Tesla Cybertruck Owners With a Vinyl Wrap Are Finding the Stainless Steel Becomes Permanently Blemished After Removing the Wrap | Torque News

Nov 11, 2024

Cybertruck owners who have removed the wraps off their trucks report that they found the stainless steel permanently blemished. Either due to non-symmetric corrosion or chemicals, the Cybertruck’s stainless steel doesn’t hold up well under a vinyl wrap.

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Since Tesla only makes the Cybertruck in a single exterior finish—exposed stainless steel—many Cybertruck owners have chosen to personalize their trucks by taking them to a detail shop and adding a wrap.

As a percentage of the vehicles on the road, the Cybertruck might be the most customized and, more specifically, wrapped vehicle in the world.

This is all well and good. However, now that it’s been almost a year since Tesla started delivering the Cybertruck, some of the original owners are looking to change up their wraps.

This wouldn’t have been newsworthy; however, the Cybertruck owners are reporting that the wraps might have permanently blemished the truck’s stainless steel exterior.

Over the past few months, I have come across multiple posts by Cybertruck owners who say a vinyl wrap has permanently blemished their trucks; however, the latest and best-documented case comes from Aron Cash, who meticulously shared the situation with his post-wrap Cybertruck.

Aron is the owner of ABetterTheater.com; a company focused on in-car entertainment. Like most business owners who buy a Cybertruck, Aron uses his truck as a moving billboard with a vinyl wrap advertising his company’s name.

However, after 8 months, Aron decided to remove the vinyl wrap for a cleaner look; and, when he removed the wrap, he found that the vinyl had permanently blemished his truck’s stainless steel exterior.

Aron shared his experience both on the Cybertruck Owners Club forum and on his personal X account.

Here is what Aron wrote…

“Cybertruck etched after removal of the vinyl logo (applied 8 months ago). The lettering was applied right after delivery 8 months ago. Removed yesterday and detailed with Windex and microfiber. It's not surprising the stainless is now etched. The next step is blue Scotch-Brite and Bar Keepers Friend! Follow the thread for updates and results.”

Aron shared a couple of videos and pictures showing how his Cybertruck stainless steel looks after he removed the wrap.

As you can see, even after removing the vinyl, the letters ABetterTheater.com are etched on the stainless steel.

The multiple scrabs using Windex and a microfiber cloth have helped somewhat, but his Cybertruck is nowhere back to its original condition.

What’s going on here?

There are multiple possibilities as to why the vinyl wrap might leave a permanent blemish on the stainless steel.

The first is that although it’s called “stainless” steel, “stainless steel” does rust, just at a slower rate than non-stainless steel. This means the area covered by the vinyl wrap might have experienced less corrosion than the rest of the vehicle, causing the discrepancy in the finish.

Another possibility is that the chemicals in the vinyl wrap might have slowly bonded with the stainless steel, causing the blemish and discoloration.

The second possibility is more in line with the experience of other Cybertruck owners who completely wrapped their trucks and said that once they removed the vinyl, the truck looked discolored everywhere.

Overall, it’s surprising to see the Cybertruck’s ultra-durable stainless steel exoskeleton getting blemished by a wrap.

Having said that, given that most Cybertruck owners haven’t yet removed their wraps, it’s still too soon to conclusively say vinyl wraps harm the Cybertruck’s stainless steel exoskeleton.

However, we’ll be sure to keep you posted with the results as more Cybertruck owners remove their wraps. Until then, please let me know what you think in the comments. Share your ideas by clicking the red “Add new comment” button below. Also, visit our site, torquenews.com/Tesla, regularly for the latest updates.

Image: Screenshot from Kim Java YouTube channel

For more information, check out: The Dreaded Cybertruck “Red Screen of Death” Makes its Way to Canada as First Canadian Cybertruck Owners Start to Experience Failures

Tinsae Aregay has been following Tesla and the evolution of the EV space daily for several years. He covers everything about Tesla, from the cars to Elon Musk, the energy business, and autonomy. Follow Tinsae on Twitter at @TinsaeAregay for daily Tesla news.

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