This is going to be virtaully impossible to prove, since steel body panels we never produced...

However, I really cannot see how a steel fender or hood of the same dimensions can weigh less than a plastic one.

What is your assumption of them being equal in qeight taken from?

 

What was the weight difference between a SS hood and a Steel Z28 hood? CF Vette hood saved 10lbs. over the fiberglass/plastic. I wish CF was cheaper

 

Z28 hoods were plastic too, weren't they?

I thought the only metal body panels were the quarter panels?

 

4th gen vs 3rd gen weight. Ion vs Cobalt weight.

Also, GM never claimed the 4th gen plastic panels were lighter than steel....they claimed it would make restyling easier. They never claimed that Saturn's were lighter either...just more dent resistant.

 

Steel for base Camaro and Camaro SS
Carbonfiber for Camaro Z-28.

 

Like was said above, it's hard to directly compare weight of a 3rd Gen vs a 4th Gen and declare the body panels to be the same. The front suspension is different, the engines are different, the 4th Gen had (dual) airbags, and just about anything else can weight differently down to the seats, steering wheel, or anything else.

This I agree with... but that doesn't mean it's not true.

 

Doesn't make it true either.

 

A plastic panel may be lighter but it also needs structure under it to support it. We'd probably need an engineer in here to settle the weight discussion.

I voted plastic as I really like the dent and rust resistance. I'll trade bigger panel gaps for that.

 

Certainly not, but like poSSum said... just about the only way I can see the plastic weighing more is if it has to have a heavier structure behind it...

As for purely the fender vs the fender... take a plastic Tupperware bowl, and a steel mixing bowl of the same size... weigh them, and see which weighs less.... I'll eat my shoe if it's the steel one.

 

base and Z28 had Steel hoods, SS had fiberglass/composite

 

Someone go lift a 3rd gen hood by yourself...

 

I like how you think!

 

Interesting... I always thought the hood on my 99 Z28 was plastic or fiberglass of some sort... Just didn't "feel" like steel to me for some reason... very odd, and somewhat embarassing.

 

Hood steel, fenders plastic, doors plastic, rear quarters steel.

 

Ya, I looked some stuff up... the roof hoop has a plastic cover too, which is what I was probably thinking of... still sadly embarassing.