TireSmoke.org

(steel vs aluminum vs rocks)
http://www.foxnews.com/leisure/2016/06/ ... ntcmp=hpff

I saw that ad. Most truck guys I know run a bedliner or have it sprayed. It's aluminum, it will puncture sooner than steel but is also lighter and will be less likely to RUST.

Yes. All that is true, but this is a convincing ad nevertheless.

I think what the ad portrays is the truth. Steel is more durable than the
aluminum, yes. I guess if I had a $40k dollar truck that was brand new,
I wouldn't be dumping a load of bricks in it without some bed protection.
A piece of 3/4" plywood costs $30 and would go a long way to protect the
bed of either truck. Also, a skid steer operator that drops the load from
1/2 of the height would help both trucks. There is no need to drop the
bricks from that height. All of that being said, I like how the marketing
guys try to convince the public that their product is best.

GM

The height from which the blocks were dropped is key to the ad. To make the ad effective, I believe they had to experiment until they achieved the height that would penetrate the Ford's bed. Also, they chose square stones and the tool box that provide the sharp corners which helps the effect a lot.

I have never been a Ford fan but aluminum is the way to go. A large percentage of trucks sold do not do significant truck stuff anyway so why carry all that weight around for the life of the truck?

The crazy thing is that the Ford's were way heavier before they went to aluminum in this new truck, and are now just slightly lighter than the Chevy / Ram trucks. So although an advancement for Ford, they were really just playing catch up. I love the way the new Ford looks, but I do worry what that aluminum is going to look like after six or seven winters in NE Ohio. Although they might no "rust", I bet there will be some noticeable level of corrosion and paint degradation.

I bought my Ram over these other two because I got a LOT more stuff for my money when comparing apples to apples, including a bigger motor and a better warranty. If money wasn't an issue I probably would have got a Ford.

-BP

We will see. A LOT of cars made in the last 15-20 years have aluminum hoods, Audi made many many A8s which are a completely aluminum body (ALL of them, going back to 1998-ish), GM has been doing aluminum subframes on W-bodes for 15-odd years now with no corrosion problems. Aluminum knuckles and control arms are also very extensively used with little-no issue.

On the flip side you have instant-powder metallurgy used in Ford fuel pump control modules and GM transfer case encoder motors.

My gut feeling is, they're using the good metallurgy and not the instant powder. Ford is a truck company that also sells cars, they can NOT afford to get a bad reputation.

Its good that there's significant history for automotive aluminum. I wondered about corrosion too. ONE trip to the coast with my pontoon boat into salt water caused very noticeable corrosion in the aluminum trim. Didn't take it again.