My dad's Pathfinder had rusted so badly at 7 years old that it would no longer pass inspection last season. Granted, he lives in New England, but at that time my Galant was 22 years old and had been through 12 northern winters and wasn't nearly as bad. I was pretty much dumbfounded by that.
Nashco wrote: Road salt is the devil. Bryce
The liquid de-icer seems to be far worse. It stays in the asphalt and leaches out long after you think it's safe to drive.
My RX-7 started to get salt tumors after they switched to the brine. It has a strict "no salt" policy... guess that does not matter anymore.
In reply to Knurled:
You're really gotta wait for the first HEAVY rain of the year.
I've been seeing a lot of new body style Durango's and Grand Cherokee's with the rear hatch rusted through lately.
I have had 2 kia's car one I had for 3 years, and car 2 I have had for a little over a year. I have noticed that the paint chips easily, but no rust. I always thought the Japanese cars were terrible with rust.
I bought my "southern" GMC sierra about 3 years ago with no rust. I used rust preventative products on the doors and rocker panels. At this point my inner and outer rockers are gone (like in gone), the doors are rusty, but not too bad, the cab corners have rust holes in them, I've had to completely replace the brake and fuel lines and the gas tank straps. Oh, and my spare tire fell off somewhere unknown to me because the mount rusted out. As soon as I get the brake lines done it's going up for sale..at a big loss.
Knurled wrote: The part that usually seems to rust on those is the rear doorsills and the whole area between the trunk floor and the sides. It all just sort of disappears and is held together by plastic and luck. But it looks just fine from the outside.
I've seen the doorsill thing before, but nothing in the trunk floor. I think the doorsill thing is 1st gen sedans/wagons only. Regardless... the rust on them is usually nowhere near as bad as most Japanese cars subject to the same climate and salt.
bravenrace wrote: I bought my "southern" GMC sierra about 3 years ago with no rust. I used rust preventative products on the doors and rocker panels. At this point my inner and outer rockers are gone (like in gone), the doors are rusty, but not too bad, the cab corners have rust holes in them, I've had to completely replace the brake and fuel lines and the gas tank straps. Oh, and my spare tire fell off somewhere unknown to me because the mount rusted out. As soon as I get the brake lines done it's going up for sale..at a big loss.
Holy crap, do you think the rust preventative products did more harm than good? What do you think caused the truck to rust so quickly? Is it something about where you live? I've never seen anything get that bad that fast!
Anyway, that sucks man, sorry to hear it. 
let's hear bout cars that don't rust!
a coworker has a 1990 mercury cougar (fox body?), with no rust after 23 years of ontario dd duty. amazing.
he used some sort of goop undersealer pretty regularly.
ProDarwin wrote: I've seen the doorsill thing before, but nothing in the trunk floor.
Not the trunk floor, but the chassis rails under the car in that area.
OTOH, Saturns seem to primarily die of abuse (not keeping oil in it = wadded up chain) or failed EGR driver in the PCM, which is practically an impossible fix nowadays.
mrybczyn wrote: let's hear bout cars that don't rust!
I've heard tell of some magical place called "Arizona" where cars don't rust.
My Malibu started to rot around the fuel door fairly quick. At one time I looked for a patch but all the cars I saw rusted the same way
ShadowSix wrote:bravenrace wrote: I bought my "southern" GMC sierra about 3 years ago with no rust. I used rust preventative products on the doors and rocker panels. At this point my inner and outer rockers are gone (like in gone), the doors are rusty, but not too bad, the cab corners have rust holes in them, I've had to completely replace the brake and fuel lines and the gas tank straps. Oh, and my spare tire fell off somewhere unknown to me because the mount rusted out. As soon as I get the brake lines done it's going up for sale..at a big loss.Holy crap, do you think the rust preventative products did more harm than good? What do you think caused the truck to rust so quickly? Is it something about where you live? I've never seen anything get that bad that fast! Anyway, that sucks man, sorry to hear it.
I don't know. The doors seemed to hold up relatively well with the rust preventative, but the rockers not so much. I think it was a combination of existing hidden rust in the rockers combined with reduced access. When I did the doors, I removed the door panels and was able to gain complete access, where I couldn't with the rockers. My CR-V, which has been through 4 more Ohio winters than the Sierra, has no rust on it at all. While I think it did rust way quicker and worse than average, I find that all pickup trucks in this area seem to rust worse than cars. They don't rust in the same places, but finding a clean pickup that's more than 5 years old here is difficult. I'm heading to Florida around the holidays, and am planning on picking something up somewhere on the trip down or back.
mrybczyn wrote: let's hear bout cars that don't rust! a coworker has a 1990 mercury cougar (fox body?), with no rust after 23 years of ontario dd duty. amazing. he used some sort of goop undersealer pretty regularly.
'90 should be mn12 chassis
In reply to bravenrace:
What year Sierra?
My '06 Kia Sedona is rust free at this point. 7 years of Mid-Atlantic weather and snow and no real issues.
In reply to fasted58:
Its a 2000 model. See pics of it in my profile. Those pictures were taken 2 years ago. I don't have any current pics, but the rockers are non-existent now.
Economy cars may be more prone to rust because their cheap owners don't want to spend $9 on a drive through car wash...
bravenrace wrote: In reply to fasted58: Its a 2000 model. See pics of it in my profile. Those pictures were taken 2 years ago. I don't have any current pics, but the rockers are non-existent now.
I think non-salt-state cars and trucks have a kind of Final Destination thing going on when they get to Ohio.
I watched a Texas transplant MN12 self destruct after one winter. Still had the Texas plates on it when the rockers crumbled in my hands when I tried to lift it.
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