W

[cvollers]

My only concern is that the factory color
is too "stealthy".

I want my vehicles to be conspicuous.
Too bad they can't make them white.

You can wrap it in any design or color you can think of.

 

[MavStangVa]

The panels could be painted.

Just like almost every car on the market now with plastic/abs/composite you name it "not metal" parts that are painted.

I would say even car for the past 25 years has had a part that is painted that is not metal. So it's no issue.

Butttt IMO since they designed the slate to be wrapped it makes sense to wrap it. It's also im my opinion that if you leave it bare, you will have alot of very noticeable blemishes.

Maybe a ceramic coating would be smart if the owner really wanted to keep it bare.

You are correct anything can be done if you are willing to pay for it. I retired from a plant making under hood plastic panels, exterior plastic panels, and plastic pieces you wouldn't see unless you dis-assemble the car. the exterior pieces were both black molded in color and painted parts. The molded in color was a different formula polymer than the painted and it had a slight texture to it created by sand blasting the mold with sand so fine it felt like powder. the texture is added to hide inconsistency in the color form the injection process.. The molded unpainted were not able to be painted as we found out after 16 hours or the wrong parts ran and shipped to the painters. The paint won't adhere to the pieces. I think from the photos the Slate panels are all textured so it doesn't look like a Dollar Tree kids sand pail. That is probably why they offer a wrap not a paint option.

 

[MavStangVa]

A bit off-topic, but I'm really hoping all panels will be made available and not-too-expensive.

I'd love to paint or wrap sets that I can swap at will. I'm willing to bet swapping entire panels would be about the same effort as doing a really good job of wrapping.....

I would really love to see Slate share CAD drawings of all trim and panels so the aftermarket can go nuts.....

I would estimate the fender to be in the $800 to $1000 each range. Do you know how many millions are spent on mold design, manufacture, and testing before the first car is made? they have to recoup that money someway. Maybe ALL auto manufacturers could spend 5 years developing new cars then open share the drawings for China to produce.

 

[bartflossom]

My concern is how long does the wrap last and how hard is it to remove if you want to re-wrap later?

 

[Ewwgas]

Here's one that will bake your noodle... they say they eliminated the paint shop but the "slate board" aka unibody is all steel (assuming)... so who's painting that? It looks like the A pillars and maybe parts of the roof are exterior parts of truck.

It could be some other process like dipping but I suspect it's a traditional paint process...

 

[Mad Mac]

Good point, but they could also be subassemblies manufactured by a supplier and painted at the supplier factory.

 

[Ewwgas]

Good point, but they could also be subassemblies manufactured by a supplier and painted at the supplier factory.

That's what would make the most sense... but then I have questions is this frame made with US steel in the USA, or are we getting a AK-47 build here with the frame made in China and US plastic attached?

 

[bartflossom]

I know there is a pretty substantial vendor industry in the states and canada. Here is one. link

 

[Ewwgas]

I know there is a pretty substantial vendor industry in the states and canada. Here is one. link

I bet you are right ✅️

 

[Johnny-Longtorso]

Maybe ALL auto manufacturers could spend 5 years developing new cars then open share the drawings for China to produce.

You're note very familiar with scanners I see.

https://www.instagram.com/_carsketch/

 

[MavStangVa]

Good point, but they could also be subassemblies manufactured by a supplier and painted at the supplier factory.

China or some other Asian country. Officially Slate says it will be made in the Warsaw factory. But where have they gotten the prototype unibodies?

 

[MavStangVa]

You're note very familiar with scanners I see.

https://www.instagram.com/_carsketch/

Very familiar. You're not very familiar with injection molding plastic machinery and molds. And do not think they will 3D print the panels. That would increase cost 10 fold. Have you ever been inside a automobile part or final Assembly plant? I've been involved with many retooling projects over 47 years. The scanner makes a CAD drawing or 3D image. I've seen molds that had to have 1/10000 of an inch opened up to get the part to fit. Last new car launch I was part of we started testing molds and making changes in 2022. I retired in 2024 and it went into partial production this year. So scan away but that's not a part is just a scan.

 

[DiscoSlug]

Wait, are the panels plastic rather than metal or fiberglass? Would they be able to do a fine coat of line-x with color/UV protection?

 

[MavStangVa]

Wait, are the panels plastic rather than metal or fiberglass? Would they be able to do a fine coat of line-x with color/UV protection?

Sure if you want something that looks like a sprayed in bed liner

 

[gwp]

I get the idea of eliminating a paint shop and using a single slate gray color and wrapping it to reduce manufacturing costs. But the color is molded into the plastic (via dye pellets), so why not produce panels in a few base colors? It doesn't increase the manufacturing cost.

Production variation costs money. That’s why any variations will be sold as accessories.