Price difference is not huge so I will exclude that part.
Any problems on Grand Cherokee?
About the loss of American jobs to Mexico, Yes. From an engine reliability standpoint, No.
The fenders are metal, the flares are plastic.
Good info, I was curious about that, but hadn't found time to research it. You saved me the trouble.
Good advice... I remember watching my high school chemistry teacher burn magnesium strips, and it was blinding! Imagine a whole tailgate full of it going up! Of course, I can't imagine they haven't though of this and tested it... perhaps it is alloyed with something that prevents it from igniting.Also - Magnesium burns! Hot! So if you encounter a JL a burning - git!
Git Away From Here!
Hopefully so. I don't see the benefit of having a Rubicon for the simple fact that I will never rock crawl or do any serious trails but at the sametime, I didn't want to have the most fragile jeep not even worthy of a lift kit.
Not surprising considering they rate the Ram 1500 diesel at 21/29. Notice the huge difference between city and highway. Given my experience with the liberty diesel, the path to 30+ mpg is likely long highway driving with larger than stock tires that you spin in the upper gears of the automatic transmission at low engine rpms.
Thanks for doing the research for us. I think I'm going to start a new thread on metallurgy. I will quote your post.I looked up using magnesium instead of aluminum for the tailgate. This is what I found:
The Hard Facts about Magnesium:
New Cars are already using More Magnesium
- Magnesium is 33% lighter than aluminum
- 60% lighter than titanium
- 75% lighter than steel
- In most applications, magnesium is stronger per unit than aluminum, titanium or steel
- A versatile metal, magnesium can also be cast into various mechanical parts and replace aluminum alloys to make them lighter and stronger.
More and more cars are using magnesium, so while aluminum is getting most of the media attention, magnesium is the dark horse in this race to lighter vehicles. For example, The Corvette Z06 uses magnesium roof components to reduce mass and a magnesium engine cradle to cut weight without sacrificing integrity. As a result, it is one of the lightest high-performance vehicles available on the market today.
Ford is also doing a lot of work with magnesium and the Chrysler Group employs magnesium in the interiors of its Grand Cherokee, Wrangler, Liberty, Compass and Patriot models. Its instrument panels and front console are currently being made out of a single-piece magnesium die cast. In addition, Volkswagen AG, one of the pioneers of using magnesium in its auto parts, uses magnesium gearboxes and clutch housings in many of its models, including the Golf models.
Possible Drawbacks Exist
There are some drawbacks with magnesium—it costs more than aluminum and steel and getting it out of the ground isn’t exactly a green process. Most magnesium used around the globe is sourced from China. This not only pushes up the cost through import taxes, but draws heavily on China's largely coal-fired industry to produce--a pollution and carbon dioxide nightmare. Even in the U.S, most magnesium is produced in Utah, using electrolysis of molten brine to extract magnesium from the state's Great Salt Lake.
So, discovering a way to extract magnesium without the significant environmental impact is a key goal if magnesium can become the go-to metal for our newer cars. Car designers worldwide are looking carefully at magnesium right now, because the clock is ticking and we need to get our vehicles lighter fast.
Will magnesium replace aluminum in the race to getting lighter? Only time will tell.
