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My 2008 Ford Fusion (approx. 145,000 miles) just failed inspection for two rust issues. The rear bumper was only held on to the car by the plastic cover, and there's a hole in the floor behind the regulator on the rear passenger side.
The body shop guy said you're lucky cars last 10 years these days with all the rust he sees. He said it's all cars not just Fords. This is in the Northeast where road salt use is common in the winter. I mean, I'm assuming most of the damage was caused by road salt.
Are there any special tricks for washing road salt off at the car wash? I never would have though of twisting the sprayer (I go to the DIY bay) under the rear bumper!
Try moving out of the rust belt. Seriously, if you drive a car on heavily salted Northeast or Midwest roads in winter, it will rust out, yeah, in about 10 years.
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It's a good idea to take a car driven in those areas through a car wash that cleans the under carriage on a regular basis. They also will spray a protectant if you get the right wash package. I lived in Indiana for much of my life, and that's what I always did. Now I'm in Northern VA where it's not uncommon to have 50+ degree days during the Winter, so I just wash the under carriage myself.
Are there any special tricks for washing road salt off at the car wash? I never would have though of twisting the sprayer (I go to the DIY bay) under the rear bumper!
Oil Undercoating.
Annually.
There are multiple threads about oil undercoating on this forum.
Those that get it done have no rust.
While others state that new cars do not rust anymore because of new special paints.
I had a buddy who lived in Wisconsin and he used to use the motor oil he drained out mixed with some 90w gear oil. He would spray it under the whole car body suspension frame etc
I make a firm-point of taking my car through a drive-through car-wash that has the undercarriage sprayers. I don't feel that hand-washing can come close to de-salting all the nooks and crannies between the tire wells.
I do this always, a week or three after any of the roads have had salt added.
Besides, even the high-end drive-through places have added a $6 quick-wash where you stay in the car, and there's no extra work is done by hand. (IE: no inside vacuum or wipe, no glass or tire hand-cleaning, etc.) You drive up, hand them the cash, run the tunnel for about 5 minutes, then drive away. But the undercarriage gets a very thorough rinse.
As mentioned, oil up chassis etc.
Been fighting rust on a 15 y/o vehicle, but got underneath before any major damage occurred.
I started with a wire cup brush and screw gun to remove the cancer.
I've also used just about about every converter, when sprayed or brushed on iron oxide changes rust to iron phosphate.
Corroseal is the only one I found that works, at a decent price; you'll need a lot.
Also, salt does most of it's damage when humidity is high and temps above freezing.
So keep this in mind during your winter car wash routine.
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