Aluminum Ford in Edmunds

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Originally Posted By: dlundblad
We have all seen aluminum used before. Folks here are acting like its never been done before.

The only thing I have to add to this is we just need to sit back and wait.. Check up on these trucks in about 5 years in Indiana, New York etc. and see how well they are holding up. The service trucks seem to take the biggest beating so keep any eye out for those too.

Judging from the price examples seen here, aluminum isn't much different than steel.. Might just take a bit more man hours.
21.gif


As far as rust goes, I can think of a few issues with both GM and Ford had with their steel bodies. The biggest one being bare steel inside a wheel well along with areas a wet salty sand mixture is able to collect and sit.. After going down a dirt road and chipping some paint off, I give it 1 good Indiana winter before they start rusting. Nowadays a liner seems to be an additional option?


I can show you the (lack of) wheelwells on my dad's F350 ... happened because they weren't painted.
 
Originally Posted By: MinamiKotaro
You've honestly never seen a truck hauling a huge, lidded pot that says "Hot Molten Aluminum"?


Nope... and I'm in Michigan, where the state's affection for overweight trucks would almost let this make sense.

Again, you're talking about probably 25,000 pounds of trailer and crucible to transport 30,000 pounds of aluminum. Not to mention the permitting and insurance that would go along with this method.

For a cross-town trip to a startup foundry that hasn't come up with the capital for their own furnace, sure, this could make sense. In any ongoing, large-scale operation, it sounds like snake oil.
 
Anything unproven..

Don't want to be a beta tester for big auto anymore...



Originally Posted By: whip
Originally Posted By: millerbl00
Buy it. In 50k miles when you have problems live with it. More and more issues are coming up with Aluminum but people are ignoring that. The industry is not ready for Aluminum in this manner...

In the meantime ROLL on STEEL...

Can you explain why this isn't happening to the thousands of commercial vehicles that use aluminum?

Originally Posted By: millerbl00
LOL @ steel haters

Can we call you an anything new hater?
 
Originally Posted By: millerbl00
Anything unproven..

Don't want to be a beta tester for big auto anymore...

There's a huge difference between not wanting to be a beta tester, and making up false claims about all new technology. I'm still waiting for an example of a car that shook apart from resonance from using steel and aluminum in the suspension.
 
Sports car guys would kill for an all aluminum body, even us corvette guys. When I first heard this I couldn't believe they could afford to do this especially for a stinkin truck, but they make so many the unit costs go down. I guess....

I guess the F150 will get carbon fiber before the Mustang. What a whacky upside down world.
 
Originally Posted By: Trav
The big plus of the Ram IMO is the availability of the well proven VM V6 diesel without breaking the bank.


Good engine for sure. VM Motori is a well known and respected company and that new 8 speed trans makes a really good combo. We drove one for a full day, put about 150 miles on it. It is very smooth and surprisingly quiet.

But in the end I chose the amazingly efficient and fun Hemi...
 
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Originally Posted By: turtlevette
Sports car guys would kill for an all aluminum body, even us corvette guys. When I first heard this I couldn't believe they could afford to do this especially for a stinkin truck, but they make so many the unit costs go down. I guess....

I guess the F150 will get carbon fiber before the Mustang. What a whacky upside down world.





New Corvette, the C7, is all aluminum chassis, right ?
 
Originally Posted By: Pesca
Originally Posted By: turtlevette
Sports car guys would kill for an all aluminum body, even us corvette guys. When I first heard this I couldn't believe they could afford to do this especially for a stinkin truck, but they make so many the unit costs go down. I guess....

I guess the F150 will get carbon fiber before the Mustang. What a whacky upside down world.


New Corvette, the C7, is all aluminum chassis, right ?



Indeed. But this thread was about REPAIR costs, not the fact that it is aluminum. Our Family owned body shop had to spend almost 80K to set up a couple of bays for aluminum only work. Very expensive and time intensive which can only result in higher costs to the owners of these trucks...
 
Originally Posted By: SteveSRT8
Originally Posted By: Trav
The big plus of the Ram IMO is the availability of the well proven VM V6 diesel without breaking the bank.


Good engine for sure. VM Motori is a well known and respected company and that new 8 speed trans makes a really good combo. We drove one for a full day, put about 150 miles on it. It is very smooth and surprisingly quiet.

But in the end I chose the amazingly efficient and fun Hemi...

The Hemi is a nice engine for sure. I guess i am just an old diesel driver at heart. lol
I like them, the noise, the torque just the whole feeling from the engine.
 
Originally Posted By: SteveSRT8
Originally Posted By: Pesca
Originally Posted By: turtlevette
Sports car guys would kill for an all aluminum body, even us corvette guys. When I first heard this I couldn't believe they could afford to do this especially for a stinkin truck, but they make so many the unit costs go down. I guess....

I guess the F150 will get carbon fiber before the Mustang. What a whacky upside down world.


New Corvette, the C7, is all aluminum chassis, right ?



Indeed. But this thread was about REPAIR costs, not the fact that it is aluminum. Our Family owned body shop had to spend almost 80K to set up a couple of bays for aluminum only work. Very expensive and time intensive which can only result in higher costs to the owners of these trucks...


Well, I dunno, Steve.

If you look at insurance rates as a guideline, the insurance rates for my bonded aluminum Jaguar are not materially different than my welded steel Pontiacs of roughly similar vintage.

And they may not need repairs as frequently. As noted earlier, a killer hail storm that wrecked the all steel cars around our Jag, mostly just bounced off of it. A couple of scorching days later, it was like nothing ever happened. Meanwhile, the body shops and dent repair guys are redoing their financial statements because of the bonanza of trashed steel cars.

It's worth noting that just as their are differences in aluminum quality, there are differences in steel quality as well. The steel in my '94 Jaguar and '08 Holden certainly seems to be thicker and higher quality than the average steel car.

I don't doubt that there may be some capital costs to business, but that is usually spread across the entire customer base, not just a select few customers, and the new equipment or facilitues get depreciated, either immediately or over time.

All this angst is really kind of humorous to me, like making something out of aluminum is some kind of new technology.
 
Originally Posted By: SteveSRT8
Originally Posted By: Pesca
Originally Posted By: turtlevette
Sports car guys would kill for an all aluminum body, even us corvette guys. When I first heard this I couldn't believe they could afford to do this especially for a stinkin truck, but they make so many the unit costs go down. I guess....

I guess the F150 will get carbon fiber before the Mustang. What a whacky upside down world.


New Corvette, the C7, is all aluminum chassis, right ?



Indeed. But this thread was about REPAIR costs, not the fact that it is aluminum. Our Family owned body shop had to spend almost 80K to set up a couple of bays for aluminum only work. Very expensive and time intensive which can only result in higher costs to the owners of these trucks...


I was just answering this:
Originally Posted By: turtlevette
Sports car guys would kill for an all aluminum body, even us corvette guys.
 
Originally Posted By: Win

All this angst is really kind of humorous to me, like making something out of aluminum is some kind of new technology.


That is definitively the weird part of this thread.

This is not brand new unproved technology. It has been used for years already.
 
Originally Posted By: millerbl00
Not quite in this way with other new tech combined.

What other new tech is combined with it?
 
Originally Posted By: OneEyeJack
Soon a working man that needs a pickup for real work is going to get priced out of the market.


Not soon, that day has come. Ugh. The real out the door cost of my 2009 4x4 Lariat was, when new, exactly half what they are getting today for a similar aluminum truck! 5 years, double the cost, zero additional capability, better unloaded fuel economy.
 
Originally Posted By: Cujet
Not soon, that day has come. Ugh. The real out the door cost of my 2009 4x4 Lariat was, when new, exactly half what they are getting today for a similar aluminum truck! 5 years, double the cost, zero additional capability, better unloaded fuel economy.


0 added capability? Have you seen the stats of the 2015 F150?
Payload up to 3,000 lbs
Towing up to 12,200 lbs.

I'd think in 6 months or so the discounts will pile up on the 15's so the out the door cost won't be anywhere near sticker.
 
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Originally Posted By: Trav
The big plus of the Ram IMO is the availability of the well proven VM V6 diesel without breaking the bank.


Yeah, with the more expensive fuel (Diesel here in central PA just broke under $3 this week and is at $2.99 or so, IIRC) and more expensive maintenance ($80 DIY OC's), it sure sounds like a winner! [/sarcasm]

And the lack of long term dependability on Chrysler products is certainly not a plus for any of their vehicles. Personal anecdotes aside, the facts are Chrysler is not that reliable. (Heck, their Ram broke during MT testing, something that has not happened to Ford or GM!)
 
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Originally Posted By: itguy08
the facts are Chrysler is not that reliable. (Heck, their Ram broke during MT testing, something that has not happened to Ford or GM!)


I have had good luck with my Chrysler product. My positive personal anecdote cancelled your your negative one.
smile.gif


Like anything else manufactured, things can be flawed and fail. Now if the Ram had a trend of similar failures, then I would have to say something needs redesigned.

This is sounding too much like a P1 thread.
 
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Yep, he just can't help himself.

Ooops, here's another positive anecdote. I have had excellent service from a variety of Chrysler products.

BTW, Chevy's Vette blew up at VIR...
 
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