Truth! My 928 has a mostly aluminum body and it was first sold in 1978. My Audi has an aluminum body and it was first sold in 1999. There's been quite a few other cars that are aluminum. It's only a new thing because it's on a truck.

 

This is what I am concerned about as there is galvanic corrosion on the hood on my 2007

 

I think you're going to find a lot more aluminum in truck (and car) bodies in the very near future due to CAFE regulations. Lighter weight - with similar or greater strength - equals better mileage. GM and Ram (Dodge) are taking shots at Ford for going to aluminum, but they're also both working very hard on their own aluminum trucks.

Sure, there will be issues with the new F-150 just as there are in any new vehicle. Knowing how much of Ford's financial future rides on the F-150 though, I think we can be pretty sure they've done their homework on this one.

 

The Chevrolet Vega wasn't the first aluminum block engine to be built without using iron sleeves either! Chevy just forked it up.

 

It wasn't the lack of sleeves that did it in, it was the iron head on the aluminum block. Aluminum heads on iron blocks are a lot more stable.

 

Where are y'all developing corrosion on your hoods? I haven't seen any on my 4 different F-150s. Is it from a dealer installed option that used steel screws on bare AL?

 

Yeah it was. Every vega I ever heard of and I also owned one of those pos's burned oil like crazy. If you ever saw the head of one you would see that the head was very tall to provide rigidity.

 

Maybe it's worth pointing out that it's supposed to be aircraft grade aluminum? For the record, I've never seen this corrosion problem.

 

Its a well know n common issue, between the factory grill and hood. Not a dealer installed option

 

I owned one of those POS too. The reason it burned oil is the head gaskets leaked (dissimilar metal expansion/contraction), coolant would get into the cylinders and eat the bore coating.

 

Kinda curious to see how all of this play's out...

Not just corrosion, but repairability...
I left the autobody trade in 98...at that time most shops were not equipped to handle more than cosmetic repairs on aluminum...and plastic for that matter...If you use the proper primers, then getting stuff to stick shouldn't be a problem...but welding...that is a different story...

I also wonder how high the insurance premiums are going to be since it will probably take years for the chinese to produce aluminum aftermarket sheet metal...I believe that almost every Insurance carrier has an aftermarket parts clause in their policies...

Regards!

 

My wife is one of the lead metallurgical engineers for a supplier that supplies most of the aluminum body, I can assure you there is an enormous amount of effort going into this truck to make sure there are no corrosion issues. I was confident enough to buy one knowing that.

 

thank you for that. That makes me feel a lot more confident in my 15

 

Thank her for us please