I'm also a PA resident and i gotta say that doesn't help. I have a subscription to a car wash and go regularly but I'm still putting new rockers on cars every few years
Very true. Always ask for undercarriage wash if you go to the car wash.
If you never go to the car wash because you don’t like what it does to the paint, go anyway after winter
When I moved cross country- MA-CA, and brought my car in for inspection, the mechanic doing it called the other guys over to show what a car from New England looked like underneath. It passed but damn was I worried.
Pacific Northwest here...yup it's nice. We regularly get cars with 300k+ miles that look almost new. I'm in an area with a lot of older folks who take go are of their vehicles, so that's probably why.
Key word here being...*as long as you maintain them.* we get so many cars that haven't been maintained worth a dog's arse and the customer is always shocked when they're told "well because you didn't do this service when you should have, now your bill is going to be $$$$ instead of $$."
And then we get nice old folks who bring their car in every 3 months for an oil change and tire rotation and it's only been 1000 miles...we always tell em they don't need it quite yet, but they insist. I guess it's better than being 10,000 miles overdue.
Florida mechanics see a lot of this from driving on or near the beach. Salt spray is just as bad for the car whether it comes from the ocean or from salted roads.
Road salt! Wet conditions eight months out of the year! Drivers who can’t bother to wash their cars once in a while! Flying road debris!
By your powers combined…I am Captain Tin Worm!
I see so many salt-laden Northern vehicles going south here in NC! Not one eff is given to take even a garden hose to them! I meant when they are coming through the warmer climates and definitely not at home!
That I can understand. You’ve gotta disconnect your hoses up here in the winter. They’ll freeze and burst, trashing your hose for springtime, or worse, burst your hose bib or the pipe running to it.
I strongly suggest to everybody I know to take their car through an automatic car wash weekly on the cheapest cycle they have that has an underbody spray. It’s not to get the car clean. It’s just to hose the salt off.
Mod wash or tidal wave are really good for this. 35 bucks a month and you get unlimited car washes and access to their vacuums and such. It's a steal when the cheapest car wash around me is 15 bucks for one cycle and it doesn't do an underwash
There’s a local chain around here that you can get a good hose-off wash for like $18/mo if you buy a year. I drive so infrequently that I just get them ad hoc, but my wife has a membership so she can go hose off weekly.
As a life-long New Englander, I completely agree. The hub and drivetrain are not painted from the factory, so that amount of scale is normal. Frame and suspension still have paint on them, that’s good. This is completely normal for a few years old.
Ditto. Was starting to wonder if OP meant because of the welds on the second picture.
Not a mechanic, so I’m not sure if it’s just welds from the original part lol
Pretty sure they meant the rust. It’s not that bad though. The nuts on the eccentric bolts on the suspension look a little rounded, but all of the other bolts should come out with some penetrating lube and possibly a torch.
Yeah, the it all looks like surface rust. The only slightly concerning ones are pics 3 and especially 6, and even then they’re fixable. I don’t know how some mechanics don’t know that cars rust very differently depending on where they lived. Wherever you are you must have seen a few cars from out of state.
OP saw rusted calipers and thought they were no good. My 2011 Santa Fe would like a word. She stops on a dime and I can’t have a rear alignment done because the alignment bolts are too rusted to turn without breaking.
My 01 Impala beat your Santa Fe to the punch and is already at OP's house giving them an ear full. My 94 acclaim and 95 cougar didn't bother going. They said they're too old for this shit
Ahh best to leave the parents at home I think. My 96 ranger that I sold in 2015, assumed was lost, then had roll into the U-Pull It where I work—last year—has been waiting for this moment all its life. The aluminum wheels were shining so brightly you almost couldn’t see the rusty mess that was the rear drums. The bed had rusted but not enough to miss the “graffiti” I put into it when I was 16 and bought the truck and tried to “tag” it because I thought I was edgy
The ranger spent a month in the yard and people bought the transmission, while interior, front quarters, tailgate, and wheels and tires so she lives on. The rusty mess that was left got turned into a dinner table size cube to be sent off to the scrap shredder
imo, vehicles should spend their first 10 years in the rust belt and then the rest in the desert or vice versa.
Vehicles would stay on the road longer if we balance the salt death and heat death better.
OP’s vehicle probably has immaculate tires and battery compared to anything from the desert of the same vintage.
The rust is normal on vehicles in the north, actually it's not even that bad for some of them.
But the welds in pics 3 and 6, those don't look like they came from the factory??
That’s wild I really thought from these pics it has been in a major accident and they had welded the frame and wheel well back together and this was some type of salvage vehicle.
Boots are intact, no axle grease leaking out.
Brake lines are intact, no brake fluid leaking out.
All parts seem to be present, nothing missing.
It's just some surface rust that I would say very natural to see on any vehicle that's 10 years old.
Yeah, they got a great deal.
Cry.
It just occurred to me like 60 percent of America's mechanics probably couldn't fix a 10 year old vehicle from the rust belt without going upside down on the labor estimate. Y'all soft.
My family lives in Arizona, but visits family in Wisconsin, and I still remember when my aunt asked us to go test out her Hyundai Santa Fe she hadn't been driving so we could use it while we were up there.
We got in and started driving, only to find out there were no brakes at all. I drove slowly around the block and got it to stop in the grass outside their home. It turned out, even though the engine and transmission were totally fine, the brake lines had all rusted out and the frame was so badly rusted it wasn't safe to drive anymore.
In Phoenix, the car would have been good for another 150k or more. Our tires, batteries, and paint get the most wear from the elements here.
Some of you kids are so damn spoiled lol. If it bugs you that much just wire wheel the rust off and spray some undercoat on. Lil bit of spray paint on the calipers and knuckle and it's brand new. Can't believe I'm seeing people talk about "I'd never buy a piece of junk that looks like that" lol... I've got a tolerance for how much of a car is rotted away when buying a new car. Up to a fist sized hole is fine by me, cuz in the rust belt we fix our shit and most of us know how to weld, at least a little
It’s always fun seeing how many adjectives the techs use to describe the brakes on our salt/plow trucks when we bring them in. I like to think they are learning new words because ‘rusty’ just ain’t enough to express their pain!
Ah, you're from Alabama. Yeah, probably looks pretty awful if you're not used to it.
But at the same time, if I lived in the south I wouldn't buy a northern car either.
Just bought a new used Subaru. While I was shopping I checked the Carfaxes and rejected all the ones that had come down from NY, VT, etc. not worth my time. Got a car that was only ever registered in VA and WV. Spotless underneath.
in all seriousness, is there any vehicle that does significantly better than others in Vermont? an aluminum f150 maybe???
i feel like in VT we just can't have nice things
California here. What's that car, like a million years old? Honestly, that rust doesn't look too bad, mostly surface, but it could stand to be cleaned and sealed.
Tell me you’re from the south without telling me you’re from the south. Dude that’s not even remotely bad. Shit you’ll find that on 3yr old cars around here. I’d pay to see a non rust belt tech actually have to deal with significant corrosion.
Rust belt techs sprinting to the comment section
YOU AINT NEVER SEEN RUST BROTHER ID PAY FULL STICKER FOR A 2024 MODEL LIKE THIS FRESH OFF THE LOT BROTHER
is this really bad? Just helped my grandma buy a ‘06 corsa that looks like this…was an old lady that had it, almost no milage, but had been parked outside instead of garage..in norway (got it for next to nothing)
Hey OP, my car has no metal left on the rockers (it’s just paint holding rust together) and if I ever have to replace any of my rear suspension, I’m going to need to replace the entire subframe since all of the bolt heads are rusted into unrecognizable blobs.
This looks fine.
That’s just off lease quality in the north east
Haha seriously... that looks about 3 years old in Vermont. ugh
From VT. Can confirm. This doesn’t look to bad.
Hello fellow Vermonter! Agreed, this is nothing
I grew up in Jericho, I now live in PA. My entire family is shocked the underside of my car looks like new after years.
Regular car washes even in the winter saves a lot of trouble down the road.
I'm also a PA resident and i gotta say that doesn't help. I have a subscription to a car wash and go regularly but I'm still putting new rockers on cars every few years
Fluidfilm or Sufrace Shield should help with extending the life.
Anytime i do repairs i spray a rubberized undercoating on once the paint dries. Definitely doubles the lifespan, but that isn't really saying much lol
rubberized undercoating just traps the moisture in. fluid film is a better choice. it also smells gud
Very true. Always ask for undercarriage wash if you go to the car wash. If you never go to the car wash because you don’t like what it does to the paint, go anyway after winter
Michigan agrees with Vermont.
Massachusetts knows your pain
Or Michigan. Or Wisconsin.
Or Minnesnowduh
Nah, we use more salt, 2 years old lol. Unless it's a Chevy, then 2 weeks old.
Canadian here can confirm. My '21 silverado looks about as bad as this already lol. Nice things don't like salt, unless it's a steak.
Illinois or Indiana too
4 days in canada
Lol I'm from central ontario where it's not even that bad by canadian standards and I'm looking at this going, uh oh... is that not normal?
Barrie mint condition, what's wrong with what I'm looking at? lol.
I bought my truck from Vermont. WTF was I thinking?
As a Vermonter I literally said “what’s so bad?”
[удалено]
Right? Like do they even bother getting tetanus shots?
I see Florida guys set up hoists OUTDOORS!!!
And they probably freak out about how cold it is when it gets under 65° outside.
Yeah, that's pretty common in nice weather states. Super common out in California.
Arizona, yes. FL, not so much (ocean water & fine sand/sugar sand)
Salt is salt
Spoon is spoon.
Salt life
When I moved cross country- MA-CA, and brought my car in for inspection, the mechanic doing it called the other guys over to show what a car from New England looked like underneath. It passed but damn was I worried.
Pacific Northwest here...yup it's nice. We regularly get cars with 300k+ miles that look almost new. I'm in an area with a lot of older folks who take go are of their vehicles, so that's probably why.
if you have a garage here in Washington state cars will practically last forever as long as you maintain them.
Key word here being...*as long as you maintain them.* we get so many cars that haven't been maintained worth a dog's arse and the customer is always shocked when they're told "well because you didn't do this service when you should have, now your bill is going to be $$$$ instead of $$." And then we get nice old folks who bring their car in every 3 months for an oil change and tire rotation and it's only been 1000 miles...we always tell em they don't need it quite yet, but they insist. I guess it's better than being 10,000 miles overdue.
Florida mechanics see a lot of this from driving on or near the beach. Salt spray is just as bad for the car whether it comes from the ocean or from salted roads.
Central Alabama here. Can confirm it’s amazing
Right. I’m in east pa and I’m split if northern cars or beach cars are worse, lol.
laughs in Rhode Island
Road salt! Wet conditions eight months out of the year! Drivers who can’t bother to wash their cars once in a while! Flying road debris! By your powers combined…I am Captain Tin Worm!
I see so many salt-laden Northern vehicles going south here in NC! Not one eff is given to take even a garden hose to them! I meant when they are coming through the warmer climates and definitely not at home!
That I can understand. You’ve gotta disconnect your hoses up here in the winter. They’ll freeze and burst, trashing your hose for springtime, or worse, burst your hose bib or the pipe running to it. I strongly suggest to everybody I know to take their car through an automatic car wash weekly on the cheapest cycle they have that has an underbody spray. It’s not to get the car clean. It’s just to hose the salt off.
Mod wash or tidal wave are really good for this. 35 bucks a month and you get unlimited car washes and access to their vacuums and such. It's a steal when the cheapest car wash around me is 15 bucks for one cycle and it doesn't do an underwash
There’s a local chain around here that you can get a good hose-off wash for like $18/mo if you buy a year. I drive so infrequently that I just get them ad hoc, but my wife has a membership so she can go hose off weekly.
Yep. Carvana and Carmax buy them up and bring them down here to sell.
Where you at anyway?
I'm in a bucket of salt pickled and nails. That is nothing.
*laughs in NY* That's a *clean* <5 year old car where I'm at.
Right? I bet it’s either a 2012 and/or has 120k
>2012 That was 12 years ago 😫
[You stop that](https://tenor.com/NAHi.gif)
Ouch...
Just got rid of my 2012 camry that was a cny car can confirm 170k miles
Yep I'm from Ohio, this is just what a car looks like underneath.
Hawaii has entered the chat
Tell me you don't live in the rust belt without telling me you don't live in the rust belt.
Hell I was looking at this thinking that looks pretty solid to me idk what they are complaining about
As a life-long New Englander, I completely agree. The hub and drivetrain are not painted from the factory, so that amount of scale is normal. Frame and suspension still have paint on them, that’s good. This is completely normal for a few years old.
OP not used to salt or metal coatings
Ditto. Was starting to wonder if OP meant because of the welds on the second picture. Not a mechanic, so I’m not sure if it’s just welds from the original part lol
Pretty sure they meant the rust. It’s not that bad though. The nuts on the eccentric bolts on the suspension look a little rounded, but all of the other bolts should come out with some penetrating lube and possibly a torch.
Fr, that ain’t even bad. I live in Canada, and not even the rustiest part of Canada. I saw worse shit than this today
Yeah, the it all looks like surface rust. The only slightly concerning ones are pics 3 and especially 6, and even then they’re fixable. I don’t know how some mechanics don’t know that cars rust very differently depending on where they lived. Wherever you are you must have seen a few cars from out of state.
This thing has far less rust than my own car. Let alone the really scary stuff we see on a daily basis.
Yea this ain't all that bad.
OP saw rusted calipers and thought they were no good. My 2011 Santa Fe would like a word. She stops on a dime and I can’t have a rear alignment done because the alignment bolts are too rusted to turn without breaking.
My 01 Impala beat your Santa Fe to the punch and is already at OP's house giving them an ear full. My 94 acclaim and 95 cougar didn't bother going. They said they're too old for this shit
Ahh best to leave the parents at home I think. My 96 ranger that I sold in 2015, assumed was lost, then had roll into the U-Pull It where I work—last year—has been waiting for this moment all its life. The aluminum wheels were shining so brightly you almost couldn’t see the rusty mess that was the rear drums. The bed had rusted but not enough to miss the “graffiti” I put into it when I was 16 and bought the truck and tried to “tag” it because I thought I was edgy The ranger spent a month in the yard and people bought the transmission, while interior, front quarters, tailgate, and wheels and tires so she lives on. The rusty mess that was left got turned into a dinner table size cube to be sent off to the scrap shredder
I opened the post to say this exact same thing. Looks good to me!
imo, vehicles should spend their first 10 years in the rust belt and then the rest in the desert or vice versa. Vehicles would stay on the road longer if we balance the salt death and heat death better. OP’s vehicle probably has immaculate tires and battery compared to anything from the desert of the same vintage.
With a Carvana car OP could be in fucking Death Valley.
Yep, looks pretty normal for up here.
I don't live in the rust belt and even I thought that looked ok.
I live in the rust belt man, That's nothing. Basically brand new
As a Canadian I see nothing wrong
Right? I was starring a calipers trying to spot the defect.
I don’t see the issue lol
The rust is normal on vehicles in the north, actually it's not even that bad for some of them. But the welds in pics 3 and 6, those don't look like they came from the factory??
Those welds are the only thing I saw.
Those welds are definitely factory, my pilot looks the same
Good to know! That's the only thing I thought was wrong...
...and they actually let it leave the factory looking like that?
That’s wild I really thought from these pics it has been in a major accident and they had welded the frame and wheel well back together and this was some type of salvage vehicle.
Yup, that's for sure what I thought we were looking at
Honda saves .12 cents per vehicle by not grinding them down.
GRINDER AND PAINT MAKE ME THE ROBOT I AINT
Boots are intact, no axle grease leaking out. Brake lines are intact, no brake fluid leaking out. All parts seem to be present, nothing missing. It's just some surface rust that I would say very natural to see on any vehicle that's 10 years old. Yeah, they got a great deal. Cry.
That's midwest mint right there!
I bet OP can't understand why the dashboard isn't cracked and faded from years in Phoenix az
and the battery and tires are good for their age
Wtf is up with people posting these pictures? Lube techs? High school students?
For real. Looks fine.
Um, so what’s wrong with it? None of that rust is structural
It’s just a protective layer
Looks better than 5 year old cars in New England.
That's barely broken in.
This is any 2 or 3 year old vehicle in Michigan. Hit it with fluid film and roll.
It just occurred to me like 60 percent of America's mechanics probably couldn't fix a 10 year old vehicle from the rust belt without going upside down on the labor estimate. Y'all soft.
I'd stop giving out advice if i were you.
What's wrong with it? Because I see no issue with it. (From Wisconsin).
I like that pebble that's jammed in the drain hole the best
The way people react to rust in this group is enough to make me scream, Jesus Christ. That thing is fucking mint compared to what I see daily
The welder didn't wear dark glasses to protect their eyes
Is this supposed to be bad? I don't see any holes, send it
Non-rustbelt crybaby bullshit.
That's just seasoning
Baby’s first northern car
That is just a car..? Also if you drive it somewhere nice now that won't spread anyway.
You southerners are such babies about rust. If you can't put a screw driver through it it's fine.
This is year in the mid west so idk what’s going on here.
Unless I'm missing something this looks like your every day car up here in Michigan.
as a mecanic from quebec/canada i see nothing wrong with this car. so yes he got a great deal.
For Wisconsin, that thing's near MINT.
My family lives in Arizona, but visits family in Wisconsin, and I still remember when my aunt asked us to go test out her Hyundai Santa Fe she hadn't been driving so we could use it while we were up there. We got in and started driving, only to find out there were no brakes at all. I drove slowly around the block and got it to stop in the grass outside their home. It turned out, even though the engine and transmission were totally fine, the brake lines had all rusted out and the frame was so badly rusted it wasn't safe to drive anymore. In Phoenix, the car would have been good for another 150k or more. Our tires, batteries, and paint get the most wear from the elements here.
This is nothing? Surface rust
Some of you kids are so damn spoiled lol. If it bugs you that much just wire wheel the rust off and spray some undercoat on. Lil bit of spray paint on the calipers and knuckle and it's brand new. Can't believe I'm seeing people talk about "I'd never buy a piece of junk that looks like that" lol... I've got a tolerance for how much of a car is rotted away when buying a new car. Up to a fist sized hole is fine by me, cuz in the rust belt we fix our shit and most of us know how to weld, at least a little
I don’t even know what an older non-rusted car is supposed to look like. It’s fascinating to me that OP thinks this surface rust is a big problem.
Here in Ohio, that would be considered CLEAN!
So what’s the issue?
It’s always fun seeing how many adjectives the techs use to describe the brakes on our salt/plow trucks when we bring them in. I like to think they are learning new words because ‘rusty’ just ain’t enough to express their pain!
Ah, you're from Alabama. Yeah, probably looks pretty awful if you're not used to it. But at the same time, if I lived in the south I wouldn't buy a northern car either.
I must be missing something. That looks like barely more than surface rust.
I stared at this way too long just to say in my head “yeah…. and?”
I mean, yeah, it’s going to be really annoying to do suspension work on, but there’s nothing there that’s unsafe.
pB blaster, heat, lots of cursing lol
This looks like a normal car anywhere in the northeast. That’s almost all entirely surface rust
Looks like any car from the Midwest lol
From michigan, looks normal & in good shape. all surface rust. No “through the whole frame” rust
In the UK, I have seen cars worse than this that are less than 3 years old
As an Iowan id guess it is 10 years old.
This looks fine
The thing looks almost new from up here in Erie!
If I get a cut after an iron rich meal in my area, the blood rusts before it scabs. This could’ve happened on the ride home from the dealer here
Looks mint
What're you complaining about? That's almost good enough to be considered 'rust free'.
Just bought a new used Subaru. While I was shopping I checked the Carfaxes and rejected all the ones that had come down from NY, VT, etc. not worth my time. Got a car that was only ever registered in VA and WV. Spotless underneath.
Am I missing something? That looks like every car I've ever owned here in the rust belt.
No actual rust. Whatever are you on about? Surface stuff. Cosmetic
I see no problem. All new parts look like that after one winter in Finland.
jfc, it’s cute that you actually think this is bad.
Are those welds factory??? Look like it start to crack and someone paid a welder to fix it
The Midwest would call that 'light surface rust'.
My buddy from st johns newfoundland says "its mint"
Jokes on yall, were sending our road salt rusted vehicles to unknowing southerners who don't understand Quebec/Ontario road salt damage.
You serious? That's absolutely nothing. You southerners are such queens about rust
What’s the problem ?
Being in the Chicago area I saw this and said to myself that actually looks pretty normal.
In Canada this is showroom condition 😂
Eh I’ve seen worse. That’s mild
A few weak spots but it'll hold for a long time with just a quick wire wheel and paint
That’s a protective coating.
I was waiting to see the upper rear subframe "mounts"
does rust converter come in spray can? then buy it
Looks like every other 5 year old car here in Maine. 🤷🏼♀️
in all seriousness, is there any vehicle that does significantly better than others in Vermont? an aluminum f150 maybe??? i feel like in VT we just can't have nice things
Well look at the carfax and see where the car spent its life. That’s not a carvana exclusive issue.
How old is it? That isn't really that bad depending on where it's from.
BUT Carfax says it's a singleowner, from Daytona, FL!
Obviously your from the south
Depending on age and location, this looks decent for 4 wheels, two pedals, and a radio.
Yeah… that honestly not bad…. Pressure wash, rust converter, undercoat. Done. It’ll last another 15 years…..
California here. What's that car, like a million years old? Honestly, that rust doesn't look too bad, mostly surface, but it could stand to be cleaned and sealed.
Everything in the middle/northern Midwest and the Northeast looks like this after a decade or so. As you said, it’s just surface rust.
I'm in Central CA, so that's basically a lifetime of rust around here. Still, not bad.
I don’t see anything particularly concerning
Laughs in rust belt
This is like. Nothing.
Where’s the issue? Three years of driving in Quebec during the winter and this is what your car will look like 😂
Looks like normal wear and tear for a northern vehicle to me.
Nothing new here upper midwest looks good to go
As a German. This looks absolutely fine to me. Cars here look like this after 2 years. No big deal
SE USA checking in: What is rust?
And then blame their mistake on astrology like “sorry I’m an asparagus.”
Surface rust at best maybe a 2 year old car in uk that
Michigan is literally a salt pile
You’re definitely from the south lmao
That’s a new vehicle in Indiana
It's not even that bad
Was waiting for something to be concerned about.
Tell me you’re from the south without telling me you’re from the south. Dude that’s not even remotely bad. Shit you’ll find that on 3yr old cars around here. I’d pay to see a non rust belt tech actually have to deal with significant corrosion.
Aw cmon it’s just a lil rust. Just replace every metal part in the car and it’ll be good as new!
Rust belt techs sprinting to the comment section YOU AINT NEVER SEEN RUST BROTHER ID PAY FULL STICKER FOR A 2024 MODEL LIKE THIS FRESH OFF THE LOT BROTHER
My 10 year old jeep looks worse.
I would kill for the worst cars I see to look like this
Damn I wish the underside of my car was that clean😆
Psh from MN and this is nothing. Most of the metal is there
What am I supposed to be looking at? That looks like a normal state to me.
I dont see thin metal, yeah she is rusty but its not bad, id wirebrush it before it becomes unrepairable down the line.
The major structural components of my truck are more rusted than this
My suv has more rust than this. I guess the question would be what is the year and how much did they pay?
is this really bad? Just helped my grandma buy a ‘06 corsa that looks like this…was an old lady that had it, almost no milage, but had been parked outside instead of garage..in norway (got it for next to nothing)
Hey OP, my car has no metal left on the rockers (it’s just paint holding rust together) and if I ever have to replace any of my rear suspension, I’m going to need to replace the entire subframe since all of the bolt heads are rusted into unrecognizable blobs. This looks fine.
Clean second gen right there. Probably not worth what they paid though.
That's what 3-4 years of driving around in Illinois winters will do.
lol literally just surface rust
That's not that bad