Rust thread, again.

[titansxt]

My car is turning into a rust bucket, fast. I live in the rust belt, but many of the Neons I see on the road don't look like mine. Even older models. I want to know how mant others out there are having similar issues. And I don't mean just a few spots of rust or surface rust. I'm talking about areas that look like they need to be replaced or have body shop attention.

2003

-Pinch rails (flaking apart)
-Exhaust system from cat back (cat and muffler replaced due to rusting out)
-Exhaust hanger hooks
-Rear crash bar
-Left rear quater panel (Pretty severe in two spots. One almost all the way through)
-Crossmember
-Power steering hardlines on the rack (look like the fluid is going to burst through)
-Control arms
-Hood, trunk and every doors rolled edge

The cities around me dump salt like its free, so I know that causes a lot of my issue. I just don't understand how a car made in 2003 can be this bad already. I'll provide pictures when I get a chance.

Who else has problems?

[occasional demons]

9 years in the rust belt....

If it was an early 70's car, it would have disintegrated by now.

Crossmember/control arms - pretty common. I think thet are rusting before they are even "painted"

Hard lines, yeah, they are bare steel from the start. Some last better than others some worse. We had a 2002 chevy van at work, half the hardlines were rusted through by 2011 and needed patched/replaced.

Thankfully, one of the temps they hire for drivers totaled that POS.

Any rolled edge is doomed from the start. All you have in there for protection is whatever coating the metal had when the part was formed. It is only a matter of time before moisture finds it's way in.

Unless you strip the car down to the shell when it is new, and spray real rust inhibitor in every crevice, it isn't going to make it 10 years without rusting. Even then there is nothing guaranteeing corrosion hasn't already began when it was assembled, or some idiot texting won't wipe it out ten days after you put it all back together.

You could move to a snow free climate, but then there are other challenges posed by mother nature.

[trojmn]

I just don't understand how a car made in 2003 can be this bad already. I'll provide pictures when I get a chance.

Who else has problems?

Do you wash it? I don't have any rust on my '03. just turned 170K miles.

[occasional demons]

Meh, some cars it doesn't matter.

I washed my'99 XJ at a minimum of once a week in the winter, waxed it top to bottom religiously. The POS still rots away. It began rusting (bubbling under the paint rust) in 2000. The entire roof needed repaint in 2005 because rust was popping up everywhere on it.

The entire passenger side floor pan rusted away in a matter of 6 months. Had to have a new section welded in.

Remove all the floor pan plugs and replace them with plastic plugs, or something that won't rust, as that's what started the floor pan problem.

Some cars are just crap from the assembly line. While the one built next to it lasts for 20 years without an issue.

Did my Jeep rust due to neglect, not likely, just built from crap metal. Even the rear hatch is rusting out from under the paint now. The inside is spotless due to me spraying it with cosmoline.

Unfortunately, I cannot afford to have a brand new vehicle stripped of it's paint, and repainted, because maybe that's what would have been needed. No amount of care will keep it from rusting underneath the paint.

If it weren't for the neon, I would have prolly switched to an import, or a Ford by now, because this XJ has been a total disappointment, as far as the body is concerned. The brakes are second on the list.

[Fuzzyneon]

Meh, some cars it doesn't matter.

I washed my'99 XJ at a minimum of once a week in the winter, waxed it top to bottom religiously. The POS still rots away. It began rusting (bubbling under the paint rust) in 2000. The entire roof needed repaint in 2005 because rust was popping up everywhere on it.

The entire passenger side floor pan rusted away in a matter of 6 months. Had to have a new section welded in.

Remove all the floor pan plugs and replace them with plastic plugs, or something that won't rust, as that's what started the floor pan problem.

Some cars are just crap from the assembly line. While the one built next to it lasts for 20 years without an issue.

Did my Jeep rust due to neglect, not likely, just built from crap metal. Even the rear hatch is rusting out from under the paint now. The inside is spotless due to me spraying it with cosmoline.

Unfortunately, I cannot afford to have a brand new vehicle stripped of it's paint, and repainted, because maybe that's what would have been needed. No amount of care will keep it from rusting underneath the paint.

If it weren't for the neon, I would have prolly switched to an import, or a Ford by now, because this XJ has been a total disappointment, as far as the body is concerned. The brakes are second on the list.

Jeeps rust its what they do

[occasional demons]

Jeeps rust its what they do

It's the massive flow of fuel through the line, causing a static charge of electrons, making the metal corrode faster.

[jmoddes]

I have Rust on my roof about half inch up from the center of the windshield. Last year it was a small spec I tried to treat, not its as large as a half dollar. Idk y.

Also have it along all of the bottoms of the side (that piece that sicks down).

and on my passanger rear panel.

I've recently had a new one form on the driver side back door smack dab in the middle. random ass spots that idk where they come from.

I wash my car about once a week by a touchless auto wash, and once every month by hand (minus this past month). I always get wax put on at the auto places and put ICE wax on my car myself.

Here's a big influence for rust... Wisconsin (at least by me) is salt heaven when it comes to snow... so that doesn't help my case at all.

[occasional demons]

Also have it along all of the bottoms of the side (that piece that sicks down).

Rocker panel.