Aluminum vs. Salt (per F150)

From what I've seen that saltwater can do to aluminum on cats and outboard motors, what do you think will happen to the new F150 Ford Pick-up Trucks that have aluminum body panels? Will winter road salt and ocean seaspray eat these trucks alive? What could Ford have done to them to protect them over time? Is there any "new" protection technology that's transferable to cat tramp frames, pylons, and spars?

When I lived in NH, where they dump salt onto the roads all winter long to melt the ice and snow, most of the auto dealers offered an 'Under spray' package, where they would spray the black goo under your car/truck on all the exposed metal surfaces, to keep them from rusting out with all the salt. I'm guessing if you buy an aluminum F150, you had better pay the extra $600 and get it sprayed!

The aluminum will handle it better than the steel. Range Rover has been building aluminum bodied vehicles for a long time.

The first Audi A8 with aluminum body appeared around 1998.

Haven't heard of any particular problems related to the body and rust even here in Canada where a lot of salt was used om the road.

Alloy bodied vehicles don't use a pure alloy a such, its a mixture alloy of aluminium and magnesium

Land Rover's (& I assume other makers) alloy bodies are made from Birmabright, Birmabright is merely a trade name of the old Birmetals Co. (located in Birmingham) for a British standard specification of sheet, ... (it is actually NS4 std).
All the major aluminium rolling mills - Alcan, Pechiney, British Aluminium, High Duty Alloys, Alcoa etc. sold the same sheet either under their trade-name or under the relevant British specification.

for more try this link (Wikipedia)


nb: I'm an Australian, we're a lazy mob when it comes to speech, therefore Alloy = Aluminum
(alloy is quicker to type and easier to spell, same shyte/different name)

http://www.popularmechanics.com/car...-tested-its-new-aluminum-f-150-16682803/


There has been a lot of work done to electrically isolate and/or protect aluminum body and frame components. The TT Roadster I had a few years ago had an aluminum chassis and mostly aluminum body. Audi designed the car with a steel rear section to achieve a 50/50 balance and pioneered a method to connect the steel and aluminum frame/body sections rigidly and protect from galvanic corrosion.

I'm sure Ford has done their homework.

electrocoating- Is that anodizing?
It isn't easy to get a lasting coating any other way. The bigger sailboat masts are painted and need to be repainted after a decade or so.
Certainly the Ford Rangers built around the turn of the century and sold here have aluminum hoods which have pealing paint and corrosion on the leading edge. Corrosion appeared within a couple years on some.
There is an interesting documentary by National Geographic on youtube showing the painting of the aluminum Tesla cars. They also show the rolls of the raw material, the stamping machine, welding robots etc. Also i think the Delorian (back to the future car) was alloy.

If some one figures out how to electrically isolate a rivet from an anodized alloy extrusion that would be good.

Delorean's were stainless steel. Rumor always was they were for shipping coke, and could be dumped and retrieved later I'd need be.

Either way, John Z Delorean screwed the Irish in a major way.

Plenty of aluminum aircraft operating in salty conditions, i havent seen too many fall out of the sky.

To answer the original question, there is not much that Ford uses that can transfer to your H16. Ford and Jaguar use a different alloy than you do and much of their protection is engineered in to the design.

There have been some minor changes in paint on protection for galvanic corrosion and some new cups for rivets.

The DIY painted gun refinishing has made tuff paints available. google "painted gun finishes". Be careful some of these are brittle and will crack.

The only real change I have seen that can be applied to old boats is powder coating. I have 2 bikes about the same age, one Imron and the other powder coated. There is no comparison. The painted one needs a repaint and the powder coated one looks like it needs to be waxed. If you have something powder coated done make sure whoever does it has experience in marine finishes. I am told the difference between cheap lawn chair refinishes and marine/industrial finishers is the marine/industrial finishers know they have to do it right or the finish will peel.

I missed that in his original question!

The corrosion process is an electrical chemical reaction. You can protect the pylons and other aluminum bits by connecting something to it that is more reactive to make a sacrificial anode. This method is used on everything from boat motors, docks, and even the steel natural gas pipes in the ground. If you were to connect a magnesium anode to the aluminum part and make sure it remains in solid electrical contact, it will protect the aluminum. The question then follows; is it worth all of that expense and trouble?

Actually, they do have a LOT of corrosion problems with the fleets that spend a lot time in the 'salt water' environments. Also, all aircraft have to undergo inspections every 100 hours of flight time, and major inspections and overhauls every 1,000 hrs. and 10,000 hrs. etc. At some point depending on 'cycles' and total time, the entire airframe has to be uncovered, inspected, put back together. They refer to that as a 'heavy check' and it is quite expensive, Delta is parking all 16 of it's 25yr. old 747's due in part to the cost of the upcoming heavy checks. (Millions of dollars, each.)

Do you recall many years ago (25?) Aloha 737 came apart in flight? The top of the fuselage ripped right off, sucking one of the Flight Attendants, and a couple of passengers out? That metal (aluminum) failure was attributed to salt water corrosion.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8NWW77HnGTc

And do you remember a airline down in Miami/Nassau called Chalks Air? The flew their 'flying boats' back and forth to the Bahamas from Miami and Ft. Lauderdale, until they had a spar failure and the subsequent inspections grounded their fleet putting them out of business.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=95Ca9rmmmPU

There was a light plane accident right here in Sebring a couple years ago, a pilot flying an old two seater was circling over his passengers house when the wing spar failed, one wing came off, they both died.

http://highlandstoday.com/news/agri...estigating-golf-hammock-crash-ar-306955/

That happens a lot in older light airplanes that don't get flown much and sit outdoors all year round, rain water and condensation collect at the 'low point' which is usually under the belly, right where the main spar passes through. One of the most expensive parts of owning an airplane is all the inspections you have to comply with, on both the engine and airframe, and if they do find any corrosion, it can be VERY expensive to repair/replace.

Also, did you see that video of the fire bomber that folded up? Again, and older plane who's main spar snapped on pull up.

Watch this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yYKIGT7EgSA

Thought this was a crack in the wings from fatigue and not being fixed properly...

As much as we whine and complain about the cost of the 100 hour and annul inspections... I am glad they are there!

Been flying Delta lately.... Southwest has skipped a few rudder inspections.... didn't they learn from US Air