Ford Powerstroke Diesel Forum banner

Dent Resistant "Military Grade" Aluminum

1 reading
8.5K views 18 replies 9 participants last post by  pger555  
#1 ·
I'm seriously allergic to dings. I've managed to avoid getting a single ding in the last 5 years across three vehicles. No, I don't believe in luck, jinxes, religion or even bad Karma. I'm just carefull - so I can brag.

Having said that - is the new Aluminum bodywork really more resistant to dents and dings? I seriously do like the fact that it won't ever rust. I can't control the college kids that infest my town so I may have an accident any time. I'm sure I'll fare better in my truck than the guy in the Prius w/the Hillary sticker. :)
 
#2 ·
Don't know, but it brings up several questions....

Can the aluminum be bent back by use of dentless auto repair, like steel can?
If it can be repaired using dentless auto repair, will you get the tin can effect? (My car currently has this, from being repaired after someone opened their car door to fast at the parking lot).
 
#4 ·
When I picked up my Lariat it had a pretty decent ding/scratch in the door. About a 1. 1.5 inch long. The dealer had the 'Door Ding' expert remove the ding. He did a flawless job. While he was repairing it he stated that it required different technique. He stated that steel has a 'memory' and will go back into place a little easier. Aluminum has to be heated to repaired. He took a blow torch to lightly heat the area then put it back in place. He buffed out the scratch easily.

So to answer the question, fixing a ding can be done pretty easily. It is a different technique but can be repaired.
 
#5 ·
Here is a great video on the thickness of the side panels. Give you good view of what they look like.


As to your Prius not. I owned/leased a Prius for a while. What a pile of $_it car. To save weight the panels are super thin to save weight. I accidentally bent my rear panel leaning up against it too hard. They are truly terrible cars. They are not safe nor are they really that great on gas.
 
#6 ·
I know a guy who owns a paintless dent repair business. Recently a freak large hail storm hit our local Chevy and Ford dealership (side by side) which damaged every car and truck on their respective lots. He repaired all of them. When I asked about how the Aluminum Super Duties and F150s faired in comparison to the steel bodied trucks over on the GM lot. He said that that while the aluminum didn't dent as much as the steel bodied vehicles, it still took him the same amount of time to repair the smaller aluminum dent as it was stiffer and harder to get back into its original shape, and charged the same amount to repair either of them. When I asked his professional opinion about the dent resistance of the new aluminum bodies, he definitely felt that the aluminum would be a little harder to ding than steel.
FWIW, of the 300 repaired vehicles on those lots, I couldn't find a flaw in one of them that he had repaired.
 
#7 ·
Just don't drop concrete blocks into your bed from a front end loader, like they do in those stupid-azz Chevy commercials.
 
  • Like
Reactions: HeavyAssault
#8 · (Edited)
Most reasonable minded people that spend $50,000 - $80,000 for a truck will have a bedliner installed before dumping bricks from eight feet high into the bed. That said, my local Line-X dealer has an aluminum Coke can that they sprayed with their liner material. Talk about impressive! I couldn't crush that can no matter how hard I tried, and could stand on it as well. (I weigh 270) If the paper thin aluminum on that can was that strong with a coating of Line-X, I have no worries about my truck. Additionally, I have the peace of mind to know that my bed isn't rusting. Lets see that same commercial in 10 years after the GM has had some road salt and calcium chloride take it's toll on the steel bed.
And, regarding the steel bed. That's something that I don't quite understand about the new body style of the GM truck that is coming out in the next couple of years. GM is saying that the bed's quarter panels are still going to be mild steel. (front and rear) I live in a rust prone area where most trucks start rusting out within 3-5 years. I wonder why they didn't use either carbon fiber or aluminum on the fenders where rust is most prevalent.
Could it be that mild steel costs less?..... No, tell me it isn't so.....
 
  • Like
Reactions: Hawk388
#11 ·
#14 ·
QUOTE=pger555;15960994]Put a dime size sent in the hood from just closing it... Yes I was an idiot and closed it too hard but still should not happen. Getting fixed tomorrow...

Zoom in above the R in super... It drives me crazy
Image


Sent from my SM-G960U using Tapatalk[/QUOTE]

1. Just enough to be noticeable.
2. Right where you can see it.
3. And on black of all colors!
You Sir have won the new truck blues trifecta.

I was at the Department of Motor Vehicles recently. While standing in line I was talking with a guy that just bought a brand new Chevy 3500 Duramax at the Chevy dealership next door to the DMV. He hadn't even test drove it as he had special ordered it and just paid cash for it and then drove it literally 500feet into the DMV's parking lot which was connected to the dealership's. So, we're trading diesel truck stories while waiting in line when a guy covered in cow crap walks in and yells, "who owns the new Black Chevy Pickup out here that I just backed into"? The new owner gets that "Oh Crap" look on his face and dashes out the door. When I finished my business I went out in time to see his truck being loaded on a rollback. The farmer had backed into the truck's passenger side with a cattle trailer and crushed the bed and about a foot of the back door which twisted the cab. It shoved the truck a good 5 feet sideways before it was pinched against a curb which finally stopped the truck and cattle trailer, which surprisingly were not damaged at all! To top it off, liquid cow crap had been splashed all over his new truck when the impact happened. The trailer was full of cattle and they all had diarrhea.

Now, I know no one wants to hear "Ahhh, it could be worse", but this guy's "first dent" story beat anything I'd ever seen in all the years that I was in law enforcement. I figured that if it made you laugh a little, that tomorrow might not seem so bad. Good luck with your new truck, and with the way your luck is going, don't park near any cattle trucks. :smile2:
 
#15 ·
1. Just enough to be noticeable.
2. Right where you can see it.
3. And on black of all colors!
You Sir have won the new truck blues trifecta.

I was at the Department of Motor Vehicles recently. While standing in line I was talking with a guy that just bought a brand new Chevy 3500 Duramax at the Chevy dealership next door to the DMV. He hadn't even test drove it as he had special ordered it and just paid cash for it and then drove it literally 500feet into the DMV's parking lot which was connected to the dealership's. So, we're trading diesel truck stories while waiting in line when a guy covered in cow crap walks in and yells, "who owns the new Black Chevy Pickup out here that I just backed into"? The new owner gets that "Oh Crap" look on his face and dashes out the door. When I finished my business I went out in time to see his truck being loaded on a rollback. The farmer had backed into the truck's passenger side with a cattle trailer and crushed the bed and about a foot of the back door which twisted the cab. It shoved the truck a good 5 feet sideways before it was pinched against a curb which finally stopped the truck and cattle trailer, which surprisingly were not damaged at all! To top it off, liquid cow crap had been splashed all over his new truck when the impact happened. The trailer was full of cattle and they all had diarrhea.

Now, I know no one wants to hear "Ahhh, it could be worse", but this guy's "first dent" story beat anything I'd ever seen in all the years that I was in law enforcement. I figured that if it made you laugh a little, that tomorrow might not seem so bad. Good luck with your new truck, and with the way your luck is going, don't park near any cattle trucks. :smile2:
That is quite the story. Sounds like the cows knew they hit a Chevy!

It's one of those things, you know it won't be perfect forever. As soon as something happens it crushes your soul. Oh well, all the money saved on doing the oil change myself gets to go to dent repair...

Sent from my SM-G960U using Tapatalk