How Thick Is Sheet Metal On A Car

The thickness weight per sq ft of each is as follows.

How thick is sheet metal on a car.

To the best of what i know the scale of gauge normally used in cars today differ from 20 16 maybe the range is more but i m not sure it can go lower than 20. This metal comes in different thicknesses and colors. 20 gauge became common in more recent times and this meant 0 0359 inch thick metal still a lot to work with in bumping and metal finishing. You can also choose a depth for the rivet if you re just joining two sheets of metal a shallow depth works best.

You can get pop rivets down to 1 16 inch shaft size up to 3 16 inch at your local hardware store. Rivets come in a variety of head and shaft sizes. Twenty six gauge sheet metal in standard steel is 0 0179 inches thick. Automotive sheet metal once ran in the range of 18 gauge which was 48 thousandths of an inch thick actually 0 0478 inch.

A lot of my car is plastic bumpers front wings. Hh210 2 smith airline outfits 2 harris 50s 2 w200s j27 meco midget and dillon. If you re riveting a thick sheet to a piece of angle iron you need a deeper rivet. In galvanized steel it is 0 0217 inches.

The thickness of sheet metal depends on the material from which it is made. Gauge thickness weight per sq ft. Because 024 is very thin it is very easy to bend or crease during installation. 22 to 24 ga is incredibly thin perhaps the new hsla steel used on modern cars can be that thin but not good old cold rolled steel on a pre 80 s vehicle.

The sheetmetal on both my 56 and 57 chevy is around 040 or 19ga. Common thickness used is 024 030 040 and occasionally 050. A good design will deliberately crush to absorb the impact of a crash a 1950 s big strong metal box of a car won t do that. Your question implies that a thicker metal sheet might be better than a thin one but it isn t there to stop a bullet.