Just don’t do it.
YouTube screenshot
If you were (un) fortunate to be an enthusiast for imported cars in the mid to mid beginnings, you may recall the popularity of burnt titanium finishes, especially exhaust tips. The good thing is, you don’t need titanium to get those kind of wild color changes in metal. Stainless steel will too.
Why am I talking about heat stains on the steel? Well, it seems like curious minds on Twitter asked Tesla CEO Elon Musk if they changed their Boring company is not a flamethrower In his future CybertrucksCould you make them change color?
On July 26, Musk said, “Yes.”
But while you can technically do this, there are many reasons why you probably shouldn’t. Let’s take a look at a chart from the McNally Institute describing the temperatures to which stainless steel must be heated to change its finish to a particular color.
Stainless discoloration of steel
|
TEMPERATURE ° F. |
COLOR |
TEMPERATURE ° C |
|---|---|---|
|
700-800 |
Straw yellow |
370-425 |
|
900-1,000 |
Brown |
480-540 |
|
1,100 |
blue |
600 |
|
1,200 |
Black |
650 |
Having a sweet custom color stainless steel finish can sound great until it ends up melting something expensive inside the car body because it wasn’t as careful as it should have been. So, like, don’t do it.
Perhaps a better way to personalize would be to start convincing Musk now that the Cybertruck should be clad in ferritic stainless steel (PDF), and then he can start magnetizing his trucks and those of his friends. Much more fun and less risk of a massive fire.
Tesla did not immediately respond to Roadshow’s request for comment.
Tesla Cybertruck is like nothing else, and it will be built in Austin
See all photos
See this:
Tesla Cybertruck: first journey in collecting the future
5:25
