Rust Never Sleeps -- Questions About Rust Problems

cpmike

I'm a motor vehicle inspector who owns a 1991 toyota 4runner. Your best bet to find out if you have a saftey issue is to go to your autobody shop and have a structural integrity inspection done. I'm currently replacing several sections of my body that have rusted out. Common places that they rust are around and in the rear wheel wells, (this could have your side sections of your rear bumper falling off), your front fenders and the drain hole plug up in the lower part of the doors and tailgate causing that area to rust. Take a screwdriver to any areas of the frame you think might be bad. If your truck is like mine, it will just be the paint scaling off.

127horse

We had rust bubbles and some breakthrough around the gas cover on our 99 Olds Cutlass. The body shop attempted a patch that failed because in one day the bubbles were back! Subsequently we authorized the replacement of the rear quarter panel. We saw the removed piece which has a large area of rust and the body shop said they've never seen anything quite like it on a car just 7 years old. The warranty booklet says rust through is covered through 6 years. Has anyone heard of similar Olds problems that GM is covering?

early74b

Hey --- starting up again in posting in another forum (it's been quite awhile) and looked up my 'recent' posts and came across one from over 5 years ago -- well, we still have that DGC and it now has 107K miles on it. The good news is that the rust repair has held up quite well, the bad news is that other parts are starting to bubble and eventually they'll rust as well. In late '05 we had the tranny rebuilt (which was guaranteed for 12K/12 months) which was really worth it as the van still performs well 3 years later. We dropped collison coverage a few years back as the van is probably only worth about $2K in a trade-in but as it still looks OK, is safe and reliable (have taken it on two 2K round trips without incident within the past year - needed more room than our other cars) so we'll keep it until the next big repair exceeds that. Here in the rust-belt it truely is the climate that limits how long cars bodies last -- we also have owned a '99 Miata since new (has 47K miles now) and as we store it during just the winter, the body is almost new -- I'm glad I had the rust repaired on the DGC as I'm sure it would have just gotten worse but as it doesn't get driven much now, it may just last a few more years for us!

hpmctorque

What's a DGC?

early74b

If you link back to the old post -- DGC = Dodge Grand Caravan

dtownfb

Rust has developed on my 2000 Olds Intrigue below the fuel filler. the car is gray with 174k miles. I plan to replace the car in the summer and want to fix the rust spot to make it more attractive if I decide to trade it or sell it. the rust spot is about 3 inches wide and appears to be on the surface.

Is it possible to fix the rust area myself?

obyone

Rust is like an iceberg. What you see on the surface represents a small portion of the actual damage that lies under the paint. If you're planning on trading it, I wouldn't bother fixing it as the dealer can repair it better/faster/cheaper than you can. If you do decide to fix it it may work against you as the used car manager will be able to spot the "repaired" area since paint matching on a ten year old car is almost like artwork.

Bottom line is that you're not going to get much for a 10 year old discontinued brand of GM vehicle and mismatched paint and a bad bondo job won't help it much either.

dtownfb

I know it is not worth much but it's worth even less with a rust patch by the gas cap.

How about if I want to fix it so it doesn't look like a big rust bucket?

obyone

Guess it comes down to what your time is worth versus what you can sell the car for. Course if you know of an autobody shop who really needs the business...

dtownfb

I do know a few folks that own auto body shops. Considering it is not a big spot, I was hoping to do it myself.

obyone

I would think that the hardest part would be to color match the paint.

dtownfb

Not as concerned about this. The reason is that side of the car was backed into by my neighbor's daughter. Instead getting doors replaced/re-painted and costing her $$$, I asked my friend at the body shop to bang out the dents the best he could and make sure it does not rust. Also the color of the car is gray. I do have small areas of "primer gray" on that side of the car already that you can only see when you get close to the car.

The rust spot really, really sticks out. the car drives pretty good (175,000 miles) but I am also realistic about its value. fixing this spot is more for my personal ego than anything else.

hpmctorque

The fact that in more than seven years there are only 65 comments regarding rust strongly suggests that the industry has eliminated this problem.

obyone

The fact that in more than seven years there are only 65 comments regarding rust strongly suggests that the industry has eliminated this problem.

That's probably because the Tundra and Tacoma owners who are suffering from rusted frames enduring another Toyota recall don't know about this topic.


http://www.autoblog.com/2010/03/10/report-toyota-tundra-frame-rust-recall-to-go-- nationwide/

http://jalopnik.com/5490114/toyota-tundra-rust-frame-recall-technical-safety-bul- letin-photos

Seems some of those Tundras are dropping their spares due to this rust.