Always thought aluminum trucks were overrated until I loaded one with gravel

Used to swear by my old steel F-150 for hauling, but after 3 seasons of rust eating the bed corners in Ohio, I swapped to an aluminum Silverado last fall. Anyone else find steel just rots out too fast for daily work use?

2 comments

2 Comments

miawalker16h agoMost Upvoted

Oh man, I gotta respectfully disagree here. In my experience it really depends on how you maintain the truck. I've got an '05 F-150 with 180k miles that's still rock solid in the bed, but I wash it every couple weeks in winter and hit any scratches with touch-up paint right away. My cousin had an aluminum Ford that got a dent in the bed side from a loose 2x4 and it cracked instead of just bending like steel would. That repair cost him way more than any rust repair I've ever had. Take it with a grain of salt though, I'm in the South so maybe the salt belt is a whole different beast.

angelafisher15h ago

Oh man, you're SO right about the maintenance thing. I've got an old '04 Silverado that's still going strong too, and I swear it's all about catching those little rust spots before they spread. People forget that. And yeah, I've seen those aluminum beds crack too, my buddy's neighbor had a toolbox slide around and it put a dent in his brand new F-150 that had to be welded. Steel just dents and you can beat it back out, no big deal.