let's emphasize how strong and tough this stainless steel body is

[roadrunner32]

You might recall in the past Dad's would say I don't want my kid in one of those little foreign cars that were cheap for parents to purchase or partially purchase or at least approve of for their kid. "I want some steel around my kid and lots of it." And more recently a friend's wife said yeah " my husband has to drive into the city and the many freeways for appointments and I want him safe so she encouraged him to get one of those big SUVs you know, the ones that Ford and GMC makes. So now I would respond with these statements with there is no vehicle body than cybertruck's stainless steel body. Perhaps most people think of stainless steel as it doesn't rust. But really it is more than rust resistant, it is the toughness of it. When I worked in US Steel we had to often roll stainless steel sheet and it would just tear up equipment, many, many roll changes. At home, we had a BarBQ pit the cover of which was stainless and it needed a handle and it also needed a slight bend to shed rain water. I could not bend it and I went though probably four dozen drill bits to get two holes to attach a handle.. You have seen on this board the stories of how well the cybertruck help up in accidents.

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[BlueLightning]

I would have been happy with patchwork rivet overlapping stainless, than the 5-7 single screws or “glue” to hold those steal panels to the aluminum frame!

Emphasized: It’s only as strong as the glue, but sure does look pretty

 

[JackCypher]

Stainless steel is a 'super metal'. Antidotally, NASA and SpaceX went thru numerous materials to make liquid fuel tanks for rockets. Insanely demanding where pressure, cryogenic temperatures and violent shock and vibration in launch had to survive.

NASA and SpaceX spent $$$$ millions on carbon fiber - only to go back to Stainless Steel. It has insanely good mechanical and thermal properties in addition to being very non-reactive.

 

[CyberGus]

You should make this into a wrap

 

[Beetlebug62]

I'd like it to be rusty Corten steel:

Here is someone who thinks the Cybertruck is a tank:

 

[HaulingAss]

You might recall in the past Dad's would say I don't want my kid in one of those little foreign cars that were cheap for parents to purchase or partially purchase or at least approve of for their kid. "I want some steel around my kid and lots of it." And more recently a friend's wife said yeah " my husband has to drive into the city and the many freeways for appointments and I want him safe so she encouraged him to get one of those big SUVs you know, the ones that Ford and GMC makes. So now I would respond with these statements with there is no vehicle body than cybertruck's stainless steel body. Perhaps most people think of stainless steel as it doesn't rust. But really it is more than rust resistant, it is the toughness of it. When I worked in US Steel we had to often roll stainless steel sheet and it would just tear up equipment, many, many roll changes. At home, we had a BarBQ pit the cover of which was stainless and it needed a handle and it also needed a slight bend to shed rain water. I could not bend it and I went though probably four dozen drill bits to get two holes to attach a handle.. You have seen on this board the stories of how well the cybertruck help up in accidents.

It's tough for two good reasons beyond the fact that it's stainless steel:

1) It's been cold rolled to a full-hard condition, something you won't find in many products simply because it makes the metal much more difficult and expensive to form, drill or punch.

2) It's much thicker than any other bodywork.

 

[CyberGus]

I'd like it to be rusty Corten steel:

Will this work?

 

[Mini2nut]

And the Cybertruck was originally specced for 3mm thick panels.

I believe the production version uses lighter weight 1.8mm thick steel for the doors and 1.4mm thick steel for the front valance, frunk hood, can-trails, fenders, quarter panels and tailgate.

 

[HaulingAss]

And the Cybertruck was originally specced for 3mm thick panels.

I believe the production version uses 1.8mm thick steel for the doors and 1.4mm thick steel for the front valance, frunk hood, can-trails, fenders, quarter panels and tailgate.

Lars Moravy, lead automotive engineer, has said they initially calculated they would need 3.0 mm thick to reach their design goals but they kept figuring out ways to make the metal stronger (both in formulation and the way it's cold worked) and they were able to keep going thinner until they got to 1.8mm and 1.4 mm thick.

It saved a lot of weight to not need 3.0 mm thick panels.

 

[Mini2nut]

When the CT was in the concept phase I read that Elon wanted 4mm thick panels. THAT would have been military tough!

 

[TS_Buffalo]

I can provide anecdotal evidence of the CyberTruck's strength.

Shortly after I got my CT back in May of 2024 I was in an accident (I believe the driver who hit me was distracted because he was staring at the vehicle ... those of you who had an early CT remember the insane amount of attention).

Driving on the freeway, I was in the center lane and an SUV in the left lane noticed too late that traffic ahead of him had stopped and when he did notice he swerved into my lane to avoid the stopped vehicles in front of him. In the process he impacted the side of the CT with his front right wheel and front bumper on the right corner. The impact was severe enough to puncture his radiator and detach the bumper from his vehicle. Fortunately the entire impact was directly on the stainless steel panels around the driver side and didn't hit any of the plastic parts.

On my vehicle there was absolutely no denting or really any other evidence that I had been hit at all. The only thing wrong with the CT was that the wheel from the other vehicle left some scratches in the finish. My insurance paid me $1500 for "paint repair" which I pocketed and then used my random orbital sander to fix the scratches.

 

[roadrunner32]

I'd like it to be rusty Corten steel:

Here is someone who thinks the Cybertruck is a tank:

Ah yes, US Steel's COR-TEN Picasso statue in Chicago.

 

[roadrunner32]

I can provide anecdotal evidence of the CyberTruck's strength.

Shortly after I got my CT back in May of 2024 I was in an accident (I believe the driver who hit me was distracted because he was staring at the vehicle ... those of you who had an early CT remember the insane amount of attention).

Driving on the freeway, I was in the center lane and an SUV in the left lane noticed too late that traffic ahead of him had stopped and when he did notice he swerved into my lane to avoid the stopped vehicles in front of him. In the process he impacted the side of the CT with his front right wheel and front bumper on the right corner. The impact was severe enough to puncture his radiator and detach the bumper from his vehicle. Fortunately the entire impact was directly on the stainless steel panels around the driver side and didn't hit any of the plastic parts.

On my vehicle there was absolutely no denting or really any other evidence that I had been hit at all. The only thing wrong with the CT was that the wheel from the other vehicle left some scratches in the finish. My insurance paid me $1500 for "paint repair" which I pocketed and then used my random orbital sander to fix the scratches.

"paint repair" thats funny

 

[roadrunner32]

Lars Moravy, lead automotive engineer, has said they initially calculated they would need 3.0 mm thick to reach their design goals but they kept figuring out ways to make the metal stronger (both in formulation and the way it's cold worked) and they were able to keep going thinner until they got to 1.8mm and 1.4 mm thick.

It saved a lot of weight to not need 3.0 mm thick panels.

that's interesting. initially it was thought that the nearby steel mill (Steel Dynamics) would provide the stainless. I wonder what happened? will ask Grok next time I'm out driving my CT.

 

[HaulingAss]

that's interesting. initially it was thought that the nearby steel mill (Steel Dynamics) would provide the stainless. I wonder what happened? will ask Grok next time I'm out driving my CT.

My understanding was that Steel Dynamics doesn't have the equipment to make cold-rolled stainless steel, it's a very specialized product.

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