Well I guess i'm wrong, and nothing wrong with that, so the flareside is fiberglass too.... Well maybe its cheaper to make them that way with the non straitness of the sides?

Oh and if we all buy up enough Ford stock then we can start getting ourselves in as board members, CEOs, CFOs, COOs, COOKOS, UFOs, and all those other positions of high rankings....

 

Daveman was right...with a minor correction, my employer makes some similar products but not the supercrew bodysides. They are a "polyester resin/fiberglass/mineral filled" compound. This did come up before so I am cut&pasting what I said then out of lazyness:

The rear bodyside on the Screw is in fact a composite. It is compression-molded fiberglass-reinforced thermoset plastic.

Just to clear a few things up:

It has been used for years, it is basically the same material the Corvette has always been.

The ranger edge hood, navigator hood, mustang hood and decklid, continental hood and front fenders and decklid, the new thunderbird hood, front fenders and decklid...I could go on...are all composite...people just don't realize it.
Oh yeah, the flareside rear bodysides...including the "L"

Same goes for the sport-trac rear bodysides...and the box inner too (slightly differend material resin and more glass for the box-inner)

While it's true it does save a little weight....the main reason it is chosen over steel is that the tooling (molds, etc.) required to manufacture it is much less costly compared to steel stamping dies. It therefore makes sense on lower-volume vehicles. That's why it's used on navigator...but not expedition for example.

By the way...it is painted exactly the same as the steel panels...the whole body is painted together.

It is probably a lot less suseptible to minor damage than steel...but possibly more easy to destroy in a signigicant fender-bender.

It doesn't rust!!!!!!!!!!!

 

I've got some first hand experience with damage to the fiberglass bed that I'd like to share.

Minor bump with something soft: little or no damage
Minor bump with something hard: cracks the paint
Sharp edge drug down the side: makes a deep white-ish gash
Sister-in-law hits it with another truck (twice - once pulling in and again backing out): busts the side open like a pumpkin thrown on a rock.

Yes. All of this happened to my truck on the same side within 2 months time.

Got it all fixed last week.

 

I also had a first hand experience with the composite bodywork after an impact. Last week I misjudged how fast(about 15 mph over the limit) a '79 chevy 1/2 ton 4X4 was moving as I pulled out into traffic. He hit me at about the 8 o'clock position, right over the left rear wheel. A chunk of material was knocked off the side and the rest of the rear panel was pushed upward several inches, breaking the bottom rail and glass on my Astro topper. It also put a deep crease in the rear door as the cab was hit. A dealer here in town estimated the bill at $9700. That includes the entire bed and both outside panels but not the tailgate, which emerged unscathed. $ 1600 of the estimate is for the topper.
It's hard to say if a metal panel would have crumpled inward and saved the topper, but I would guess so. There wasn't any apparent frame damage. The impact was LOUD, but not severe. I wasn't moved off my original turning arc and completed the turn before stopping. I was just very suprised that the chevy had reached me that quickly.
BTW, the chevy is in the middle of a restoration job and it suffered very little damage. The grille was a little off centered and the right fender was scraped up a bit.
Any accident of this type will be expensive, I just think that the use of the composite material in this case cost me a little more damage than otherwise.

 

.

 

The plastic panels will dent.

I have got a nice door ding right between the wheel well and the rear door. It happened two years ago, and I was hoping that come summer time the dent would pop out since it was in the plastic panel. The dent is still there. Only noticeable if you know its there. Kind of annoying since if happened a couple weeks after purchasing.

 

Daveman,

To your credit, you didn't simply reply with "Do a search," You also gave him a thread to go to!

 

Marc,

Thanks for the positive comment.

Later,

~DM~

 

well are the excursion rear doors the same material as the bedsides? i custom made an enclosure for a 12" sub in one and the othwer hold the amp (so no box sittin in the wasy of things) welll, as my luck would be... my pops took it and backed into one of his friends pickup tailgate that was down, and made a really nice big crack in the door, right nex to the ford oval.... i just finished getting all the dings and scratches out, and was going to work on the lil shallow crease behid the drivers side rear tire (backed into a taurus in a parking lot) and well, he screwed up the back door... NO BASS FOR ME i had the bass on and the rear door was vibrating really bad so i poped the panel off and put the original trim back on, and hooked up my box with 2 12s back in there, mom hated the amount of bass, but i just turn the power on the amp down and its better, so well i guess the question now... is it the same material? and would it work with some fiberglass patch? or should i just go get a new door ordered? i cant run around on 22s with the kenne bell hooked up with scratches and multiple rashes on it... all help apprecitated

 

Daveman,

I know what I want, I just can't justify the extra cost right now since I am happy with my Sport Trac. I am a physical therapist and I travel about 100 miles a day in Atlanta visiting patients in their home. 17 mpg in the Trac is not great, but 14 - 15 in the SC would be even worse. Not to mention the extra per month cost and insurance.

Yes, I'm also waiting for 0% to come by on the SC, then I will probably make my move. Present deals are 2.9% on the '02's thru 9/30. This is down from 3.9% that ended 9/3. There are still a lot of '02 SC's out there so I'm willing to wait and see what happens, maybe even Christmas for an '03? If it is meant for me to get a new truck, the Lord will put the opportuinty out there. If not, then now's not the right time.

 

Panels looked like fiberglass when I drilled the holes for my mudflaps. Thought I bought a 'true' truck. Lightening the truck must contribute to the fleetwide fuel efficiency rating. Hope Ford doesn't weigh me and say I can't drive it.

By the way: the bottom holes of the Ford flaps didn't align with the holes holding the plastic trim in place (even though they were supposedly made for the SCrew). Was disappointed I had to drill new holes...I ate to put holes in a vehicle.

Ford may be built "Ford tough", but obviously not "Ford interoperable".

 

Would you feel better if it rusted ?

 

Logical:

Nope, wouldn't feel better if the SCrew rusted; but WOULD feel better if the holes lined up (since the flaps were "made" for the SCrew) AND it didn't rust. Nothing wrong with wanting to eat cake and have the cake on hand. In fact, guess I can buy essentially the same flap without Ford on it for $10 less since they look about identical. Have to drill for them, as well. I just hope the re-drilled holes won't weaken the wheel well lip since they aren't very far from the original holes.