Noticed sanding swirls & scratches on my newly delivered Cybertruck

[Bartman]

Hope they fix it for you and you are happy! I can't help but think this is going to become even a bigger problem with deliveries as time goes on. Right now, people are more likely to be stoked to accept a Cybertruck with some imperfections because the same people, who can afford to buy the FS at a 20K premium, likely have more money to wrap it and more time to rub it with BKF and windex. I think there are going to be persistent and inherent issues with the HFS exterior and it's going to eventually haunt Tesla and hurt sales. People don't want to spend 80-100K and get a scratched up, stained finish. And I know some of you are probably going to disagree and give me crap for saying this, but it's true.

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[Crissa]

People don't want to spend 80-100K and get a scratched up, stained finish. And I know some of you are probably going to disagree and give me crap for saying this, but it's true.

Then Tesla will have to suffice with the original pricing scheme. But as long as they have takers at this price, why worry?

-Crissa

 

[Carlos Thomas]

I am scheduled to get my Cybertruck back on Wednesday, March 6th at 5:30 pm. They had to fix another issue (replace the Low Voltage Wire Harness) on top of the sanding/scratches. So we will see what they did. I told them don't try and resurface the entire vehicle to match the messed up portion of one of the rear panels.

 

[CyberGus]

they can't seem to get out the stains

Over a year ago, I spilled some caustic chemical in my kitchen sink and didn't rinse it. Hours later, it had left a permanent "stain" or dull streak. Scrubbing furiously didn't help, and then I realized IDGAF lol.

Just now, I tried BKF to no avail. My sink stain is bonded to the surface, and will require mechanical friction removal (i.e. sanding) of the top layer to correct. I'm guessing the streaks on the CT are similar.

I can't imagine what caused it. I don't remember the chemical I spilled in the sink but it was definitely one of those "wear gloves and wipe up immediately" hazards.

 

[donnyb]

I could probably live with some scratches, but a blown subwoofer!??! Hellllll nah!

I am glad your SC is trying to make things right.

It ended up not being a blown subwoofer. It was a loose interior piece close to the subwoofer. You are correct, I could also live with some scratches, but never a blown subwoofer. I am music junkie.

 

[donnyb]

Over a year ago, I spilled some caustic chemical in my kitchen sink and didn't rinse it. Hours later, it had left a permanent "stain" or dull streak. Scrubbing furiously didn't help, and then I realized IDGAF lol.

Just now, I tried BKF to no avail. My sink stain is bonded to the surface, and will require mechanical friction removal (i.e. sanding) of the top layer to correct. I'm guessing the streaks on the CT are similar.

I can't imagine what caused it. I don't remember the chemical I spilled in the sink but it was definitely one of those "wear gloves and wipe up immediately" hazards.

I thought it was the rain and muddy roads at the giga factory since my VIN was created on 1/24/24, but my build date was 2/6/24. Around the 24th Texas had a big rain storm. Learn today that VINs are created a week or two head of build date.

 

[ideaXfactory]

Right now, people are more likely to be stoked to accept a Cybertruck with some imperfections because the same people, who can afford to buy the FS at a 20K premium, likely have more money to wrap it and more time to rub it with BKF and windex.

I'd like it delivered absolutely scratch free - and don't intend to use ever use windex or even BKF on it, though both are recommended by many on this site...

 

[Scribbious]

I get the impression that all delivery centers have not received the full training, tools, and products needed to do the seven step process. A friend and I got early deliveries from the Jacksonville center (around the time that Kyle at Out of Spec got his) and they all show signs of what I presume is an automotive buffer being pressed too hard. Hopefully they will still address it when they have more experience.

 

[Ward L]

If I show up with a spotted and scratched up Cybertruck, my “friends” will give me SO MUCH SHIT about it and I won’t like it. And rightly so….

 

[smoknyreyz]

I am scheduled to get my Cybertruck back on Wednesday, March 6th at 5:30 pm. They had to fix another issue (replace the Low Voltage Wire Harness) on top of the sanding/scratches. So we will see what they did. I told them don't try and resurface the entire vehicle to match the messed up portion of one of the rear panels.

What was the outcome of this? Were they able to resurface the panel properly?

 

[agordon117]

I believe the Tesla engineer on X said to use steel wool.

NO. DO NOT USE STEEL WOOL.

Steel wool is ferrous, it will embed particles of free iron into the pores of the stainless, which will then rust. It would require quite an extensive refinishing process to remove the free iron left behind by the steel wool.

Tesla recommended blue scotchbrite to clean off iron particles (rail dust). That would not refinish the panel, it's just to remove stuck on particles . But the exact finishing process if you want to finish it yourself is listed on their website. I'll pull up a link and add it to this post.

https://service.tesla.com/docs/Cybe...UID-D33D78C9-9BCD-46CB-885C-52B4F482852C.html

This has exact specs for the orbital sander, as well as the various sanding pads that you would need. It's very important not to use a pad that contains steel/iron (like steel wool). Stick to their part numbers if you want to be sure you won't have an issue. The sanding disks are likely not needed for 99% of refinishing. Just go by the "light scratches" method.


I realize OP didn't ask how to do this themselves, but I'm trying to prevent some poor soul from making a huge mistake if they find this thread doing a google search.

 

[Carlos Thomas]

What was the outcome of this? Were they able to resurface the panel properly?

We put off addressing the panel. I had the Low Voltage Wire Harness replaced so I didn’t want to wait additional time to have them try a figure out a solution.

 

[agordon117]

We put off addressing the panel. I had the Low Voltage Wire Harness replaced so I didn’t want to wait additional time to have them try a figure out a solution.

Do they have to run the orbital sander off of the truck's power? Surely in the many days that they had the truck they could have addressed the panel while they waited for the harness.

 

[donnyb]

We put off addressing the panel. I had the Low Voltage Wire Harness replaced so I didn’t want to wait additional time to have them try a figure out a solution.

My panels took about 2 weeks to refinish and just introduced more light scratches and removed some.

 

[HelfFL]

I had 2 small areas from original delivery that had some clear marks from where they must have tried to buff out some scratches. I made a service appt, which was at a different service center from original delivery one, and the service guy was amazing. He rebuffed and treated the impacted areas in 20 minutes while I waited. I couldn't tell there was ever an issue when he was done. He did acknowledge that some delivery centers, especially for the first few CT deliveries, were not really up to speed on successful way to prep the trucks for delivery. This guy who does ALL the prep for the other service center says it takes him a good 2 to 3 days to get the trucks ready for delivery. That will work now since deliveries are only a handful a week or month, but not sure how these delivery centers will be able to handle that amount of prep for higher volume deliveries if they have to get that much work done.

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