Tesla's Cybertrucks are rusting despite stainless steel
jalopnik.com
jalopnik.com
Doesn't seem like a great vehicle for taking outside then.
It's only meant to be an cool looking meme product / status symbol for showing off, not an actual utility vehicle.
Failing to achieve one’s goals is different than never setting them in the first place. Why mix that up?
Take the ridiculous shape of the car itself that Elon clearly drew on a napkin and refused to compromise on going forward. The engineers had to "just figure it out" and so you end up with a windshield wiper that is 10 inches longer than the one on city busses and costs $75 just for the rubber blade. That isn't innovative and it doesn't solve any specific problem other than they got painted into a corner.
They've never heard of such a thing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A0YxZfiX2uE
All that aside, myself and many people I've known for many years have a combined several hundred years experience with a wide variety of vehicles going back to the 1930s - the corrosion issues with the CyberTruck as described are unusual - few people expect birdshit to cause permanent marking unless it's washed off immediately - common experience dictates that washing it off once a month (or less often even) will do just fine.
https://www.fordservicecontent.com/Ford_Content/vdirsnet/Own...
I wash my car once a year, and it has no visible rust on the body and it's about 15 years old.
And this is likely not the stainless itself rusting but environmental contamination (rust from railings etc). I'm not saying that because of the vehicule, but based purely on how this grade of stainless usually behaves. Stainless can rust, but this is pretty fast and the stain is a bit weird. Unless Tesla lied about the stainless steel grade, which is another can of worms.
Now I'm a bit curious, I might ask the actual rust formation experts I work with to confirm (I work on non destructive testing devices which involves a lot of... rust haha. Though I'm not specialized in that specific type of detection). I might be wrong on this, but if if I am it would really be a huge blunder from Tesla.
>https://www.fordservicecontent.com/Ford_Content/vdirsnet/Own...
Don't want to risk Dang's ire here with a snarky dismissal so here's some substantive comment: the DeLorean used 304 grade steel; the CT is 301 which has more carbon and less chromium, so probably is a bit worse at resisting corrosion, but has some desirable strength properties over 304 and is cheaper.
https://www.deloreanguide.com/new-posts/frame-rustquite-poss...
Same with cutlery..cheap cutlery uses 304 (18-8) and will develop rust spots and better cutlery uses 316 (18-10).
CT is supposed to be a rugged space ship on wheels, bulletproof, arrowproof, fjording streams and climbing mountains.
The only actually rusty car photos were artists' impressions or stable diffusion output.
I'm sure there are sound reasons for picking a lower grade of stainless. This is not something that's unforeseeable. My guess is that it's somewhat intentional; the aesthetics of the thing are already a bit Mad Max-y so a bit of surface rust is cool.
The same principal is how many thermometers work https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bimetallic_strip
However. The steel is kind of the point of the Cybertruck. Considering it purely aesthetically, I actually kind of like it, and if I got one, I would enjoy that fact that it would accumulate wear over time.
The question is, is the rust actually damaging? Does it create a structural problem?
It is kind of funny that people are earnestly suggesting "don't drive it in the rain", though. Some truck that is.
You've never heard of Salad Fingers?
Actually, that's probably one of the major floors of the cyber truck design, as they get damaged, the damage probably really really sticks out more than on any other car because something so futuristic looking also seems to imply perfection.
[1] http://www.olafogelstrom.se/content/1.arkitektur/35.arkitekt...
https://www.vwvortex.com/threads/the-rusted-hood-trend-is-se...
eg https://www.falconstructures.com/blog/architecture-corten-st...
All vehicles in use accumulate wear over time.
> Does it create a structural problem?
Considering that it has appeared on vehicles so quickly it's reasonable to assume that this is likely.
> It is kind of funny that people are earnestly suggesting "don't drive it in the rain", though. Some truck that is.
The question is, do these people actually _need_ a truck?
People don't have to need something in order to buy it. They buy stuff because they have disposable income and like owning flashy/cool shit.
A lot of our salaries depend on people buying lots of expensive shit they don't need. Otherwise half of us would be laid off. It's the sad truth of the economics of western consumerism.
My parents lived in communism, where you could only buy the bare minimum of what you actually need to survive and that's it. ~10 years waiting list for a new car and stuff like that. It was rough. Definitely less wasteful though, as everything was being repaired over and over again instead of thrown away.
https://www.motorbiscuit.com/tesla-youll-have-to-wipe-dead-b...
"Four legs good. Two legs better!"
... that said the article calls it "rust" but if it's something else maybe it is no big deal. That analysis is cheap.
[1] https://www.corten.com/what-is-corten-steel/
/s
Stainless kitchen appliances that I've owned were pretty stain-free. That is, water, fingers, etc. left visible marks, but they were easily wiped away. There are no rust or permanent stains, IME.
They aren't used outside, but could that material be used for a car?
Also, weren't the Delorean cars in the 1980s made of stainless steel? Did they rust?
The body panels really don't but the frames do.
[0] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39354342 [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39357595
Or maybe they did test it and really just don't care.
Either way, this must give buyers that warm fuzzy feeling of quality and will undoubtedly enhance Tesla's reputation in the marketplace.
I through it was rust on the body panels, but you can remove it with a clay bar.
though now that I think of it, the "low-res graphics front hood wedge" shape of the truck will make any rust the least pedestrians' worries
Lots of discussion days ago:
however, this is actually easier to maintain than paint. a little spotting on stainless is quite easy to take out with a mild abrasive..and I assume the gauge is thick enough that its not going to eat through any time soon. you can follow the grain, or if its matte use a little random orbital.
you can also wax it every 6 months and _really_ slow it down
although its difficult to get it to take on properly passivated stainless (which apparently this is not) as someone suggested in the related thread, a patina would add a bit of a charm
There's no stainless steel. There's stain less steel.
https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2023/12/tesla-again-thre...
Any kind of rust, flood damage, bad paint etc are instant red flags for me when I’m looking at a used car.
I mean, how can we even do an inspection of an EV if we can’t do the usual due diligence like looking at the oil, getting your trusted mechanic to inspect it, etc
I actually feel relieved when I walk outside and look at it, I hardly wash it but it still looks quite new.
I switched to Android.
I guess having a truck you shouldn't get wet or plan to tow things with is "thinking about things right"
What are you talking about? That's exactly what most people do, and they've been doing it for years.