Plastic Fantastic For Future Aussie Cars

[JoeT]

Plastic Fantastic For Future Cars

Andrew Heasley
12 April 2006
www.drive.com.au

Just like BMW's high-performance M6 coupe, future generations of cars in Australian showrooms could be wearing high-tech plastic body panels.

The material, which can either be painted with duco or pre-impregnated with coloured pigment, is said to be 40 per cent lighter and more scratch resistant than painted steel panels.

BMW trumpets the use of exterior plastics and composite materials in its M6, saying it lightens the car for a greater power-to-weight ratio for better performance. There is also the association with formula one racing cars, which wear non-steel panels.

Pushing the plastics barrow locally is GE Plastics, a division of the GE global empire that stretches from jet engines to financial services.

"We've been in talks with the local manufacturers," GE Plastics marketing manager Steve Mrowka confirms.

Presentations about plastic panels have also been made to Ford Performance Vehicles and Holden Special Vehicles, he says. Should these manufacturers decide to use them, it would help them differentiate their products from Ford's XR and Holden's SS performance variants further, he says.

GE plastics are widely used in local car production for common trim items. In addition to plastics for exterior panels, GE plans to push plastics into the structure of the cars. Mr Mrowka says one of the local car makers will launch a car this year that has an innovative front-end module (the structure to which headlights and some suspension components are mounted) that's part plastic, part steel, developed in conjunction with Bluescope Steel. The spare tyre well in the car's boot will be made entirely from plastic.

Mr Mrowka is sworn to secrecy about which car it will be. Holden is scheduled to launch the Commodore in August and Toyota its locally made Camry and Aurion in the last quarter of the year.

GE has approached Ford with a proposal for a plastic tailgate for the Territory soft-roader to reduce the weight, Mr Mrowka says. Ford won't confirm whether a plastic tail gate is being considered.

The plastic resin used in panel production is more expensive as a raw material but the finished panel can be up to 30 per cent cheaper than the same item made of painted steel, when the cost of the whole production cycle is taken into account, he said.

The raw material, in the form of plastic pellets, is heated and injected into panel moulds under high pressure.

One type of plastic, which GE calls Noryl GTX, produces a panel that is impregnated with material that is electrically conductive, which assists in spray painting. An electric current is sent through the panel in the spray booth, which helps attract the atomised paint droplets to the surface.

An alternative plastic technology involves sandwiching two types of plastic together: an outer skin that is colour impregnated (which doesn't require painting, called Lexan), backed by a sturdier plastic for strength (called Xenoy). This type of panel offers a superior finish in lustre, evenness and scratch resistance compared to painted panels, GE says.

And therein lies a problem, for now. The fault-free finish of these panels show up the relative imperfections of painted steel areas on a car - such as the orange-peel effect.

GE also acknowledges that there are no suppliers locally that are tooled up for producing plastic panels. However, the company is keen to introduce the technology to local manufacturers and is contemplating partnering a local supplier to be first to market.

Holden, for one, is keeping an open mind on the subject. "There are some (areas) in modern car design . . .where flexible composite materials make perfect sense, e.g. bumper bars," says Holden spokesman Jason Laird. "There are other (areas) where, if it has nothing to do with the structural rigidity, then it could also make sense. As technology advances, that broadens the potential application for using non-steel based materials.

"We're always looking for ways to improve our vehicles. And if a synthetic material was to prove superior to steel in a particular application certainly we'd look at it. But there are things that need considering: it needs to be suitable for the purpose. The underlying issue still needs to be customer acceptance. The car buyer has proved over the years that the transition to accepting a new way of doing things can sometimes be slow."

[[Corporal Dan]]

Uh, welcome to 1993?

[T-Keith]

93, GM used plastic panels in 84. Too bad they dropped the ball.

[K-1]

Originally Posted by T-Keith

93, GM used plastic panels in 84. Too bad they dropped the ball.

Dropped the ball? Saturn was basically chastized in every review for the "huge" panel gaps. But, if BMW can find a way to minimize the expansion of the panels, more power to them.

[steverino]

GM was first to do this in a mass produced vehicle, yet the press treats BMW as though they discovered the fire.

[K-1]

Originally Posted by steverino

GM was first to do this in a mass produced vehicle, yet the press treats BMW as though they discovered the fire.

Leave it to the Germans to think up something innovative...

[saturnsteve]

Just as we get rid of the plastic, more people go to it. Way to go GM!

[K-1]

Originally Posted by saturnsteve

Just as we get rid of the plastic, more people go to it. Way to go GM!

They were probably waiting for the GM stigma of plastic panels to go away.

[kenman923]

Didn't GM already try that with the "dustbuster" minivans and the Saturn? If they can make them without gaps, then bring it on. The nice thing about them is that they never rust.

[tom3]

Practically any semi truck you see on the road has plastic or fiberglass major body panels. Those machines run a million miles and that body is still looking good. But I believe they use a high pressure molding process for those parts that is more expensive than the autobody process.

[monza164]

The point of the story? Australians can now throw footballs at BMW's.

[69Firebird400]

Originally Posted by K-1

Dropped the ball? Saturn was basically chastized in every review for the "huge" panel gaps. But, if BMW can find a way to minimize the expansion of the panels, more power to them.

There is no legend in the cutaway M6 picture detailing what the different colors mean, but if the blue parts are the plastic ones, then there wouldn't be as much of a concern about panel gaps like Saturns had with plastic doors.

My wife's last L200 had gaps between the front doors and front fenders that I could stick a finger in up to the first knuckle. I am sure that no BMW buyer (particularly an M6 buyer) would stand for that. However BMW is pulling this off must work, because until this article, I had never heard a mention of plastic body panels in any of their cars.

EDIT: By the way, if I am correct and the roof of the M6 is the composite part, isn't it ironic that the Saturns used to have plastic doors and steel roofs...exactly the opposite of this?

[IROCNROL1]

There were also a lot of complaints about not being able to recycle the GM panels. Has that problem been solved?

[PONTIACGTBOY]

thing about saturns plastic is it was a dent resistant plastic that expanded and contracted greatly with heat/cool. BMW is probably using a harder plastic. not really for the dent resistance like saturn did but instead the lighter weight. This harder plastic probably wont expand and contract as much. this is just an idea.

[Whirling_Dervish]

Originally Posted by T-Keith

93, GM used plastic panels in 84. Too bad they dropped the ball.

Avanti did it in the 60s.