You're right. Bending and denting would have to do with the yield strength. The yield strength of steel is usually much lower than the ultimate strength which is why it bends relatively easily. Aluminum's yield strength is usually closer to its ultimate strength. So an aluminum sheet with the same ultimate strength as a steel sheet should have a higher resistance to denting.

What did Saturn use on their bodies? I didn't know they were anything other than steel.

 

You never saw one of those saturn no dent commercials? All plastic body panels.

 

With a metal structure behind it.

When the saturns were new to the world yet our local tech school had one that was "windowed" (cut open) along side a brand new chevy vortec van that was dismantled and some other white car next to that that was cut in half. Then they had a 80's nissan truck that the body was taken off of and just the seat, pedals, and steering shaft were put back so "instructors AND students could slowly ride around in the parking lot and see how stuff works". That thing was raced and did burnouts all the time! The instructor told us a story of some kids that once took out some van and the nissan, lined up, and proceeded to race right past the deans office window.

 

Youtube reminded me. I forgot all about those. After all, Saturn made pretty forgettable cars.

 

Before we knew what a POS the Saturn was, my wife looked at buying one of them. We were looking at one on the car lot when a salesman showed up and began talking about the superior materials in the body. His claim that the panels were nearly indestructible drew a cynical reply from me. So without another word he leaned over and grabbed the right front quarter panel for support and proceeded to kick the ever loving crap out of the white door on the adjacent vehicle. Not a scratch.....

It's too bad the engineering in them was inferior....

 

chevy and gmc pickups use plastic rear fenders too. not sure about the front fenders, but i know the rears are, my neighbor has replaced both rears on his truck 3 times already.

 

When I was looking for a cheap car for my son, my friend said I should get a Saturn like his son's. I ended up getting a Neon with low miles and a burned valve for $100. Well I fixed the Neon and it lasted another year before it got a bottom end knock, but it lasted longer than my friends Saturn!!

 

Photos of “The Longest Day”

D-Day!!

One of my home town (close anyway) boys interview.

http://www.journalnow.com/news/local...7a43b2370.html

 

The problem with aluminum is going to be it's more costly to repair. You won't get the soft dents we're used to seeing with the paper thin sheet metal. You'll get hard creases, corners and tears.

Of course you also won't see the body of your truck wiggle if you drive through a car wash because the air being blown across the vehicle to dry it off is strong enough to deflect the "steel" body. (I haven't personally seen this happen, but have talked to owners of the new 6.7 super duty who have all noticed this)

 

I have it on good authority that dent repair in the new aluminum F-150s will take 2½ times the hours that the steel bodies require.
We sent a body man to school this week for training to work the aluminum.

 

Sounds like there will be a lot more quarter panels installed...

 

My cousin has a Disco that's 20 years old all aluminum body.

BTW it has over 300k and looks very good, no rust for sure haha. It does have a dent on the hood like someone left a wrench in there and slammed the hood on it, but for a '95 with 300k.... Damn good.

 

Come on Tom, it'll buff out!

 

Aluminum is hard to repair because it stretches. It's a lot quicker to just replace. Steel by comparison is pretty easy to fix.

 

My '91 Range Rover has 250K on it. I've done a little body work on some of the aluminum panels and found it remarkably easy to work. Not so much on my '61 Land Rover, the aluminum panels on that are considerably thicker. Oh, and in keeping with the pics theme...