Cybertruck Corrosion (per Owner Manual)

[Keeney]

Stainless steels with high corrosion-resistance are made for harsh environments, such as storage of chemicals or when exposed to extreme heat.

The 304 stainless on DeLoreans has stood up for decades. I think we'll be ok

Keep in mind that "corrosion resistance" can mean different things for different applications. For structural applications - it means the metal will maintain its strength. For piping and chemical tanks, it means it won't develop leaks. In food-prep applications, it means it won't get a pitted surface so it can be cleaned and can withstand being steam cleaned. In none of those applications do anybody really care about minor appearance issues like color changes, staining, water spots and salt deposits, or even minor iron oxide film appearing on the surface or at the welds.

So sure, the CyberTruck will never have rust holes or pieces falling off (at least in the stainless body panels - plenty of regular steel in the CT as well).

But if you want its appearance to stay like-new shiny and uniform color, that is a whole different story.

 

[Cybertruck2024]

I do keep seeing people say, "all car manuals have these type of disclaimers about corrosion." What I haven't seen is anyone actual show proof of that. So if I look at a Rivian or Hummer manual, there's corrosion warnings? These vehicles also don't cover the body corrosion under warranty?

I looked and couldn't find any real world evidence this is something all vehicle manufacturers mention, but I'm also a terrible investigator.

 

[Longranger]

Even high quality stainless steel can corrode with hostile conditions. It is almost inconceivable that the CT was brought to market with an alloy that could rust through or lose structural integrity through a normal lifetime of use. The real million dollar question is will it look terrible without work intensive and expensive special care like wrapping or frequent buffing. For a 100k vehicle that is supposed to do truck stuff I hope it looks OK with just normal washing.

 

[ideaXfactory]

The care instructions for wraps generally don't allow going through a regular car wash...

 

[Cybertruck2024]

Even high quality stainless steel can corrode with hostile conditions. It is almost inconceivable that the CT was brought to market with an alloy that could rust through or lose structural integrity through a normal lifetime of use. The real million dollar question is will it look terrible without work intensive and expensive special care like wrapping or frequent buffing. For a 100k vehicle that is supposed to do truck stuff I hope it looks OK with just normal washing.

The truth is road salt eats through traditional vehicles too. It happens slowly and can largely be avoided just by going through a car wash once a week in the winter, but it can happen.

If CT is as good or better at fighting off corrosion than everything else out there, especially due to salt, then I'm fine with it. If doing more than a weekly automated car wash is required or the thing falls apart, it's going to turn into a disaster and flop in 35%+ of the country. I assume Tesla has planned for this though, I have faith.

 

[mhaze]

A stainless exterior is not "improved" by miracle claims of various "coatings." It is not "better" to clad it, although it may look better. The stainless steel is quite happy meeting the weather and the conditions of the world.

For polishing and removing scratches, the first rule is materials and supplies used only for this job of working with stainless. All bought brand new is best, and used only for the truck.

Absolutely use nothing that has been around ferrous metals, that will have bits of iron, and those can later cause discoloration. Iron can form black, yellow, orange compounds.

I wouldn't use the stainless polishing and cleaning materials and supplies for the wheels or hubcaps, or plastic.

 

[niner]

I do keep seeing people say, "all car manuals have these type of disclaimers about corrosion." What I haven't seen is anyone actual show proof of that. So if I look at a Rivian or Hummer manual, there's corrosion warnings? These vehicles also don't cover the body corrosion under warranty?

I looked and couldn't find any real world evidence this is something all vehicle manufacturers mention, but I'm also a terrible investigator.

Here are Rivians and Hummer EV's, from their owners manuals

 

[Sarge588]

Bearded Tesla Guy had a great video about this today:

 

[cutlass]

The Cadillac Eldorado Biarritz from 1979 through 1985. Also had a full brushed stainless steel roof.

And unlike DeLorean that almost all sat garages for most of their lives, most of these Cadillacs sat outside and they never developed rust on the stainless steel roof. Tesla is using a different alloy formulation.

The 1957 and 1958 Cadillac Eldorado brougham sedan also featured a stainless steel roof, and those too are still in perfect condition. Without rusting .

 

[Cyberkaelym]

bar keepers friend. Did wonders on my extremely oxidized and water spoted garage sink. Tried it on the truck and bam, good as new. ?

 

[CyberGus]

Now that I’ve had the chance to work on both a DeLorean and a Cybertruck, I must admit: this is not your father’s stainless steel.

I never worried about scratching the DMC, since it already has a horizontal grain. However, the CT is ground with a random-orbital sander to a specific texture, so there are no visible lines to hide behind.

Also, I’ve never noticed so much color variation on the DMC steel. Maybe the texture is better at hiding it?

I just spent a couple of hours working on a dark-ish spot in the center to the frunk, slowly escalating from mild to aggressive: soap, then Citrisurf, then BKF, then with the blue ScotchBrite pad, and then even the green pad.

The spot is 90% gone, and I didn’t induce any scratches that I can discern. But, I never pressed hard with the scrub pads, maintaining even pressure.

Still, it took several BKF applications to get the desired effect, rinsed with water between attempts. And, I always made sure to never let it dry completely, and feathered the work all the way to the panel edges.

I’ll have no trouble maintaining this surface, but the DeLorean was allot simpler. And smaller lol

 

[CyberGus]

The spot is 90% gone, and I didn’t induce any scratches that I can discern.

UPDATE: The discolored spot is 99% gone, I'm having a hard time finding it now. But there are definitely scratches, what you might call "swirl marks" on a clearcoat.

I didn't see the scratches yesterday because it was overcast. I can't see them from a distance, and even up close it requires a strong point-light source (i.e. direct sunlight) to see. Not sure which operation induced them, probably it was the proscribed "green" Scotchbrite pad. Hmmph.

Looks like I'll be asking Santa for an orbital polisher hahahaha

 

[HaulingAss]

UPDATE: The discolored spot is 99% gone, I'm having a hard time finding it now. But there are definitely scratches, what you might call "swirl marks" on a clearcoat.

I didn't see the scratches yesterday because it was overcast. I can't see them from a distance, and even up close it requires a strong point-light source (i.e. direct sunlight) to see. Not sure which operation induced them, probably it was the proscribed "green" Scotchbrite pad. Hmmph.

Looks like I'll be asking Santa for an orbital polisher hahahaha

I'm surprised I haven't seen anyone experimenting with different surface finishes on a Cybertruck yet. Those people obsessed with how their truck looks all seem to gravitate towards covering the metal up with a plastic film. Go figure!

Have you considered switching to a linear finish, like a DeLorean, on your Cybertruck by using a coarse Scotchbrite and a linear polishing motion?

Or, how about a "ring finish"

?

 

[CyberGus]

I'm surprised I haven't seen anyone experimenting with different surface finishes on a Cybertruck yet. Those people obsessed with how their truck looks all seem to gravitate towards covering the metal up with a plastic film. Go figure!

Have you considered switching to a linear finish, like a DeLorean, on your Cybertruck by using a coarse Scotchbrite and a linear polishing motion?

Or, how about a "ring finish"

?

Hard pass on the loopy scales of death, thanks.

I've actually considered the linear finish so that the two vehicles match, hahahaha

 

[ideaXfactory]

UPDATE: The discolored spot is 99% gone, I'm having a hard time finding it now. But there are definitely scratches, what you might call "swirl marks" on a clearcoat.

I didn't see the scratches yesterday because it was overcast. I can't see them from a distance, and even up close it requires a strong point-light source (i.e. direct sunlight) to see. Not sure which operation induced them, probably it was the proscribed "green" Scotchbrite pad. Hmmph.

Looks like I'll be asking Santa for an orbital polisher hahahaha

I've used a orbital on it now to fix my dealers experiment - probably they were using Bar Keepers Friend and then some sort of pad... Their result was not good. And what they did is not what Tesla recommends.

Matching Tesla's finish is possible to do. However I used a rather special pneumatic orbiter with pad matching as close as possible to the type and finish that Tesla used.