Owners say they are noticing orange stains on the stainless steel panels of their new Cybertrucks.

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

  • AllonzeeLV@lemmy.world
    30·
    9 months ago

    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.

    • girlfreddy@lemmy.caOP
      15·
      9 months ago

      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.

        • girlfreddy@lemmy.caOP
          3·
          9 months ago

          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.

            • hydroptic@sopuli.xyz
              7·
              9 months ago

              Can’t remember the last time my car with paint on it rusted after a couple of days of rain

              • gregorum@lemm.eeEnglish
                02·
                9 months ago

                And coated and paint. Also, stainless is not stain proof. There are multiple types of stainless steel.

  • SrTobi@feddit.de
    28·
    9 months ago

    This is just fitting for people who were so afraid of other people damaging their cars that they go stainless steel cars, only for them to rust in every day rain. Hahaha cyber truck is a gift that keeps giving

  • vegantomato@lemmy.world
    221·
    9 months ago

    $81,000 and go up to $101,000 depending on the trim and options

    And they cheap out on the steel?

    • derphurr@lemmy.world
      5·
      9 months ago

      Um… where do you think they get the steel from? Cheap stainless from China. They lied like most of their pre-sales promises

      Tesla could be sourcing the materials from Outokumpu’s plant in Calvert, Alabama, and may be using more than one supplier

      • Richard@lemmy.worldEnglish
        39·
        9 months ago

        Oh you’re right, socialism always yielded incredibly superior products that were totally not of a fraction of the quality of Western products!

    • jimbolauski@lemm.ee
      22·
      9 months ago

      They probably uses a ferritic type of stainless, you can pick sheets up with magnets making manufacturing much easier but they are less corrosion resistant than 304 or 316.

  • arc@lemm.ee
    18·
    9 months ago

    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.

    • radiosimian@lemmy.world
      1·
      9 months ago

      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”

  • some_designer_dude@lemmy.world
    181·
    9 months ago

    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.

  • Kerb@discuss.tchncs.de
    15·
    9 months ago

    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.

  • Adulated_Aspersion@lemmy.world
    13·
    9 months ago

    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.

      • ForgotAboutDre@lemmy.world
        121·
        9 months ago

        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.

      • Zron@lemmy.world
        9·
        9 months ago

        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.

        • bluewing@lemm.ee
          3·
          9 months ago

          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.

          • Zron@lemmy.world
            41·
            9 months ago

            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.

        • derphurr@lemmy.world
          2·
          9 months ago

          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)

        • obscura_max@lemmy.world
          1·
          9 months ago

          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.

      • VindictiveJudge@lemmy.worldEnglish
        1·
        9 months ago

        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.

    • mx_smith@lemmy.world
      1·
      9 months ago

      Waiting for a back to the future reboot using a Tesla truck where it breaks down in the past because of no electricity.

      • VindictiveJudge@lemmy.worldEnglish
        1·
        9 months ago

        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.

  • Halcyon@discuss.tchncs.de
    132·
    9 months ago

    I don’t know, looks like what they wanted, dystopian by design.

    Here’s a picture of a Cybertruck Model 2 from 2050:

  • Dr. Coomer@lemmy.world
    9·
    9 months ago

    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.

    • 5in1k@lemm.ee
      3·
      9 months ago

      Is Elon doing coke and playing in a wedding band too? John Deloreon played my mom and dad’s wedding.

    • Crikeste@lemm.ee
      21·
      9 months ago

      Tesla cutting costs and using inferior materials? Just another day.

    • UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world
      28·
      9 months ago

      maybe tesla used cheaper stainless steel

      Actually uh its because chromium doesn’t do as good a job of uh um… stopping bullets.

      Idiot.

        • UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world
          58·
          9 months ago

          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.

          • Dr. Coomer@lemmy.world
            62·
            9 months ago

            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.

            • UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world
              51·
              9 months ago

              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!