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Cleaning/Detailing Cybertruck
- Thread starter AndrewAllen
- Start date
The stainless is going to rust No way around that especially for folks who live at the beach. Also, it will get bits of regular steele on it which will rust and leave makes. The rust-free nature of stainless results from parts of it reacting to the air and forming a barrier.
“Stainless steel remains stainless, or does not rust, because of the interaction between its alloying elements and the environment. Stainless steel contains iron, chromium, manganese, silicon, carbon and, in many cases, significant amounts of nickel and molybdenum. These elements react with oxygen from water and air to form a very thin, stable film that consists of such corrosion products as metal oxides and hydroxides. Chromium plays a dominant role in reacting with oxygen to form this corrosion product film. In fact, all stainless steels by definition contain at least 10 percent chromium.”
Why doesn't stainless steel rust?
The goal is to get that “barrier” to form quickly and be stable. To that end, I use this product
CitriSurf 77 - 22 oz. Bottle
It is a citrus based cold passivation product. It is not as good as the nitric products but is much safer and easier to handle.
Interesting. So they can’t apply some kind of protective coat to help with this?
hridge2020
Member
how you treat will be up to personal preference. Lots of years dealing with stainless on boats and living where a strong wind blows seawater onto my vehicles and railings (316 stainless) has lead me to cold passivation as a good choice. Like all vehicles, if they are in SoCal or Arizona and not getting daily salt spray they will have fewer issues with rust.
If they are going to paint they might as well use regular steel. Painting stainless is a bit of a pain.
ryanjm
Tesla Podcast Host
Had a DeLorean for 12 years. Just soap and water is all you need. Between proper cleanings you can use windex and paper towels. The stainless is what I kiss most about that car; it’s absurdly easy to care for.
HankLloydRight
No Roads
This. I've owned my Delorean in Boston and Connecticut both within a mile or two of the coastlines (Atlantic Ocean and Long Island Sound) for more than 15 years. I never had a problem with corrosion or salt or sea spray. Like Ryan said, Windex and paper towels and maybe 15 minutes was all I'd need to use to make it gleem before taking it to any local car show.
I read somewhere that John Delorean wanted to offer a 100,000 (or maybe it was a 1mil) mile body rust warranty, but the insurance companies wouldn't let him offer that. It's been nearly 40 years now, and no Deloreans that I know about are showing any signs of rust or corrosion, and most of those are all Northeast/Midatlantic cars.
ryanjm
Tesla Podcast Host
IIRC it was a 25-year body warranty, but I’m not 100% sure. You might be right!
also I just noticed I accidentally typed “kiss” instead of “miss” in my post. That’s what I get for posting from my phone, LOL. I did love my DeLorean but I can honestly say I never kissed it.
ryanjm
Tesla Podcast Host
I won’t disagree about a mile or two being ok. I was referring to my house and others at the beach where actual salt spray is present. I’d like to think they won’t rust but can’t imagine that if 316 stainless railings are rusting that this stainless won’t. I have yet to encounter stainless that doesn’t rust in a marine environment. I hope it won’t, but I am skeptical.
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