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Tesla: You’ll Have to Wipe Dead Bugs and Bird Poop off Your Cybertruck ASAP to Avoid Corrosion
(www.motorbiscuit.com)
this post was submitted on 20 Jan 2024
238 points (95.8% liked)
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Honestly, I think that would be an aesthetic improvement
I remember seeing the reveal for this bizzarely marketed abomination live with my college buddies. Never laughed harder during a product reveal. Musk bragging the windows were bullet proof before promptly breaking a window while demonstrating was comedy GOLD.
I lost it when they broke the second window right after. It reminds me of the demo Bill Gates did where he got a BSOD.
Hadn't seen it before. Thanks for the reference.
They handled that so well. The "moving right along" and "that must be why we're not shipping W98 yet" are the correct responses to this, instead of being sure it's not real and throwing another ball at the window. Admittedly, they didn't really have a choice to go again. It would have taken several minutes to reboot probably.
I wonder how many people were fired for that snafu.
This is a good example for bad design. Apart from the odd shape (this is debateable - perhaps some people like the design) the choice of the exterior material is not to be considered a good one, concidering the vehicle's exposure to the elements (dead bugs, tree sap, salt, dust, dirt, etc.) is nothing out of the ordinary. These are normal things an ordinary vehicle is exposed to.
Maybe Tesla could sell accessories like some kind of panel covers to protect the body of the car, in a similar way phone covers are being sold to protect phones. Which in itself is also the result of bad design: not only a phone cover hides the original design of the phone, the necessity to use a cover on a phone shows that the phone probalby is not built strong enough to withstand daily usage, like falling on the ground or being carried in a pocket.
This is why proper cars are build with their metal parts dipped in protective enamel instead of exposing them raw to the elements like a dumbass.
They could have just painted all exposed parts in clear coat and kept the raw look while protecting the metal from the elements. But that would probably require an actual car design expert to be a part of the process.
Or Tesla could offer a different material choice, like COR-TEN steel. Its rusty surface will hide all the bugs and dirt and one does not need to wash the car immediately after exposure. Also, this choice of material comes with the same disadvantages stainless steel has to offer: e.g. no proper alignment of the body panels. This means that Tesla doesn't have to change their way of assembly.
Hold up; are you actually blaming Teslas poor panel alignment on the material they chose and not their 'craftsmanship'?
Well, of course most of it is attributed to the (lack of) craftmanship. I've seen videos of Teslas that are falling apart, because of sloppy assembly.
I have read somewhere else that stainless steel sheet metal has different properties than the regular metal cars are usually made of, which makes it harder to process. I can imagine that it is harder to align such material in general.
Honestly, this would be pretty convenient. Some people may think it's ugly (though you're already driving this piece of shit), but it'd hide a lot of dirt and stuff so you don't need to worry about keeping it clean as much. If you're using it for an actual truck to haul cargo and stuff, this would be ideal, though we all know these cyber trucks are never going to have any cargo in their beds.
If executed well enough, it an look pretty good: https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/international-automotive-scene/71202-rat-rod-bmw-e28.html
Although this is not COR-TEN steel. The original body parts, which are made from "normal" metal have been altered chemically in their surface. This kind of appearence is called "Rat Style".
I like how the last few years has been Elon making simple mistakes that people have figured out a long time ago.
Just shows that if you have enough money, you can stumble your way through the rest of your life and be well off after one decent play.
Dude could accomplish so much more if he actually listened to orhers and was a good leader.
Can you get a clear enough enamel to make it look like bare metal?
Yes, easily.
A cover would probably be worse. It'd trap moisture and other things against the metal and it'd probably make the issue even worse. It needs an enamel coating or something, but that'd make far too much sense. Alternatively, since it's bare metal, you could remove any rust that occurs pretty easily, but it wouldn't look as smooth anymore. They could also possibly cheaply manufacture and sell replacement parts, since it should be (assuming they didn't do things too dumb, which is a stretch) fairly easy to fabricate.
The evolution path of the cellular/smart phone didn't always need a protective cover. That was a result of smaller easily handheld devices and more fragile components, as well as a convenient add-on product. Remember the earlier Nokia-types and their belt clip-ons for this same dropping problem? Plus they were still a bit heavy for slipping into a pocket.
The reason why the comparison doesn't work is that there is a century or more of experience and research for cars and similar surfaces exposes to the elements, Tesla/Musk just decided to be different despite the glaring evidence it was a bad idea.
I think the phone cover thing is because the original iPhone wasn't built very well. Maybe they're still bad, I don't know never owned one.
I've been using rawdog phones for over a decade, dropped them many times and no real issues other than a chip in a the plastic of one of cheaper ones I've had.
Idk, every Delorian I've seen still looks great! Granted, there's probably a lot of survivor bias there. But if you take care of it, stainless steel lasts forever.
I agree with you - they do look great indeed. Regarding survivor bias: those cars you see around probably are maintained well. With a sufficient level of maintenance, even a Yugo can be kept in pristine condition (given the supply of spare parts in this particular example).
When it comes to Tesla in general, many people complain about insufficient panel alignment, although it its barely noticeable. But given the pice range (this is a upper class car) one needs to pay to afford such a car this issue shouldn't be present. On the other hand: when I look at my car (Mitsubishi Mirage) closely, the panel alignment ist't done well either. But considering the price range that car has been sold, I can live with that.
Stupid article.
Look, here's an excerpt from my car's manual:
To help prevent corrosion:
Wash the vehicle regularly to prevent corrosion of the body and suspension components. Also, wash the vehicle promptly after driving on any of the following surfaces.
. roads that have been salted to prevent them from freezing in winter
. mud, sand, or gravel
. coastal roads
Now let's write a headline to match.
Subaru: You'll have to wash dirt off your Crosstrek ASAP to Avoid Corrosion.
Wow, can I be a journalist now?
As expected, you left out some important points:
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.
Looks like Subarus are also defective. More excerpts from my owners manual:
Salt, chemicals, insects, tar, soot, tree sap, and bird droppings should be washed off by using a light detergent, as required. If you use a light detergent, make certain that it is a neutral detergent. Do not use strong soap or chemical detergents. All cleaning agents should be promptly flushed from the surface and not allowed to dry there. Rinse the vehicle thoroughly with plenty of lukewarm water. Wipe the remaining water off with a chamois or soft cloth. Wear rubber gloves and use a hand brush when washing down underbody, inner fenders and suspension to effec- tively remove mud and dirt off.
What kind of a shitty automaker would require such care after just some tar or bird droppings!
As expected, cars need washing.
That's enough facts for today, Mr. FishBulb.
Couple of points:
- Wash regularly vs immediately
- Denatured alcohol vs soap and water
- A Subaru will actually get you where you want to go when you're driving in the snow.
These things are going to be real cool sitting around all rusty in the apocalypse. Maybe some of them will be kept alive with some charge hacking shenanigans.
A petrol generator welded to the frunk
It's got a truck bed, right?
Ill need that to store the corpse meat ill be harvesting.
I think it would only be electric vehicles would be functional in a post apocalyptic scenario.
I don't think people appreciate the complexity of oil refineries and oil supply chains. A lot of the oil industry is happening somewhere else and people don't think very much about how fragile it is despite the large number of economic problems caused by even minor disruptions in that industry.
And gas goes bad after about a year. So...
It's far simpler to to set up a wind turbine to charge an electric car than it is to rebuild all of that oil industry infrastructure.
Preppers should really have electric cars and wind turbines and solar power. But those types tend to be just paranoid and don't really think straight.
Didn't the DeLorean have the same problem?
They did. Amongst other issues.
DeLoreans, early-production models in particular, suffered from poor build quality as well as mechanical issues.
This quote ist taken from the English Wikipeda Article. In the German Wikipeda Article quality issues are described more detailed: many issues involved the gull-wing doors, which had a complicated opening mechanism that often jammed. Also one could injure their hand by closing the door, as it was too heavy. The German Wikipeda Article also mentioned, that, due to the choice of material for the body work, a proper alignment of the stainless steel panels was not to be expected.
Edit: to reference to the original question: I haven't found any statements regarding to the pollution of the stainless steel body, but I can imagine that this car had the same issues the Cyber Truck is having.
Imma blow your mind, but all cars have this same problem. Literally any car that doesn't have ppf film on it should have bird poop and bugs cleaned off ASAP. It will discolor your paint, make it chip easier, or at worst make it completely fall off in that spot. Especially if you live in an area where birds have access to berries and stuff that can make their poop even more acidic.
Pro-tip, you should do this for any car that you care about.
You probably have servants to do that for you if you have "fuck off I'm buying a Cybertruck" money.
While I think the cybertruck is stupid, you may not realize how much the SUVs, minivans, and trucks you likely see regularly on the road cost.
The low-end cybertruck model is often equivalent (or less than) some models of jeep Grand Cherokee, dodge charger, Chrysler Pacifica, chevy traverse, ford super duty, etc.
A lot of cars are crazy expensive. I know people that have cars that cost 70-80K, which is more than their yearly salary. It's insane.
https://www.newsweek.com/americans-can-no-longer-afford-their-cars-1859929
Really interested how long these trucks will last in the north east. I suspect salt is going to ruin them in short order.
Which isn't any different from existing trucks, really. You can treat a truck like shit in the south or even PNW and it'll last decades longer than a well-cared-for truck in the northeast or midwest.
Definitely, the salted areas are always tougher for cars, while living in PA I expected only 6-8 years from a car before it started falling apart. But it's usually under carriage rust and not visible until it's got so bad it's through the panels. The exposed metal seems likely these will start showing corrosion in just a few seasons, guess we'll see
The ~~Emperor~~ Aztec has no ~~clothes~~ clearcoat...