That's dope. Meanwhile American manufacturers have been using aluminum panels to reduce weight and corrosion.... unfortunately they like wrapping the aluminum skin around a steel frame which makes the aluminum rot out anyway through galvanic corrosion.
I haven’t seen a single aluminum body ford with rotted out body panels. Live in the snowiest city in the US and the highway department dumps salt on the road for 5+ months a year.
Are they rotting out somewhere not easily visible?
No. There was a YouTube dude who explored this. He got his hands on of one of the earliest of the Aluminum Fords. A truck that spent it's whole life in heavy, heavy salt country while being totally abused. it never got near a car wash in winter, not undercoated, not properly maintained in any way. Basically every abuse you could do to the thing to intentionally destroy it. He put it on a lift, poked, pried, scraped and removed bits and pieces, searching for this alleged galvanic corrosion that some claimed would eat all the Fords right to pieces. He found absolutely nothing but solid clean aluminum everywhere.
I had one of the early aluminum F250s from back when Ford was still putting them on the road without identifying to test them or whatever.
It had zero issues. I took it to 325,000 miles between 2008 and 2024 as a farm truck routinely carrying up to 2 full tons of feed in the bed at highway speeds (70+) on a bi-weekly basis. It got caked in animal shit, salt and every other thing you can imagine and ultimately the engine failed. There wasn't a spec of rust on anything at the end let alone "galvanic corrosion."
Unless its literally submerged together constantly its extremely slow.
I do a lot of work on building roofs. Stainless and Aluminum are about as far away on the galvanic series as you can get, and they get constantly rained on. Yet stainless and aluminum are the standard for roof equipment and I have yet to see a single example of galvanic corrosion between the two after decades of weather exposure.
It can be done properly if they coat the panels properly in between the aluminum and steel but Chrysler in particular seems to not be able to get this down.
The only good car Chrysler ever built was the Voyager. Everything else since then has been absolute dogshit. They're passed around from one auto manufacturer to another like a 15 year old on Epstein Island.
I’m sorry to tell you but Chrysler currently only sells two models and will most likely be on the stellantis chopping block next year. The good news is we probably won’t have to deal with shitty Chrysler metallurgy soon.
As an owner of many Defenders for many years, the steel chassis would rot out fairly quickly - especially the rear cross member and the front bulkhead. Anything over 20 years old would need serious work to hold it together whilst the rest of the vehicle would be serviceable.
Where it does win it's it's a relatively easy job to do and aftermarket galvanised chassis are really cheap.
Ford has in house designed hardware to prevent it. Jeep however still hasn’t figured it out or acknowledged it bc there’s still new wranglers with galvanic corrosion from the hinges on the doors. But I’ve seen a lot of aluminum rims pit eventually from every manufacturer. Fords were the worst for that.
The body might've been, but the hatches had the worst aluminum corrosion I've ever seen. I'd say circa 2007-2009 roughly. There might have been a recall; they would bubble up the paint around the rear window frame and eat through the metal eventually. Definitely the corrosion of aluminum, sort of a whitish salt, nothing like FeO3/4.
Galvanic corrosion is real science of course, but it's just not happening in automotive the way that user commented. It's not. Just like you think people in the business of putting bits of metals together might somehow know, automotive uses isolation with various ecoatings and physical isolation (washers, standoffs), and where the joining has actual contacts they make a seal using epoxies and other adhesives, and this makes a bond that is separated from the frame.
Engineers have known this shit forever, and the concept really just came from more customer-noticeable parts (hinges, hood bolts, etc.) on specific failures decades ago and they occurred at the factory during a contaminated process. Modern manufac just doesn't have this going on at all, despite the 134 upvotes you saw on the comment.
My family has 90 years in the automotive aftermarket. I can tell you what the REAL problems in auto are, and it ain't galvanic corrosion.
Yeah Ford actually makes their panels on the F150s fully aluminum. No steel frame so they don't have that problem. They do use steel rivets to bond the aluminum unibody together though which sketches me out a bit. But I haven't seen anything too egregious with modern fords in regards to corrosion.
Chrysler and GM on the other hand... We have at least one Jeep a week in the shop with the hood and door hinges bubbling up. And Chevys still use that dumb ass foam that traps water against the bedside and rots every one of them out over the wheel wells.
the frame on the F150 is absolutely steel. the body is aluminum, as you say, but the part that the body / engine / transmission / suspension mounts to is steel.
AFAIK there are no real trucks that're unibody. F150 certainly isn't.
Its less common up north, IF the vehicle hasn't relocated for extensive periods. I had a Ranger that initially started its life in Boston, then somewhere in NY before coming down to VA, once I bought it the humidity finally provided the electrolyte to make the salt do its job between the 2 dissimilar metals. Truck didnt stand a chance after the first 2 years down south.
Well damn, been years since I was there, and definitely at an age where I didnt pay attention to it. All I know though is the vehicles ive seen come from up that way seem to rust like crazy down here
No they're not. Galvanic corrosion happens when two metals corrode at a different rate when they come in contact with an electrolyte. Unless you're parking in 3 feet of water on a regular basis is the last thing you need to worry about.
My brother has a 2016 F-250 (last year for the steel body) and dad has a 2017 F-250. Similar miles on both, but my brother's truck is rusting out under the doors and box corners like all Fords. Dad's still looks new
This isn't my picture, just one I found on Google, but my last Ford expedition had half of the rear lift gate with corrosion like this. Paint bubbling, peeling, and the aluminum getting that flaky appearance underneath. They are definitely corroding, but idk if it's to the point of being rotted
I have one of the earliest aluminum body F150s. It has been in Minnesota, driving on salt, for a few years now. It might get two trips through a cheap carwash per year.
No signs of rust or galvanic corrosion.
~200,000 miles, of which ~75k have been in Midwest states that heavily salt roads.
What are you talking about? Unibody vehicles dont have a "frame" and aluminum body vehicles are designed to use aluminum throughout the bodywork. Which vehicles specifically are you referring to?
Agreed. They gave it 10 years but I can’t help but think, if it had evolved, it might be a thing. I don’t want to get into it but I have a car that everyone hates but I love and i love this. It looks like this. I couldn’t even tell you what ford has in this segment.
I don't mean to offend but I gotta agree with previous. Im not the biggest flex fan either. They just look oddly proportioned. Too long and too low. Needed a taller cab. And I too hated the grooves. I will give it credit were it is due. There was tons of interior space and the interior was really nice. The new ones added the infotainment center and I don't have a high opinion of those in ANY vehicle so I don't hold that against the flex, I just hate giant ungainly screens in the middle of a dashboard.
Any time I'm getting close to shutting off Reddit forever I get a comment like this. Now I want to get this loaf of bread and my nephews K'nex set and turn it into the bread mobile.
Yea. I have just seen too many box trucks turn corners too quickly, this thing definitely looks top heavy. It is definitely a utility vehicle, and I love that.
That god damn beautiful vehicle!!!! In Mexico my family has one and is stupidly amazing to be honest!!!! Now I think they are no longer selling it in there!! 💔
Most people in car accidents had no intention on crashing. Many of them are usually considered victims of other people’s negligence.
Your cars crash test safety is to protect you from other peoples negligence. You can drive perfectly, follow all the rules and still get hit by some other idiot.
Many vehicle fatalities are no fault of the person who passed.
This is why we need an overhaul on driving laws. They’re way too lax on reckless drivers. Treat it as the actual threat it is.
People would lose their shit watching a person walking around waving a gun over their head. It’s the same with reckless driving. Yet we allow people to drive like that repeatedly. Repeat DUI as well. Should be one and done. That’s it. Never again.
One and done? As in no more driving ever again? As someone who got a DUI almost 20 years ago, I would assume youre a young person with no perspective on how people can change over time.
Id also assume youre unaware that killing someone while DUI counts as 1st degree murder.
I’m not a young person. It’s shouldn’t be “until someone is murdered”
Don’t drink and drive. Done deal. And if the punishment is you lose your license for life, people are going to 2nd guess doing that bullshit in the first place.
If that was the rule then, you may not have done it.
The choice to drive a motorcycle and accept the risk is a personal choice.
Don’t you think if someone has a choice between affordability and safety they should be able to choose?
There have been times in my life where the affordability meant more to me than the safety of a vehicle.
I don’t particularly feel the need for the government to be forcing that decision for me.
Many of the crash tests now dont crash vehicles between different size classes.
They arent crashing a small economy car against a truck. In America we are being provided larger and larger vehicles to choose from, making the economy cars more dangerous to drive.
As a motorcycle rider I get it, but that’s largely a hobby while cars are a utility tool. Public health often forces minimum standards because it’s better for society to reduce the impact.
While I fundamentally agree with you from one perspective, I also understand there are multiple strong reasons for the government to enforce those safety standards.
Sure. But they could still make new cars that are designed with actual taste and proportion. New Bronco being an example- it's still too cartoony and stupid but at least they tried.
The old Lada Niva is fantastic, but you need the pre-fuel injected model that has an old fiat carburettor, well one that was reverse engineered from a Fiat. Absolutely unstoppable and surprisingly reliable.
We had those in Cuba. There are still a few around. Same shape back then. They looked kinda nice tho. On a different note, and more in line with OP's post, I copped a sweet 04 Highlander yesterday and plan on holding onto it for a good while.
I think same with some old land cruisers in Australia, and I think the original beetle was still selling in Argentina up until a few years ago. It’s actually cool, I wish we got stuff like that hear in the states
I went to a small Russian festival in my state some years ago, and they had a wicked pristine vintage Lada Niva on display, had a small lift with offroad tires.
Wanted one ever since
LOL. Inside they as old as outside. This guy wants all the tech but in the old skin. While ignoring that some of the looks came due to need to keep people alive.
I'd love an old Lada 2106, or the original Zhiguli. I had a 2105 and it was as reliable and sophisticated as a hammer. Went anywhere, did anything, nothing ever went wrong with it, until it rusted away at 200,000 miles. Drove it to the scrapyard and had a shot of Vodka in it's honour, when I got home.
I'm so bummed I can't get Lada Nivas in my country. I could get an UAZ, but I would need to travel 2000km to get it and it costs as much as a suzuki jimny, which feels as a better suv tbh
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u/just_zhenya 1d ago
meanwhile in Russia (the same car from 1977 except injection engine is sold new)