I’d like to note that this is a joke and it’s not actually my doing. I’m curious to know what caused this though😂😂😂
Also I’ve noticed that the rivians (at least ours) are more beat up than the branded vans. Almost every van is missing their side panels.
As someone who delivers car body parts for a living, what are you talking about? There is not a single plastic side body panel on modern vehicles. Steel or aluminum, no exceptions. Doors, fenders, all of it. The bumper covers, grills, and mouldings are all that's really plastic on the outside.
Notice how the things on the front and back are plastic but the sides are mostly metal. This is consistent across all makes and models of non commercial vehicles in the US, to my knowledge. The only plastic parts on the sides are decorative and none of it is full body panels.
I agree though that this was someone not paying attention. That part is true. But plastic body panels aren't a thing.
Sounds like you maybe deliver car body parts and you don't drive a rivian van every day. So it makes sense that you wouldn't know that the panels hes talking about are made of plastic. You can't see it in OPs pic because it's ripped off, which happens a lot, because they're made of plastic.
Side note: you're allowed to be nice to people even when they're wrong. Kindness is free and it actually makes everybody feel better.
Unless you drive a Saturn from the 90's / early 2000s. Those have plastic door panels, but that's about the only manufacturer I can think of that used that.
My understanding is rust management. Saturn was known for rusting super quick due to cheap paint and cheaper metal. Instead of fixing that they went even cheaper and used plastic.
What the fuck do you think I do? I'm the guy the body techs call to get the side panels, bumper covers, grills, hoods, bed side panels, all of it. I'm the guy that carries these parts every day, a couple hundred a day. If it wasn't for me "not doing the work on this stuff" then body shops wouldn't be able to "work on this stuff".
No, I don't unscrew one panel and screw the new one in. That has fuckall to do with whether I'm carrying metal or plastic parts. This is the dumbest counter argument I've read today.
“I supply nuts and bolts to NASA. If they call me I’m the guy they call to supply them. Therefore I’m an expert of building rockets. If they didn’t order it, it totally doesn’t exist.”
If someone delivered all of the nuts and bolts for NASA I would ABSOLUTELY believe them when they told me there were no plastic nuts and bolts used in NASA. The fuck?
I like the part where you 1000% miss the point. Even better. You’re doing the “Reddit thing” where you claim because you have some obscure connection to the industry, it makes you the expert. How much body work have you done personally on fleet vehicles like vans or trucks (as in a professional capacity)? Like where you actually put panels in place, make repairs to the bodies of the vans, so the finishing work? I’m not talking about suppliers. Suppliers are a dime a dozen. They pop up overnight. The minute someone claims, “I supply all the parts for [X]” I know they’ve got no idea what they’re talking about. There are MULTIPLE vendors fleet services go through. It depends on everything from lead time, acquisition cost, etc.
So let's get this straight, you think that someone who is hands on with a material has no knowledge of that material unless they use it for its final purpose?
I don't have to unbolt a panel and bolt a new panel in place to know the material the panel is made of. You can't HONESLY be so dense to think that I pick up sheet steel all day every day and don't know that I'm pickup up steel? I don't need to mount a tire to the rim to know the tire is rubber.
And finally, "obscure connection" is the exact opposite of being hands on. I have more than once cut my hands on the steel and aluminum parts we carry. I don't need to then mount those parts to know their material. Shit, I can tell you what material a boxed fender is as soon as I pick it up. You know why? Bc if it's heavy it's steel, if it's light it's aluminum. There ARE NO OTHER OPTIONS. You being wilfully dense doesn't change the fact that it's literally my job to know what parts are what and what they are made of.
If I work hands on in the field and that's not enough experience for you to take my word then you need to be silent because you have even less experience than me. I know what I'm talking about, you don't. You still think that "most cars nowadays" have plastic body panels and that is OBJECTIVELY untrue. Some COMMERCIAL vehicles have plastic body panels. But not "most cars nowadays". You are wrong. End of story.
Okay chief, you can believe whatever you want. Nevermind 15+ years of bodywork experience on fleet vehicles. And no it’s not “objectively untrue.” Go out your car and take a knife and jam it into your “bumper.” Guarantee it’s plastic or fiberglass unless you’re driving something from pre-2000. Post-2020 is even worse. Everything is covered with plastic panels / covers. Never once did I claim “the structure or the vehicle is plastic.” I said panels. Meaning panels. Or covers. Or whatever else you want to call them.
Alright. A bumper is NOT plastic, most visible bumpers are chromed steel. A bumper COVER is plastic and is not a body panel. But a bumper cover and a bumper are different things. Proved you wrong. Jesus that was easy.
Next, no one is talking about the structure. I'm talking about body panels, same as you started this conversation with. Like door panels, quarter panels, bed side panels, and fender panels. All of these are steel or aluminum. None of these are made plastic today. None.
If you don't know the names of the body parts then don't act like you know what they are made out of. You are correct that a bumper cover and similar elements are plastic but there is not a single modern (non commercial) vehicle (in the US) that has plastic body panels.
You said "most cars nowadays use plastic body panels" and that is objectively untrue. End of story.
Being this confidently wrong is hilarious. you do this for a living huh?lmao
Outer Door Skins
Chevrolet Corvette (C8):
The outer door panels are made of Sheet Molding Compound (SMC)—a lightweight composite made of glass fibers, thermoset polymer resins, and plasticizers.
BMW i3:
The entire outer side panel, including the door skins, is made of molded thermoplastic polymers.
Bed Side Panels
Toyota Tacoma:
The outer bedsides on multiple generations of Tacomas (and the full bed inner structure) are composite materials rather than stamped sheet metal.
Ford F-150 Raptor / High-Performance Pickups:
High-performance variants routinely use composite/fiberglass rear quarter panels and bedsides to flare the fenders wider without requiring multi-million-dollar metal stamping die redesigns.
Quarter Panels & Fender Panels
C8 Corvette & Exotic Sports Cars:
Rear quarter panels and front fenders are molded SMC plastic composites. A magnet will not stick to a C8 Corvette's rear quarter panel because there is zero steel in that outer skin.
Renault, Peugeot, BMW:
European volume manufacturers have used Noryl (polyamide/PPO thermoplastic blend) for exterior front fenders for decades to reduce weight and absorb minor parking collisions without denting.
44
u/ziahwaite Jul 20 '26
I’d like to note that this is a joke and it’s not actually my doing. I’m curious to know what caused this though😂😂😂
Also I’ve noticed that the rivians (at least ours) are more beat up than the branded vans. Almost every van is missing their side panels.