2015 F150 Tow Test vs. Dodge and Chevy

[Diamondpilot]

As a pilot I get a kick out of complaining about aluminum. You have no problems getting in a plane doing 530 mph through turbulence, the rigors of take off and landing, and the extreme pressures put on these airframes 10 hours a day 7 days a week but freak out when non critical body panels are made of it. Airplanes are 95% aluminum including the "chassis" if you will and have been for 100 years with no issues.

Chris

 

[deerefan]

As a pilot I get a kick out of complaining about aluminum. You have no problems getting in a plane doing 530 mph through turbulence, the rigors of take off and landing, and the extreme pressures put on these airframes 10 hours a day 7 days a week but freak out when non critical body panels are made of it. Airplanes are 95% aluminum including the "chassis" if you will and have been for 100 years with no issues.

Chris

Excellent point.

 

[mikehaugen]

As a pilot I get a kick out of complaining about aluminum. You have no problems getting in a plane doing 530 mph through turbulence, the rigors of take off and landing, and the extreme pressures put on these airframes 10 hours a day 7 days a week but freak out when non critical body panels are made of it. Airplanes are 95% aluminum including the "chassis" if you will and have been for 100 years with no issues.

Chris

True, but there is also a difference in the engineering, cost, and rigorous maintenance that is put into any aircraft.

 

[roadhunter]

Not sure where you get your information at, but I can say at least your data on the Lincoln LS is incorrect. The trunk lid is steel. All of the aluminum is up front (it was done to get 50/50 front/rear weight balance). Most of the front structure and suspension is also aluminum, besides just the hood and fenders your data mentioned.

Not my list. Pulled from internet. I'm sure some thing change from year to year but it gives you an idea of what types of cars are getting aluminum parts.

List of Car Manufacturers who use Aluminum Body Panels

Do you have a link showing the aluminum body parts on the Lincoln?

 

[roadhunter]

Ford is eating the cost. They know that they have to keep the price of the F series in-line with the other brands or risk loosing being the market leader in truck sales. With up to $10k in profit per truck they have some wiggle room.

That makes more sense than the folks who said using aluminum panels only costs a few hundred dollars more then steel panels.

 

[roadhunter]

True, but there is also a difference in the engineering, cost, and rigorous maintenance that is put into any aircraft.

This.

 

[Fluid]

Have you had your truck in for the intercooler fix? I think there is a fix for that in those models. I believe the '13+ model years have a fix for that. The issue was especially for those in humid climates, which MS definitely is!

Just curious, what's the issue you have with aluminum bodies and why is it a deal breaker? You do realize the hood on your '11 is Al, right?

I'm not convinced they have the engineering done right on the crumple zones. (A pillars, B pillars, C pillars, side door braces etc) I'm not convinced they have the body mounts designed right not to fatigue, crack, and rot away in 10 years. I don't believe they have a system to combat every place a steel screw is used to hold something to the aluminum sub body.

There is a reason the aircraft industry is built with billions of rivets and not screws/bolts. I'm not convinced the have the mechanical stresses worked out for expansion/contraction for the AL body parts from 140 deg summer temps to -20 below winter temps. (if I've looked up my stats correctly, AL has roughly twice the expansion/contraction ratio as steel)

Im not convinced that the body panels are thick enough to not be dented from a heavy bird ***** 50' up or even the slightest door ding. I'm not convinced that any trucks that live within sight of an ocean arnt going to fall apart in 5-10 years from galvanic corrosion. Not to mention what happens to the trucks in the rust belt of the US.

Those are the issues off the top of my head of why I wont own one. Now I might be convinced to buy a wrecked one whole and transplant that 2.7 into something else.... but Ill look to revisit my choice in 7-10 years when i see what the track record is.

Not sure where you get your information at, but I can say at least your data on the Lincoln LS is incorrect. The trunk lid is steel. All of the aluminum is up front (it was done to get 50/50 front/rear weight balance). Most of the front structure and suspension is also aluminum, besides just the hood and fenders your data mentioned.

Not my list. Pulled from internet. I'm sure some thing change from year to year but it gives you an idea of what types of cars are getting aluminum parts.

List of Car Manufacturers who use Aluminum Body Panels

Do you have a link showing the aluminum body parts on the Lincoln?

The hood, front fenders and rear deck lid are aluminum on the Lincoln LS.

 

[MinnesotaEric]

Nice truck.

I that the one with the aluminum frame inspired by the Obama administration?

Sign me up......NOT!

Fred

FWIW, the 2015 has a steal frame and aluminum body panels. They have had aluminum hoods since 2004 so you can blame Bush or Jimmy Carter depending on your angst.

 

[Sysop]

Not my list. Pulled from internet. I'm sure some thing change from year to year but it gives you an idea of what types of cars are getting aluminum parts.

List of Car Manufacturers who use Aluminum Body Panels

Do you have a link showing the aluminum body parts on the Lincoln?

It never changed on the LS during it's short production run. I've had both, a Gen1 and Gen2. I don't have a list of the exact breakdown of aluminum versus steel parts, but both of mine developed rust on the trunklid, which isn't possible with aluminum, and there is not much structure in the front end a magnet will stick to (handy when you drop a wrench and can only pull it out with a magnet and it's not sticking to everything between you and the wrench). Ball joints are super expensive for parts at the dealer ($1000ish) because they only change the entire control arm assembly, which is a huge chunk of aluminum, rather than pressing out the old ball joint and pressing in a new one... Plenty of good information here on the LS and how it is built.

From my experiences with aluminum auto panels and parts, I think there is no need to worry about them any more than anything else. I think a lot of the costs associated with "learning the process" of using aluminum parts have been paid for by the "premium" vehicles that have used aluminum in the past.

 

[fordmantpw]

From my experiences with aluminum auto panels and parts, I think there is no need to worry about them any more than anything else. I think a lot of the costs associated with "learning the process" of using aluminum parts have been paid for by the "premium" vehicles that have used aluminum in the past.

Bingo! Remember, Ford used to own Jaguar, which uses a lot of aluminum, and Ford gained a lot of knowledge from Jaguar before shipping them off to someone else.