This Is Why Tesla’s Stainless Steel Cybertrucks May Be Rusting : technology

[–] [email protected] 81 points 7 months ago (24 children)

It's [stainless steel] also stiff, which makes it potentially more lethal to anybody unlucky enough to be struck by a vehicle built with the stuff.

Of course they picked a more deadly option.

The documentation says: “To prevent damage to the exterior, immediately remove corrosive substances (such as grease, oil, bird droppings, tree resin, dead insects, tar spots, road salt, industrial fallout, etc.). Do not wait until Cybertruck is due for a complete wash. If necessary use denatured alcohol to remove tar spots and stubborn grease stains, then immediately wash the area with water and a mild, non-detergent soap to remove the alcohol.”

Loooool. That's pathetic. A truck you have to baby or it stains and discolors.

[–] [email protected] 53 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago) (1 children)

Not just more stiff, the sharp angles on the body are also much more likely to cause serious injury to pedestrians and cyclists (there's a reason modern vehicles have rounded edges). Unfortunately the lack of regulations in North America on safety features vis a vis anyone but the vehicle occupants means these death machines remain street legal.

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[–] [email protected] 30 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago) (5 children)

the whole point of a truck is to get shit done.

this truck destroys itself if you try to get shit done with it.

how they fucked up so badly, i have no idea.

[–] [email protected] 23 points 7 months ago

Easy, the guy who wanted to make this truck has never worked a day in his life.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 7 months ago

No the whole point of a truck in America is for men who have self confidence issues to feel better about themselves. You think people are hauling shit on the reg in a cyber truck or those other lifted shiny shits people drive around?

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[–] [email protected] 12 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago)

Truly the work vehicle of tomorrow

Built ~~Ford~~ Tesla tough!

[–] [email protected] 6 points 7 months ago (1 children)

Oil is corrosive? Doesn't it usually prevent steel from rusting?

[–] [email protected] 7 points 7 months ago (1 children)

Refined oil yes. But crude oil can be because it has impurities. Honestly in unsure about that sentence. They might have conflated all of the substances and effects together to save space. I imagine oils cooked definitely stain unprotected metal though.

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[–] [email protected] 56 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago) (3 children)

Haven't read the article, but I am going to say it's a bad alloy combined with salt in the air, salt on the roads combined with galvanic corrosion. I'll edit my post after I read this....

Edit: It's the deadly chromium layer not being wrapped in a $5000 clear coat.

[–] [email protected] 59 points 7 months ago (3 children)

not being wrapped in a $5000 clear coat.

This is such bullshit though. Deloreans were built with uncoated 304 stainless steel (think, same as in food grade stainless stuff), and with all their other issues, rust is not one of them.

If Teslas rust, they chose the wrong steel, the end.

[–] [email protected] 23 points 7 months ago (1 children)

We don't even know if they're rusting. All these articles are based off a couple pictures posted in a forum from a guy who doesn't even know what the actual issue is. These articles are just filling in the blanks with speculation.

[–] [email protected] 22 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago) (2 children)

The damn maintenance manual tells owners to carefully remove anything remotely corrosive (including, among other things, tree sap). Given Tesla knows the material is subject to rust, I think it's a bit more than just some confused owners.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 7 months ago (5 children)

Pretty sure that list applies to paint as well, and can be found in most car manuals.

I just searched the most recent manual for my model car, and it said this:

Washing

To help protect your vehicle's finish from rust and deterioration, wash it thoroughly and frequently at least once amonth with lukewarm or cold water. If you use your vehicle for off-road driving, you should wash it after each off-road trip. Pay special attention to the removal of any accumulation of salt, dirt, mud, and other foreign materials. Make sure the drain holes in the lower edges of the doors and rocker panels are kept clear and clean. Insects, tar, tree sap, bird droppings, industrial pollution and similar deposits can damage your vehicle's finish if not removed immediately.

Please try to keep your criticisms of Musk fair and unbiased. Otherwise, you risk weakening your point.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago) (1 children)

Yes, but you see the difference is my car is expected to rust because it's not made of supposedly stainless steel.

So I fully expect to have to protect my car's finish. That's why it's painted. The Cybertruck doesn't even have a clear coat. One would naturally thus expect that, unlike my regular non-stainless steel car, the Cybertruck wouldn't in fact rust.

Please try to keep your criticisms of Musk fair and unbiased. Otherwise, you risk weakening your point.

Thank you for your unsolicited advice. I'm sure next time I'll keep it in mind while having meaningless arguments with anonymous internet strangers.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 7 months ago

Oh, I thought this was a social media platform, where people don't need to be solicited to post their comments. If you don't want responses, start a blog. If you dont want responses from me, use the block function. If you want to engage in mostly baseless complaining, expect that people might call you out in a semi-anonymous forum.

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[–] [email protected] 5 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago) (1 children)

Them telling drivers to meticulously clean the vehicles doesn't necessarily mean they're afraid its going to rust. They're probably concerned with staining and junk getting embedded into the panels. In the forum post, you can actually see a little bit of staining circling some of the debris on the panels. Furthermore, iron particles can get on the panel and rust themselves even though the actual panel itself isn't rusting. This is why they make iron decontamination spray for auto detailing.

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[–] [email protected] 21 points 7 months ago (4 children)

They didn't do a clear coat like everything else ever made lol.

[–] [email protected] 37 points 7 months ago (1 children)

Except the DeLorean. Which doesn't rust at all.

Tesla's idea wasn't even bad, they just cheaped out enough to ruin it.

[–] [email protected] 13 points 7 months ago (1 children)

To clarify, it was still a very bad idea because of added mass, it just wasn't necessarily a bad idea for rust since they could have mitigated risk of rust in one of several ways.

The added mass is really bad for battery performance/range, pedestrian safety, safety of other motorists, and total greenhouse gas emissions in production (and added fuel costs for the marginal power increase, of course).

[–] [email protected] 10 points 7 months ago

When your customer base has main character syndrome, none of that matters, go hog wild

[–] [email protected] 16 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago) (1 children)

Lulz. I was updating my post when you responded.

People don't understand that stainless steel just "stains" slower than pure iron or regular steel.

[–] [email protected] 17 points 7 months ago

And differently depending on which stainless grade alloy. (308, 316 ,15-5 ,18-10 etc)

[–] [email protected] 10 points 7 months ago

I can understand other more specific problems, but something like this for a car manufacturer...

[–] [email protected] 8 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago) (1 children)

That was musks selling point for production, he said by skipping the paint booth they saved X amount of time, materials and money by going with plain untreated stainless

[–] [email protected] 10 points 7 months ago (1 children)

They could have saved even more by not putting batteries in them, or motors... Man, these things coulda had a way bigger profit margin!

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[–] [email protected] 12 points 7 months ago

Who would have thought that their truck would need a $5000 extra to be usable outdoors? Who buys a truck to keep it indoors?

[–] [email protected] 31 points 7 months ago (2 children)

because tesla is a rubbish company that sells poorly made cars at expensive markups because there's no dealer showroom to try before you buy

[–] [email protected] 7 points 7 months ago

I think this is actually what Tesla's biggest contribution to cars has been thus far. Dealerships need to die, the stone ages are over.

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[–] [email protected] 29 points 7 months ago

Is it because they’re shitty overpriced pieces of junk hawked by a known con artist? Or some other reason?

[–] [email protected] 26 points 7 months ago (1 children)

Congrats to Tesla for making the worst truck imaginable. Shit's hilarious, too bad it's not a joke.

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[–] [email protected] 23 points 7 months ago

I don't have a lot of sympathy for any of the idiots that buy these idiotic things.

[–] [email protected] 22 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago) (1 children)

Tesla: for another five grand we will rainproof the metal on your vehicle

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[–] [email protected] 14 points 7 months ago

@hedge just leave it on the street to encourage tagging and get a free paint job, problem solved

[+] [email protected] 13 points 7 months ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago) (2 children)

[deleted]

[–] [email protected] 9 points 7 months ago (1 children)

The headline says it may be rusting. Nobody would be saying “may be rusting” if it was known they were rusting.

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[–] CameronDev 6 points 7 months ago

I think they dropped their original plan for a unibody design, and there is a regular chassis underneith. That also could be rusting, but invisibly :)

[–] [email protected] 11 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago)

They forgot to put a sacrificial anode:

https://youtu.be/qFXWjv65JWg?t=213

[–] [email protected] 11 points 7 months ago

Every time I hear about this problem, I get that one part from the song Love Shack stuck in my head.

🎵 Your what?!?!
TEEEEEEEEEEES-LAAA!
...rusted

Love shack,
Baby love shack 🎵

[–] [email protected] 10 points 7 months ago (2 children)

Because its not actually stainless.

[–] [email protected] 17 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago) (5 children)

Someone brought up an important point about stainless steal that i forgot until they mentioned it.. It's called stain-less, not stain-free.

[–] [email protected] 13 points 7 months ago (3 children)

FDA approved stainless steel (316L) doesn't actually rust. Otherwise you'd have sprinkles of rust in your food and drink from production, and you'd have to buy new utensils and a kitchen sink because they've rusted.

There are different grades of stainless steel with their varying properties.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 7 months ago

316L is perfectly capable of rusting especially under pitting corrosion. I don't know who told you it is physically incapable. It is just unlikely under normal food conditions.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 7 months ago

316L absolutely can corrode. Add a bit of acid in the water and it will start showing rust soon enough. Typically you can find chemical compatibility charts for various metal grades to see what does and doesn't work with a metal.

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[–] [email protected] 11 points 7 months ago

All "stainless" means is that the alloy contains at least 10.5% chromium. It's not a guarantee that it won't corrode or oxidize.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago) (1 children)

Ooo, I know this one! Is it because of Elon's massive ego and refusal to listen to experts?

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[–] [email protected] 6 points 7 months ago

Okay, it rusts. Now, ride SpaceX ships...

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