So - found a great specimen. Under 40k miles. 2007. No mods. Exterior is pristine. Interior is very good. Priced a little high but hadn't gotten that far in the conversation yet. Then I got these pictures of the underbody and need some feedback. I am from the south - so this seems like a tremendous amount of rust. What do y'all think? Is this problems waiting to happen or what? is it just the exhaust system?

 

What rust? I'm not seeing any rust. At least, not what we call rust here in the NE...

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It has for sure seen a winter, but I wouldn't be alarmed by any of that.

 

I have an 04 in Ohio with over 100K Miles and have no rust anything like that. However, it only gets winter driven on dry days.

 

either winter driven or lived near the pacific or atlantic coasts. I use my car as a summer toy and wouldn't buy a car with that much surface rust- just because i hate dealing with the effects of rust repair- living in Canada and all. It's all cosmetic likely.

But i would hammer on the seller's price because of it.

darcy

 

That is not a Pacific coast car. That is not a southwestern car. That is a midwest/eastern car. The only way that could be a Pacific car is the previous owner drove it on the beach in the water; not likely. That corrosion comes from the all the salt on the roads. There is no salt used in California and you don't need it for the SW.

I agree with darcyw; I would not buy a car with that much rust. I would not even entertain something from the midwest/east unless it really was a summer/garaged car. I found mine in Phoenix. There is a reason aircraft boneyards are in the southwest. No corrosion.

I was helping my daughter find a used TL. Dealer had one with good numbers. Went to see it, popped the hood and in a nano second said this has to be a New York car. Looked at Carfax: New Jersey. Instant rejection. Everything was corroded and the paint was even going early.

Good luck.

 

Cat-back exhaust systems are made primarily of type 409 stainless steel which can oxidize (rust) when exposed to high levels of salt. This can be aggravated by high humidity. Looking at the other surfaces (aluminum castings, painted surfaces and the aluminized Cat shield)it appears that this car has seen a humid, salty environment for extended periods.

Although this looks bad, most of the visible oxidation doesn't do any harm. Exhaust systems usually fail from oxidation from the inside out, so the visible rust on the outside is mostly cosmetic (I speak from experience - this is what I used to do for a living). The other surfaces shown really don't compromise the functionality of those components. The bigger issues are going to be things not easily seen, like rusted nuts and bolts, brake and fuel lines and connections and any electrical connections that weren't sealed well. When it comes time to replace things at a later date, you might encounter some stubborn fasteners.

I wouldn't necessarily walk away from this car just because of the visible rust but you should use it as a bargaining chip. If you're considering keeping this for the rest of your life, then you might want to pass. It looks like there is still some visible salt on the surfaces that needs to get rinsed off.

 

If you are worried about that rust, you'll get a heart attack when you look under a Jeep.

 

Yeah, that relative little is *nothing* to be alarmed with.

--kC

 

After owning two used Florida cars, it is nice when u go to work on it and there's no rust.


But like someone said, depends if u plan to keep it long term.

Some of these S2ks are bought and then sold in a year or 2 of ownership.