Despite the recent release of these Tesla EVs — and the little road time they’ve been subjected to — Cybertrucks are already developing imperfections on their body panels, leading owners to debate what’s causing the early signs of rust on forums. From Futurism:
One Cybertruck Owners Club forum member says they started noticing small orange flecks appearing on his truck after driving it in the rain for just two days.
“Just picked up my Cybertruck today,” they wrote. “The advisor specifically mentioned the cybertrucks develop orange rust marks in the rain and that required the vehicle to be buffed out.”
The Cybertruck owner posted followup photos after washing the vehicle down with soap, and they didn’t inspire much confidence, showing body panels already pockmarked with small orange spots.
Cross post from https://lemmy.world/comment/7544395
Yet another example proving that having more money is no indication of intellect or critical thinking skills.
Teslas have always been junk. Junk the manufacturer doesn’t even bother stocking adequate replacement parts for because you already bought it, suckers.
Tesla agrees …
Owners say the EVs are not actually stain proof, and even the Tesla Cybertruck manual confirms the steel panels are susceptible to such corrosive substances as grease, oil, tree resin, dead insects, etc., which should be washed off quickly to prevent corrosion.
I can probably find a similar passage in the manual for my 2014 VW. I’ll check in the morning and report back.
Surface contaminants such as acid rain, rain dust, airborne pollutants, bird droppings, bug splatter and industrial fallout can cause clear coat finishes to look faded.
but …
they are more sensitive to scratches and you should be careful not to use abrasive rubbing or polishing compounds on them. Source
The scratches/chips/etc are where rust developes.
Just like any other car with paint on it.
Can’t remember the last time my car with paint on it rusted after a couple of days of rain
Show me a properly painted cyber truck with a rust problem.
Show me another car that’s sold without paint?
Other cars with paint are usually not advertised as being made of stainless steel.
And coated and paint. Also, stainless is not stain proof. There are multiple types of stainless steel.
Problem is you have to buy the damn car first in order to read the manual.
Most of those people pre-ordered the car before the manual was even written.
There’s a bunch of Deloreans out there still rustless. Meanwhile at Tesla…
Wow, up until today I thought the DeLorean body panels were aluminum. TIL DeLorean body panels are stainless steel. I’ve had the opportunity to view them up close several times (auto auctions, car shows, etc.), and never noticed any signs of rust or discoloration.
Delorean body panels are made out of 304 stainless steel.
It’s more expensive, but highly corrosion resistant.
Cyber truck uses 301 stainless, which is meant more for industrial and commercial environments where the steel is kept out of the elements or will be painted with a weather resistant coating.
Why does Tesla use 301? Probably because Starship uses 301 steel body panels for the skin on the booster and vehicle. Bulk purchasing material like that will drive down the cost for them and make a little more profit. 301 is also very strong, and one of the design points of Cyber truck was that it with be bulletproof, for some reason. I’ve yet to see anyone actually shoot their cyber truck, but I doubt those body panels are stopping anything more energetic than a .32 ACP.
Now why is a spacecraft covered in steel? I have no idea. Rockets should be as light as possible to maximize the amount of energy you get out of the fuel.
Because steel is cheap and “good enough” for whatever Starship’s application is. Titanium would be lighter but far, far, more expensive. And the cost of the titanium would probably out weight the extra fuel costs.
Which is why most rockets today use aluminum for their fuel tanks, not steel.
And you’ve just accidentally stumbled into the Rocket Equation! My favorite.
So you want to make a rocket with enough energy to get to orbit. Okay so my engine puts out X amount of thrust at sea level. I’ll need Y fuel to get to orbit. But because the fuel weighs something, now I need 2 engines to lift the weight of the fuel and tanks. But because I have 2 engines, now my craft weighs more and I need more fuel to feed both engines. This cycle repeats until you can either balance them, or decide to say fuck it and move over to building bridges.
One way you can balance the rocket equation is by making the dry, or empty, weight of your vehicle lighter. Now you can lift more fuel on the engines you have and get higher and faster.
So again, why the hell are they using one of the most dense building materials to make up most of the rocket. Sure manufacturing is cheaper and easier, but that only counts if the thing can actually reach orbit and be useful.
Thanks for the info!
Original prototype of The Homer had 3mm thick panels, which obviously they changed to under 1.4mm because of silly things like weight, actual ability to mfg, oh and those silly crash test, though the Cybertruck is literally designed to kill pedestrians (which is why it will never appear in Europe)
They shot it here
Well they’ve made it pretty clear why they’re using this particular steel. The goal is to create a relatively cheap, reusable rocket. The strength of the steel helps make up for the increased density since you can use thinner panels. They also don’t have to paint them. This leads to a small difference in total weight.
The compromise they’re going for is giving up a slight amount of capacity to decrease cost of materials, increase production volume, and hopefully improve the reusability and lower the total maintenance.
They’re not trying to build the highest performance rockets, they want the lowest cost for the level of performance they’re targeting. That’s not to say it will necessarily work out, but they’ve obviously done the math on the compromise and think it’s beneficial in the long run.
Of the many issues Starship has had, it doesn’t seem like the steel skin is one of them. It’s just one of a million design choices you have to make for any rocket.
And if memory serves the manual told you to clean the steel with gasoline.
Doc Brown specifically brings up the stainless steel construction early in Back to the Future as part of why the DeLorean was chosen. That and style.
I guess they should’ve coated the cyber trucks in cocaine.
*They should have allegedly coated in cocaine,
acquitted of all charges.
I miss the 80s
I don’t remember them well enough to miss them. lol
Waiting for a back to the future reboot using a Tesla truck where it breaks down in the past because of no electricity.
They need a bolt of lightning to get the car going, but the time machine runs on unleaded gas, which hasn’t been invented yet.
deleted by creator
Seems like from modern reviews I’ve seen pretty well in terms of body panel rust. Some frame rust on some but that wasn’t stainless so I suppose that’d be expected.
These are, and forever will be, talismans of stupidity. Anyone seen driving one should be mocked until they feel the appropriate amount of shame for having bought one.
I’d prefer to not pay them any attention at all. Shaming people is too much effort.
I want to trademark the “pt cruiser? Still not a cyber truck” or maybe the outline of one so musk can’t try to get it taken down via lawsuit. (Also make one for Aztec, vw bus, pinto and Prius, maybe even have one for other Tesla models XD)
I’m with you for all but the VW bus. That thing’s charming.
Swap it for the Multipla
There are different stainless alloys comprising of various level of iron. Nickel-based stainless, for instance, will not rust. Lots of surgical stainless steels will not rust.
This is just Tesla choosing the wrong alloy to save dollars.
But apparently this one isn’t stainless at all…? So…it’s not stainless steel, then. Because it stains.
It’s stain-less not stain-free. Stainless steel stains less relative to steel. The amount it stains less is relative to its additional alloys added like chromium. The more chromium the less stain, it also increases its price considerably.
The amount of stainless steel used on these vehicles is considerable. So there will be a lot of money to be saved by using a low grade stainless steel.
Thats…not how that suffix works in English, lol.
And yet, in this case he’s right.
Yep! It’s almost as if “Stainless Steel” is just a marketing term for various iron alloys!
Sounds like they’re both right.
Stainless steel shouldn’t be named stainless because it can stain despite the suffix meaning “without”.
It just needs a space between stain and less. “Stain Less Steel”
Look at non stick pans, you still have to butter them before cracking the egg lol
Best reason I could find for this is related to the DeLorean since it also uses stainless steel. Apparently, the reason it doesn’t rust easily is because of a high chromium content in the steel, so maybe tesla used cheaper stainless steel.
Is Elon doing coke and playing in a wedding band too? John Deloreon played my mom and dad’s wedding.
Fairly certain he’s doing coke.
Tesla cutting costs and using inferior materials? Just another day.
Maybe the owners should stop using Firefox then.
maybe tesla used cheaper stainless steel
Actually uh its because chromium doesn’t do as good a job of uh um… stopping bullets.
Idiot.
So which is it, stainless steel or bullet proof?
Listen, Elon Musk said it was both and if you don’t believe his Joe Rogan YouTube video then you don’t care about climate change and are probably a pedophile.
Ok, genuinely fuck you for that one. Maybe if Elon wasn’t using giant lithium batteries to power his cars we wouldn’t have so much damn electrical waste from cars, and he’s actively trying to leave the planet so he clearly doesn’t care about it.
he’s actively trying to leave the planet so he clearly doesn’t care about it.
And when he gets to Mars - which he definitely will, very soon now! - you’re not going to be invited.
Not unless you want to subscribe to Twitter Blue! Just $8/mo! So many benefits!
Can I sign other people up, like say, my boss?
I think you’re missing OP’s irony.
Even Tesla’s own manual says to clean the car immediately of bird poop, bug splatter, tree sap, salt water, oil, grease, chemicals. That should be the red flag right there. Tesla cheaped out on painting the truck, not even a transparent lacquer and now owners will be perpetually washing their trucks or watch them rust. These things really are just a fail on so many levels.
Talking about cars in the UK, one Aussie chimed in with “it’s like driving your car on the beach at low tide while it’s high tide”
For what it’s worth you don’t have to spend much time around stainless steel to realize the word ‘stainless’ isn’t literal. I bet you exactly 0 knife nerds actually believed this thing wasn’t going to rust.
Stainless doesn’t rust. Stainless alloys do. Knives are an alloy because they need certain properties to be able to sharpen them properly and hold an edge.
Medical stainless doesn’t rust and whatever the hell my kitchen sink is doesn’t either.
“Surgical” stainless - a marketing term - will rust simply because it’s still an alloy of chromium and steels - it just takes far longer than the higher carbon steel alloys because of the lower carbon content. And yes, scalpel blades are made from high carbon stainless alloys that WILL rust if not properly stored - they are single use items and tossed when done being used once.
Your stainless sink is probably made from some 304 stainless alloy due to it’s deep draw properties thanks to the extra nickle content. Things marked “Surgical” stainless would fall into this type of alloy. But 300 series stainless steels still contain about .05% carbon which is still enough to cause eventual rusting or staining.
You do know that more than scalpels are used right? Things that are put into autoclaves and used over and over and over again.
Marine stainless will absolutely rust. I bet surgical stainless will to next to the ocean.
Yes, yes it will. Since “surgical stainless” is a marketing hype term, (just like something marked “billet” or “military grade”), it’s just a lower carbon/higher nickle content stainless. Marine stainless steels are most often cheaper 300 series steels.
I never said “surgical stainless”. I said medical, as in the tools that are used in the medical space. These are typically reused after going through an autoclave.
Medical grade and surgical grade are just marketing terms. It’s all 304 and 316 (sometimes 440 or 420)
There are ASTM standards for biocompatible metals.
All stainless steels are alloys.
You’re correct, I should have said “some”
Good knives rust, bad knives don’t. You need high iron to hone a perfect edge properly. You can still resharpen a shitty knife, your grocery butcher will likely do it for free, but it will never have the same edge as a properly honed good knife.
Do you hone it 1000 times, knife sama?
Just quickly before use. If you keep up with it, you rarely ever need to actually sharpen it.
Knifes are different though, as that is a different stainless steel alloy. I don’t remember the specifics, but something about higher carbon content so it can be hardened? This is why you shouldn’t put knifes into a dishwasher, they don’t like the salt and will get pitted over time.
Nevertheless, no “normal” stainless is actually immune to rust or general corrosion anyway. It also depends on the environment (ask boat folks about this one), specifically if oxygen can get to it. And salt just makes everything 100x worse, too.
Closest you get to real rust proof steel is nitrogen steels, which are used for diving knives. Super super hard though, doubt it’d make a good auto body, I’d imagine such a thing would be prone to cracking. Expensive too. I’m gonna say Daddy Elon’s best bet is to slap regular painted body panels on it and take the hit. I think we all know what he’s not going to do though.
Even the nitrogen alloy steels used for diving knives will corrode. It just takes a lot longer than the normal high carbon stainless alloys.
Water is the universal solvent…
If/when BYD builds their first manufacturing plant and starts selling, Musk might change his mind about that.
Ah yes rusted down cybertrucks on the road. That’s more like the dystopian future I imagined.
It’s stain-less, not stain-never.
It’s
stainquality-less. FTFY
Some Cybertruck owners say their fellow Cybertruckers are blowing things out of proportion,
and one said it’s a good idea to not “…drive it in the rain, or get it wet.”Others expressed anger that Tesla’s options for protecting the steel panels cost thousands of dollars.
😂😂😂 just incredible,
having a car that rusts in the rain clearly is just haters blowing things out of proportion.and of course the solution only costs 5 grand.
pretty sure you could get another car that doesnt rust in the rain for less than that.Well, if you were stupid enough to buy a joke truck, you deserve joke consequences
Let’s spread a rumor that elon pisses on each and every cybertruck before it leaves factory to mark dominance and his drug induced piss is the reason of rust.
You mean it somehow gets uglier? Given their history, I’m guessing Tesla will charge a fortune for special buffing pads and will void warranties for use of non-Tesla anti-rust measures.
No you just use the flame thrower to re-smelt your vehicle every 2-3 days, obviously. And only drive in Tesla-approved holes. Why can’t you people see the future?
This was inane from the start and calling rust a “patina”…
I swear, if this doesn’t certify them as a cult, I don’t know what will.
What is often referred to as “patina” is a form of rust/corrosion layer that provides a natural protection from active rust/corrosion that will ruin whatever steel alloy it forms on and is actively applied to many steel alloy surfaces. And even metals like aluminum and titanium naturally form a “patina” to prevent corrosion also.
See: Blued/browned gun barrels or case colored steels. All forms of protecting patina that can be quite striking to look at. Particularly case colored steels.
Perhaps - but that bluing is not whats on the truck, hence my comment about rust. And this was never mentioned by Tesla, which is another concern.
Anyway, let’s revisit this in 6 months and see how the “patina” is working out.
No, but that “patina” does form a protective coating. Now, evidently Tesla doesn’t provide any type of coating and the ship their truck in the “bright”. But a patina would definitely help to provide some protection.
I would think most of the uproar is simply about the the loss of the shiny bright look of the factory new look that simple time and use made go away. And that’s why your Grandmother spent all that time polishing that silver coffee service she had. It looked crappy and she didn’t like it.
Imagine what kind of clown you’d have to be to buy a Tesla in 2024. I mean, Jesus Christ. They might as well tattoo the word TWAT onto their forehead in flashing, fluorescent ink.
