3 ms·

Pine tar ruins car roofs all the time, road tar on paint, etc. Comparing a ford f150 to a ford maverick, on the underbody and protection, the maverick is alread

Pine tar ruins car roofs all the time, road tar on paint, etc. Comparing a ford f150 to a ford maverick, on the underbody and protection, the maverick is already rusting so quick compared due to lack of protection to keep the price down. I've always wondered why car reviews sites don't actually review stuff that matters more to longevity and use, rust protection, frame coating, exposed parts, skid plates, wheel wells (felt/plastic/etc), common costs and repair times for (quarter panels, common parts that fail, belts, hoses, etc), audio quality, window noise (acoustic glass vs normal), suspension, etc. Tesla cars have had major water and dirt issues collecting in its underbody, but its a car, so dirt and gravel roads really are bad on it.

CharlesW 3y ago
> Pine tar ruins car roofs all the time, road tar on paint, etc. The point is that this happens even though a typical car body is protected by an electrocoat, primer, basecoat, clearcoat, etc. The Cybertruck doesn't even have a clearcoat, which is insane.
- geoelectric 3y ago
  That was the exact thing that just went through my head reading this. “…they didn’t clearcoat it?!” Tesla is great at batteries and wheeled computers, but man, they have some serious blind spots when it comes to building vehicles. I wonder if you can get an aftermarket ceramic coat or similar protectant on it.
- RetroTechie 3y ago
  > The Cybertruck doesn't even have a clearcoat, which is insane. Why? Conventional car body is steel, which rusts easily. So it's (most likely) galvanized + protected by various layers of paint. If that paint is damaged (scratch, dent, whatever) the underlying steel will rust. Repair may be along the lines of "sand down, apply primer, apply color, apply clearcoat". Stainless steel is different. The base material itself doesn't corrode (as) easily. Similar to say, aluminium, titanium or even copper. Repair: sand down until scratch / ugly spot is gone, sand down with increasingly finer grit, finish with polishing material (wool or whatever), done. There is a catch: some conditions may corrode even stainless steel. A common culprit is salt(s). Especially repeated wetting / drying cycles where droplets of salt water concentrate, potentially causing so-called "pitting". Various grades of stainless have various degrees of resistance to this. According to this article: (thx Wikipedia!) https://www.motortrend.com/news/tesla-cybertruck-electric-pickup-bulletproof-stainless-steel-body/ https://www.motortrend.com/news/tesla-cybertruck-electric-pi... The Cybertruck uses 301 alloy stainless? Perhaps the thought was "if it's good enough for rockets, it's good enough for a car". But... exactly that may not be so! It's not hard to imagine road or environmental conditions that don't apply (significantly) to rockets: ocean breeze containing salty droplets, winter road conditions (including de-icing salts), small stones hitting a car's underside, etc etc. Also 1.4~3 mm. thickness is more easily compromised than whatever thickness a rocket's hull is. 304 stainless is common (and good enough for maaany applications). 301 is probably similar. But in eg. marine applications, 316 (or 316L) alloy is common. So maybe Tesla goofed (or penny-pinched?) on their choice of alloy? Or they didn't, and this is a non-issue blown out of proportion? Who knows. I wouldn't worry about it unless dipping-in-salty-water is regular pasttime.
  - Veedrac 3y ago
    > It's not hard to imagine road or environmental conditions that don't apply (significantly) to rockets: ocean breeze containing salty droplets This one is very much a staple of SpaceX's rockets.
  - StreetChief 3y ago
    What, if any, are the advantages of skipping a clear coat?
    - geoelectric 3y ago
      Lower cost, simpler process, and marginally lighter weight come to mind. But the trade off doesn’t seem great for the consumer (and the weight is truly negligible on a heavy EV). The other poster had a good point. A marine-class alloy would make a big difference in coastal and salted road areas.

CharlesW 3y ago

> Pine tar ruins car roofs all the time, road tar on paint, etc. The point is that this happens even though a typical car body is protected by an electrocoat, primer, basecoat, clearcoat, etc. The Cybertruck doesn't even have a clearcoat, which is insane.

geoelectric 3y ago
That was the exact thing that just went through my head reading this. “…they didn’t clearcoat it?!” Tesla is great at batteries and wheeled computers, but man, they have some serious blind spots when it comes to building vehicles. I wonder if you can get an aftermarket ceramic coat or similar protectant on it.
RetroTechie 3y ago
> The Cybertruck doesn't even have a clearcoat, which is insane. Why? Conventional car body is steel, which rusts easily. So it's (most likely) galvanized + protected by various layers of paint. If that paint is damaged (scratch, dent, whatever) the underlying steel will rust. Repair may be along the lines of "sand down, apply primer, apply color, apply clearcoat". Stainless steel is different. The base material itself doesn't corrode (as) easily. Similar to say, aluminium, titanium or even copper. Repair: sand down until scratch / ugly spot is gone, sand down with increasingly finer grit, finish with polishing material (wool or whatever), done. There is a catch: some conditions may corrode even stainless steel. A common culprit is salt(s). Especially repeated wetting / drying cycles where droplets of salt water concentrate, potentially causing so-called "pitting". Various grades of stainless have various degrees of resistance to this. According to this article: (thx Wikipedia!) https://www.motortrend.com/news/tesla-cybertruck-electric-pickup-bulletproof-stainless-steel-body/ https://www.motortrend.com/news/tesla-cybertruck-electric-pi... The Cybertruck uses 301 alloy stainless? Perhaps the thought was "if it's good enough for rockets, it's good enough for a car". But... exactly that may not be so! It's not hard to imagine road or environmental conditions that don't apply (significantly) to rockets: ocean breeze containing salty droplets, winter road conditions (including de-icing salts), small stones hitting a car's underside, etc etc. Also 1.4~3 mm. thickness is more easily compromised than whatever thickness a rocket's hull is. 304 stainless is common (and good enough for maaany applications). 301 is probably similar. But in eg. marine applications, 316 (or 316L) alloy is common. So maybe Tesla goofed (or penny-pinched?) on their choice of alloy? Or they didn't, and this is a non-issue blown out of proportion? Who knows. I wouldn't worry about it unless dipping-in-salty-water is regular pasttime.
- Veedrac 3y ago
  > It's not hard to imagine road or environmental conditions that don't apply (significantly) to rockets: ocean breeze containing salty droplets This one is very much a staple of SpaceX's rockets.
- StreetChief 3y ago
  What, if any, are the advantages of skipping a clear coat?
  - geoelectric 3y ago
    Lower cost, simpler process, and marginally lighter weight come to mind. But the trade off doesn’t seem great for the consumer (and the weight is truly negligible on a heavy EV). The other poster had a good point. A marine-class alloy would make a big difference in coastal and salted road areas.