There was rumour that like the A8, the new A6 was going to be an all-alluminum car, but none of the pre-launch articles I've read mention this. Does anyone happen to know if the Audi Space Frame got lost in the pipeline?
AAA (for Appreciate Any Answers).
JP Roberts
Those typos: Aluminum, platform
"JP Roberts" escribió en el mensaje news:c1tirv$2gf$ snipped-for-privacy@news.ya.com...
The front wings are aluminium, the suspension has been for the last three generations but no they have gone for a steel shell.
Martin
Must be a bushism.. like "nukular".
Thanks Martin. It comes as some pretty big disappointment to me after all the pre-launch hype.
JP Roberts
"Martin Basil" escribió en el mensaje news:c1tkqh$jpf$ snipped-for-privacy@news0.ifb.net...
Opposed to this I'm quite happy that it's not aluminum.
Aluminum has the main advantage of being lightweight, however IMO there are two major disadvantages which I, as the average car owner, don't really want to take:
.) I've heard repair cost for body work (i.e. the frame) for the A8 in case of an accident are enormous. You can't have anything "just done" at the next shop, because Alu welding is not that easy. Aluminum alloys need to be thermally treated to achieve their optimum stiffness and strength. So whenever welding is done a post-treatment of the welding is needed. Also local deformation changes the structure of the alu and you'd theoretically need to heat treat it.
.) Galvanic corrosion Aluminium does not work too well with steel. It can be done (and is of course done quite often), but special methods need to be applied. I.e. a steel screw turned into an alu thread is almost inevitably going to freeze (don't now the proper word). The reason is that there are minimal voltages flowing between alu and steel due to their galvanic properties. This being accentuated even more by (salt)water and other corrosive fluids. So properly heli-coils or bronze inserts would have to be used to lessen that effect. That means that everywhere the steel meets alu you'd have to implement some kind of protection. It's just expensive and mistakes can happen. Especially in the shop when doing repair jobs.
YMMV
Wolfgang
Regards
Wolfgang
But it is much lighter with the right alloys for a given strength and lets face it what car can be just repaired by anyone other than the dealer
Well I am sure they thought of the dissimilar metals and put electrical insulation at all interfaces . Anyway the body is painted and aluminium provides it's on oxide protection although that doesn't make it immune to salt it slows the corrosion just like galvanising.
Martin
MotorsForum website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.