (yes they had frames), the C6 Z06 variant had an aluminum frame. Go look at used corvettes and see which ones have rot issues now.
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DevsBro posted...

treewojima posted...

Plus it's just easier to deform and damage, so if you do get hit, it's more likely to crumple.

I get your fruatration, but the idea here is you want the vehicle to crinkle up instead of the driver and passengers.

I'm aware of that, which is why modern vehicles have crumple zones and all sorts of pockets and strategic design to absorb impact and protect the passengers. Ford didn't necessarily do this for safety though, they did it to save weight. They've been experimenting with aluminum hoods for years.

Why not magnesium, apart from the catastrophic fire thing?

Questionmarktarius posted...

Why not magnesium, apart from the catastrophic fire thing?

It is a magnesium alloy if it's "military grade"
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Didn't they do it partly because of fuel emission standards requiring them better MPG so they went with aluminum to reduce weight and get better MPG?

Thanks Obama.
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Well the frame is steel, so we'll see how well they hold up over the years

SK8T3R215 posted...

Didn't they do it partly because of fuel emission standards requiring them better MPG so they went with aluminum to reduce weight and get better MPG?

Nah.
Those are "fleet" standards, so a bigass truck or SUV can be cheated in by also building tiny ultralight deathtraps.