Are magnets rusting Cybertruck's stainless steel? Six month check in

[btcrealm]

I ran Christmas light and Grinch magnets all around the truck for a month and there are no marks at all. (most of the magnets in these kits)
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0D8JD96C8
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0D8JFFL18
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CFK1PPC2

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[Crissa]

Yeah, six months (or whenever you wash) is about what I'd recommend for taking them off, detailing under them - the magnets themselves can start degrading if they've collected something. Always make sure they're clean and smooth when you re-apply them!

Most of my magnets (and I know, painted vehicle not completely the same) have only lasted about five or six years before they took some sort of damage and I had to pull them from rotation. But I'd expect they'd do better on the flat surface of the Cybertruck ^-^

-Crissa

 

[HaulingAss]

We've had two magnets on our Cybertruck for six and seven months respectively and have only been removed twice, for videos. The three-month check in was also posted on CTOC. With the rumors of pitting and corrosion, and no shortage of salt on the roads (and on Cybertruck) this snowy NJ winter, we thought we'd take a look behind the magnets to find what we can find.

Update:

@Brandon708 here are some pics I just took with the magnets removed and the tailgate cleaned. I did get off most of the adhesive residue from the magnet that was on the driver's side of the tailgate. Pics go all the way to 5x optical zoom, I can't see any discoloration at the edges IRL nor is it easy to figure out exactly where on the tailgate the magnets have been sitting the last half year or so.

Thank you for helping to de-bunk one small part of the ridiculous amount of negativity and misinformation being spread out there. Never has a single vehicle recieved so much hate over nothing.

The people who don't have anything better to do than unfairly attack the competition need to get a life.

Wes Morril, lead Cybertruck engineer said these panels have been tested to have more crevice corrosion resistance than 316 stainless steel, which is a high-grade marine stainless steel used in the harshest marine environments. This is a custom alloy developed at Tesla with some knowledge gained via the use of a related alloy used by SpaceX on the exterior of Starship. Tesla achieved this by boosting the levels of chromium to achieve a more robust passivation layer in the presence of oxygen. You can identify those who are full of crap because they are the ones pretending the Cybertruck has a rust problem.

 

[HaulingAss]

I appreciate these real-world tests. It's encouraging for our product, too!

Why do you say that? Were you able to source the same proprietary alloy used by Tesla? Is it cold-rolled to a full-hard condition?

My understanding is the cold-rolling process further increases corrosion resistance by tighting up the grain structure and reducing the size of the crevices.

 

[Cybertechnical]

Pics posted to the thread with tailgate cleaned at various levels of zoom. Really nothing to see, you'd be hard-pressed to tell magnets were ever on the tailgate let alone had been in the same spots for 7+ months.

Thanks for the update, good info

 

[devdrone6]

@Brandon708 here are some pics I just took with the magnets removed and the tailgate cleaned. I did get off most of the adhesive residue from the magnet that was on the driver's side of the tailgate. Pics go all the way to 5x optical zoom, I can't see any discoloration at the edges IRL nor is it easy to figure out exactly where on the tailgate the magnets have been sitting the last half year or so.

Thanks for posting this - looks good.

 

[CybertruckCovers]

Why do you say that? Were you able to source the same proprietary alloy used by Tesla? Is it cold-rolled to a full-hard condition?

My understanding is the cold-rolling process further increases corrosion resistance by tighting up the grain structure and reducing the size of the crevices.

We have been conducting our own tests on actual Cybertruck body parts, but our tests simulate extremely harsh environmental conditions, heavy abuse and neglect. As durable and corrosion resistant as the Cybertruck's stainless steel is, our objective is to test it to the point of failure. This way, we learn the exact threshold of tolerance and how long we can actually keep magnetic panels on a Cybertruck body without any cleaning or maintenance.

Carsly’s tests are of a more mild nature, but still quite a real world example of use, so even this small test helps.

 

[carsly]

We have been conducting our own tests on actual Cybertruck body parts, but our tests simulate extremely harsh conditions, heavy abuse and neglect. Carsly’s test is of a more mild nature, but still real world conditions. All tests help.

more data is always better ;-)

 

[Cyberham]

Great post. I had two magnets made for my company so this alleviates any worries I might of had.

 

[Zane Edwards]

any pics?

 

[carsly]

very nice. link for the flag?

 

[Zane Edwards]

very nice. link for the flag?

https://tactilian.com/products/american-flag-magnets-black-best-seller?variant=31800337825866

 

[HaulingAss]

https://tactilian.com/products/american-flag-magnets-black-best-seller?variant=31800337825866

Nice! But the small set is already sold out!

 

[Brandon708]

I am not a magnet expert, but I am in the sign industry for 25 years now. We do sell magnets that people put on the car doors. In our experience magnets can damage paint and cause discoloration. We suggest that the magnets are removed regularly and cleaned on the back sided of the magnet and the surface of the vehicle. Even with doing that I have seen discoloration of paint color on vehicles.

As for stainless steel I have seen magnets on my refrigerator at home get discolored with magnets. The spot gets darker but does seem to go away after a while. We don't put magnets on our current fridge anymore because of this. (it didn't happen with our last stainless steel fridge)

My recommendation is put magnets on your vehicle at your own risk. The science of the electromagnetic forces, surface area, time, pressure, temperature all plays a variable part that anything can happen.

These two laws come to mind.

Murphy's Law : Anything can go wrong, will go wrong

Newtons third law: For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction.

 

[CybertruckCovers]

I am not a magnet expert, but I am in the sign industry for 25 years now. We do sell magnets that people put on the car doors. In our experience magnets can damage paint and cause discoloration. We suggest that the magnets are removed regularly and cleaned on the back sided of the magnet and the surface of the vehicle. Even with doing that I have seen discoloration of paint color on vehicles.

As for stainless steel I have seen magnets on my refrigerator at home get discolored with magnets. The spot gets darker but does seem to go away after a while. We don't put magnets on our current fridge anymore because of this. (it didn't happen with our last stainless steel fridge)

My recommendation is put magnets on your vehicle at your own risk. The science of the electromagnetic forces, surface area, time, pressure, temperature all plays a variable part that anything can happen.

These two laws come to mind.

Murphy's Law : Anything can go wrong, will go wrong

Newtons third law: For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction.

I agree that without any type of clearcoat or protective surface pre-treatment of stainless steel, magnets should not be used for long periods without periodic removal for cleaning of the surfaces. It should also be known that problems with discoloration are not unique to magnets but also seen with vinyl and PPF coverings. In other words, the problem is covering the steel and not magnetism, itself.

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