Would it kill them (the industry) to build a car with thicker doors? I know they keep thinning the sheet metal to save cost and weight, but seriously, how much weight / cost would be added with thicker door panels? They don't need to make everything thicker, just the doors. These new cars pick up door dings if you look at them funny.

 

Stop buying metal doors. Get plastic ones, the dents pop right out.

Or, remove the doors entirely, ala Jeep.

 

Composite door skins is the ticket.

 

Park out and away from the crowd?

 

Thinner sheetmetal is less expensive, lighter, and is easier to stamp into shape. Unfortunately, as you pointed out, it's also susceptible to door dings, especially with the modern tread towards minimal/non-existent door moldings.

It's not necessarily a new trend, though - all of my GM B-bodies have been way too easily dented. My '96 GMC K2500 is made of stouter stuff.

 

Go look at some Honda's The few that Ive detailed , Ive noticed their steel panels to be the thinest of manufacturer . There were areas of the last 07 Accord coupe I did , that seemed like u could push a dent into with your hand with little to no effort .

 

Try to convince your wife to do this regularly.


...or living in NJ.

 

I have a similar complaint, but on the inside door panels of the trucks, especially in the rear door interior panels of the quad cab trucks.

I wish they would make the more substantial so they don't flex when you grab them and push at them with your hand and knee. The GMT900's are a good improvement over the GMT800's(in fact, I'd say probably about par with the current competition), but they could still feel a bit sturdier and solid..

 

I would rather have dent resistant plastic for my car.

 

Do they use aluminum front quarters, I gotta wonder? I put a thumb impression into flare on the front of the wheel opening on a honda when I was helping a buddy out, he need to get some clearence and I picked up on the fender, unfortunately my thumb embbeded into the flat portion of the flair by a fair amount.

 

LOL!

Thinner doors and door panels allow the manufacturer to get more space inside the cabin without adding width.

It is less expensive to use thinner materials. Lighter doors helps gas mileage, handling, and acceleration. It makes doors easier to open and close for muscular challenged individuals. There are lots of benefits.

 

I'm not talking 1970's doors that weigh 174 lbs each, so I'm not buying it. Steel is what, under a dollar a pound? Increasing the thickness of just the door skins a little would add what, a couple of pounds to the whole car? So maybe $5 and 0.000000000001% loss in fuel economy so a car won't look like hell after 3 years of use? Sounds like a good tradeoff to me.

 

very true

 

To tell you the truth, Hondas have always been made of tinfoil-thick sheet metal, and that's they way Honda drivers like it.

OTOH, my 72 Cadillac had some huge f-ing girders in the doors in order to meet federal regulations, and I appreciated that too. WUMP!~

Anyhoo, the weight/sound of the door is purely the realm of the marketing department with modern cars, I'm afraid to say.

 

One word.

Saturn.

Dent-proof composite materials are great for keeping the car ding free. But on the flip side, the paint really doesn't look as nice and the body panel gaps must be larger. And when gaps are noticably larger, you know every wannabe-automotive expert is going to assume the car isn't put together as well as that Honda or Toyota over there.