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Why Tesla's Stainless Steel Cybertrucks May Be Rusting
- Alupis 3y agoBecause Stainless Steel != No Rust Ever... kind of a major "duh" for anyone who's ever owned a stainless pocket knife, or even silverware. You don't even need to read the article, it should have been obvious to everyone - particularly the designers at Tesla. There's a fairly good reason modern vehicles are mostly made from Aluminum and Plastic.
- solox3 3y agoModern vehicles are still made with steel, if I am not mistaken (since I own two). I also think the designers did a fine job over at Tesla. It's more baffling that the automaker decided to forego a layer of clear coat---just like with all other cars---because they think they can defy the elements, or up-sell you on that $5000 wrap that they are offering.
- Alupis 3y agoThat depends. Many auto bodies are made from aluminum and plastic these days, while the ones that continue to use steel for some body panels coat them not just with clear coat, but also paint. Chassis/frames are steel, but not exposed directly to sunlight, and typically have a coating as well. Bare, exposed steel is pretty dumb in all things except perhaps looks (until it rusts).
- kube-system 3y ago> not just with clear coat, but also paint. Most are phosphated, then e-coated, then primed, then painted, then clear-coated.
- Alupis 3y agoThank you. This seems to just further emphasize the absurdity of selling bare stainless vehicles to consumers that drive on public roads, in all kinds of conditions including salted winter roads.
- kube-system 3y agoIt's a choice. All engineering choices have consequences, and no material is perfect. It doesn't seem much more absurd than other parts of the vehicle, to me. Bare stainless has been used on other vehicles before. It provides a certain aesthetic.
- Alupis 3y agoTo be pedantic, this was more of a cosmetic choice rather than an engineering choice. The other bare stainless vehicles learned the same lesson (and are not produced today).
- kube-system 3y agoEngineers deal with more than just functional design requirements. There were also undoubtably other requirements pertaining to manufacturing, cost, and cosmetics which were a factor here. If cost and manufacturing weren't a factor, they could have just CNC'd the panels out of very fancy stainless grades that are a pain to stamp and cost a lot.
- Alupis 3y agoI think the issue is they decided what it should look like before they designed the rest of the vehicle. They wanted something that looked unusual... and now they have unusual problems to deal with. There's no practical reason to make the vehicle have bare stainless panels, or "unbreakable" breakable windows, etc. It's marketing gimmicks that now seem to be developing into a PR issue. Time will tell.. The very fact that they try to upsell a wrap is absurd enough and obviously indicates Tesla was worried this might become an issue. The wrap should have been included... or some form of coating.
- p1mrx 3y agoI'm curious to see how the material looks after a few years in the wild. If it were clear coated, we wouldn't get a proper stress test. Solving this problem is basically the only reason for the Cybertruck to exist. It'll be a great *eats popcorn* scenario for those who didn't buy one.
- dylan604 3y agowow, I think this is the first time I've read someone in support of the dealership offering the clear coat option.
- SkyPuncher 3y agoModern vehicles use plastic or aluminum on the most common rust points. Rockers, wheel wells, bumpers. Go look under the car, that’s where all of the steel is. Unless your car is new or has literally never seen water/salt, that’s where the rust is going to be.
- taf2 3y agoSeems like a good time to share https://youtu.be/qFXWjv65JWg?si=zI7TuqZRLomXFlhq https://youtu.be/qFXWjv65JWg?si=zI7TuqZRLomXFlhq sacrificial anode For the truck might be really easy to attach and not such a bad idea
- Alupis 3y agoI don't fully understand how a sacrificial anode works, beyond the basics. Wouldn't each body panel need one? They must also be replaced regularly from my understanding. It seems like it would have been easier for Tesla to just coat the metal from the factory... or include the wrap in the price of the vehicle.
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- DonHopkins 3y agoMaybe you can cultivate and streak the rust to look like woodgrain panels, like the Griswold family's Ford LTD Country Squire. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ford_Country_Squire https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ford_Country_Squire https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ford_Country_Squire#/media/File:1951_Ford_79_Custom_Country_Squire_Station_Wagon.jpg https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ford_Country_Squire#/media/Fil... https://www.insidehook.com/autos/buy-the-national-lampoons-vacation-family-station-wagon https://www.insidehook.com/autos/buy-the-national-lampoons-v...
- folbec 3y agoNaaaah. Musk is a G.E.N.I.U.S (tm) He clearly identified that Tesla owners want a "Rat's Style" custom car. https://duckduckgo.com/?t=ffab&q=Rat%E2%80%99s+Style+cars&atb=v379-1&iax=images&ia=images https://duckduckgo.com/?t=ffab&q=Rat%E2%80%99s+Style+cars&at...
- uticus 3y agoi don't get it. my kitchen sink is stainless, as are various cookware, and they are regularly exposed to water with no problems. what's the difference?
- oldstrangers 3y agoThe difference is what's in the water.
- uticus 3y agostill confused, what could possibly be in rainwater or coastal humidity that isn't in dirty dishwater? i get the focus is on salty water on the coastline, but i can guarantee the dish sink has been exposed to extremely concentrated salt solutions.
- adgjlsfhk1 3y agothe difference is velocity. salt and dirt at 60mph velocity makes a big impact
- saalweachter 3y agoI have no idea if this is the salient difference, but rainwater is actually slightly acidic -- it absorbs CO2 as it forms in the air, which combines with the water and turns into carbonic acid, H2CO3.
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- Arrath 3y agoVarious unfriendly-to-metal compounds free in the air (such as sulfur) that can precipitate out into the rain and thus onto the vehicle.
- kube-system 3y ago> i can guarantee the dish sink has been exposed to extremely concentrated salt solutions. It also is usually rinsed after use, and sits dry in a climate controlled indoor environment 99.9% of the time.
- ijhuygft776 3y ago[dead]
- wnevets 3y agoCan't wait for submersible version of the truck.
- outside1234 3y agoThis one is already going to dissolve, so you are half way there
- ozaark 3y agoIIRC this was one of the reasons the Delorean manual recommended using gasoline to clean the steel panels
- uticus 3y agotorn between a vote pro or against the delorean for this, almost worth it to see my neighbor's reaction when i'm washing the car
- happytiger 3y ago[flagged]
- silverquiet 3y agoDidn't he show his penis to one of his female employees and then offer to buy her a horse? Is that behavior that you find acceptable (I genuinely don't know what people base their morality on anymore)? Would you associate with someone who did that? That is merely one of his recent antics. Honestly, selling rusty cars doesn't seem all that bad in comparison, but it isn't good either.
- happytiger 3y agoI’m not advocating for the man. My question is about whether anyone sees the information machine operating.
- silverquiet 3y agoWell, if I'm taking shots anyway, here's the one that really got me: > JP Doherty did not want to sign the email. But he knew he didn’t have a choice. His son, Rhys, was scheduled to have strabismus surgery in January, correcting an eye issue that made it difficult for him to walk on his own. The procedure cost $10,000 out of pocket. Doherty discussed the decision with his wife, and while she wanted him to be able to quit, they both knew the kids needed his health insurance. This is one of the employees who signed the "hardcore" ultimatum that Musk set for his employees at Twitter. The plutocrats who exert outsized control of our lives get outsized attention in the media, as it has always been.
- happytiger 3y agoYea it could be. That’s certainly a rational and well thought out explanation. But how would we ever be able to tell if there was a deliberate campaign or not? The man has himself tried to assemble a social media network and his own information machine. Shouldn’t that imply that he is trying to counter another existing system? How would we ever know besides questioning the narrative like I’m trying to do whether we were in a narrative generation system? I’m aware of the post hoc, ergo propter hoc nature of the question, but as we enter the AI era I see precious little discussion of this stuff and its effects and it’s notable to me that just raising question greets massive downvoted and negative attention on social media platforms.
- lyime 3y agoRust is a vibe
- eagerpace 3y agoMusk doesn’t build anything without a paradigm shift. Up until now we’ve only known “paint the car, wash it, wax it, touch up, repaint or else it will rust out and fall apart.” The new paradigm with the CT could be “it’s so hard it barely dents, the finish will age and develop a patina over time but stop worrying about it because it will never rust out in your lifetime.” Yeah I want my car to look good and clean, but I think this will be an easy fix and some small adjustments to your standard wash process could be all that’s need. I already have an iron remover I use on my painted car before I apply ceramic coating. It’s not standard for people to do that when washing but it’s also not an exotic procedure.
- terminatornet 3y agohe unfortunately shifted the paradigm to bad car that can't get wet.
- not1ofU 3y agoI watched a video about it after Cybertruck release, but can't figure out which one it was mentioned in to share it, but basically, yes, the knew about this, its mentioned in the owners manual. If I recall correctly, the video mentioned that it should be covered when not in use, and it will suck if birds are shitting (uncovered) on it too. Edit: Found link to Owners Manual breakdown / Video https://www.teslarati.com/tesla-cybertruck-owners-manual-revealed/ https://www.teslarati.com/tesla-cybertruck-owners-manual-rev... And from there found exact spot where it talks about maintenance / cleaning: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OXY5zBpfGOw&t=1358s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OXY5zBpfGOw&t=1358s
- rowanG077 3y agoWhy wouldn't they add sacrificial anodes which should be replaced every year or something like that? It seems like a cheap an effective solution but I'm no rust expert.
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- kube-system 3y agoI think, for a sacrificial anode to be effective, it needs to share an electrolyte with the material it is protecting.
- rowanG077 3y agoYou are right. It wouldn't work.
- cjohnson318 3y agoI worked at NIO. The consensus there was that Tesla routinely ignored auto industry best practices from UI to manufacturing, across the board.
- Hamuko 3y agoDidn't they just use consumer-grade LCDs to get that massive (especially for the time) 17-inch screen in the Model S that then started failing? https://www.thedrive.com/tech/27989/teslas-screen-saga-shows-why-automotive-grade-matters https://www.thedrive.com/tech/27989/teslas-screen-saga-shows...
- not1ofU 3y agoThe Cybertruck Can Still Rust! (youTube | Waveform Clips | Marques Brownlee) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j6pY4pdkHik https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j6pY4pdkHik
- seapoe 3y agoCould be batteries that could accelerate rusting
- ChrisArchitect 3y ago[dupe] Some more discussion: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39354342 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39354342
- analognoise 3y agoIs it possible that the kind of stainless steel selected was specifically chosen to be hard so that Musk could say it’s “literally bullet proof”, and this rusting is a consequence of that? If so, you know there are mechanical and materials engineers who work at Tesla who were internally screaming during the WHOLE development process. Can you imagine the stress of being tasked with something so stupid?
- ranger207 3y ago/r/justrolledintotheshop is going to have so many pictures of road salt corroded Cybertrucks right about 2 years from now