Rust is an absolute menace. It never sleeps and, if left uncured for long enough, will absolutely ruin an otherwise great vehicle. Readers who don’t live in the Rust Belt should consider themselves lucky. Whenever I go to California, I see vehicles that I have not seen in Illinois for at least a decade. Frankly, it never ceases to amaze me. What is the newest vehicle that you’ve seen already rusting away?
It’s very easy to find rust here in Illinois, sadly. Every winter, the state aggressively salts its roads. During some periods, you will drive your car down the road, and despite having your windows closed, you will hear the clear sounds of your tires crushing salt beneath them. Come to Illinois, Michigan, or any salt-laying state that doesn’t have safety inspections, and you’ll see cars so bad that they do not have a single good panel left.
However, at the very least, many of these cars are old enough that their first and maybe second owners have already moved on. Seeing piles of rust isn’t at all surprising to anyone who has lived out here for long enough. What is surprising is seeing relatively new vehicles that are rusty.
The absolute newest vehicle I’ve ever seen with rust is my family’s travel trailer. I’ve written about this camper a lot, but if you’ve somehow missed those stories, this is a 2022 Heartland Mallard M33. My parents bought this trailer new, only three months after it had been built. The day my parents brought it home, I looked at the frame and saw widespread surface rust. Now, three years later, the rust is progressing, as rust tends to do.
The official solution to this problem, at least as recommended by the dealership, is to spray Rust-Oleum Rust Reformer on the frame.
But finding rust on a camper built during the COVID-19 camper boom feels like cheating, so I have another one for you. Something I have always been fascinated by, and I may write a post about it one day, is how quickly and totally a Mercedes-Benz Sprinter van can rust. At least in my experience, first-generation and second-generation Sprinters, which span from 2002 to 2018 in America, rust sooner than Chevy Express vans and Ford E-Series vans and rust out in weirder places.
Drive around the Chicago area for long enough and you’ll spot Sprinter vans absolutely peppered in rust from their rockers all the way up to their roofs, which is impressive. I’ve even seen 2013 and newer Sprinters, which are second-generation models with a facelift, already peppered in rust. It’s not just me, either. There are forum threads of people with Sprinters that were only a few years old at the time, and owners were reporting rust issues.
Thankfully, it seems like Mercedes-Benz might have figured out whatever was causing it, because third-generation Sprinters, which have been around since 2019, seem to be holding up better than their predecessors. Still, I get a bit shocked whenever I see a Sprinter that isn’t even that old that has more rust than paint left.
How about you? What’s the newest vehicle you’ve seen already rusting away?
Top graphic images: Mercedes-Benz; depositphotos.com
I’ve seen surface rust forming under 4th gen expeditions (’18-24). Wranglers sporting aftermarket stuff is an easy target too with rattle canned levels of rust protection (i.e. none). The joys living squarely in the rust belt where 10 year old cars can be crunchy, clapped out rust buckets with enough neglect.
My 2004 Toyota Matrix XR was condemned due to frame rust after 9 years and just 87,000 miles. I replaced it with a 2015 Wrangler Rubicon that had frame and body rust within 6 months. I replaced that with a Volvo S60 that doesn’t have 1 spec of rust after 6 years.
My worst and (at the time)earliest was my 1968 BMW 2002 which got serious rust in the forward structure supporting the MacPherson struts. They were enclosed in such away that BMW’s coating process left them raw steel on the inside, which would probably been ok if the Chicago salt water hand’t founds its way into them.
Car was structurally unsound in 3 years. I always woneder when I see one today, and hope that it spent it’s life in Arizona.
The worst I’ve seen from an operability standpoint was a Nissian Altima 4 years old and whole back suspension rotted out and broke in multiple places. They quietly issued a recall or tsb a few years ago I believe. I’ve seen few year old sprinters and transit vans rusty all over but still driving around. The gm disappearing brake and power steering lines of the mid 2000s are a fun one too. I think they last between 5 and 10 years. I’ve seen the steering columns rust out and leak in the same time frame.
I know Mercedes herself already mentioned this, but seriously, finding a Chicago area Sprinter van without rust is like spotting a freaking unicorn
Our 2014 Accord is our surprise rust bucket. Rocker panels rusting from the inside out. By comparison, our E-350 van and Volkswagen Jetta did not start rusting until they hit 18 – 20 years old. All vehicles were cared for in the same way.
Not exactly fair to compare these two but they were both early 2000’s yet owned by two different people, street parked, treated the same way, etc. The Chicago salt did significantly more damage to the parts of the car you see on a 2001 Accord, but when you go to do some work on it the structure of the car is sound. A 2003 Jetta on the other hand looks perfect however the brake lines have rusted through twice now, the front subframe broken, and I believe that replacing the rear brakes eventually devolved to replacing the entire rear torsion bar, shocks, brakes, and all. Overall the Accord seemed to rust significantly more and no matter what you do to it will need to be retired in probably 5 more years, however where the Jetta rusted was in places where you later realize “holy crap, this was on the road with me?”, required more rust related repairs, but when fixed up can be returned to newish.
A weird similar example to this is the GMT800 trucks / SUV’s. Their body panels are second only to sprinter in succumbing to rust, however the parts that make it work seem immune.
I test drove a new Yugo when they debuted in the US when I was in high school. It had rust comparable to that travel trailer new on the dealer’s lot. And the hood wouldn’t stay latched. And it didn’t run properly. Impressive.
My grandparents bought one of the “all new for 1980” Subarus. It failed inspection for rust when it was 3yrs old and needed extensive welding. It was junked when it was seven. Absolutely dissolved in the Maine salt. But they liked it enough they bought another one, the ’82 that ended up being my first car (in ’86) was a little better as they had it “rust proofed” by Rusty Jones. That one lasted a decade before the trunk floor rotted out and the suspension went through it. Sold it to my first college roommate, he limped it through the rest of college.
Does the rust on new Cybertrucks count? I know it buffs out because it’s stainless, but rust is rust.
A friend was just showing me his 2023 Crosstrek. Rust bubbles on the rear door edges (both sides), and on spots around the plastic cladding. He takes good care of it, keeps it clean and parks it every night in a heated underground garage. It is Ontario, though.
I suspect the current plastic cladding fad is going introduce more of this. Back when the last wave of cladding fad happened in the early 80’s it was common to get rust developing from the trapped moisture and salt. Sure the steel these days is better treated against corrosion, but this “protective” cladding is anything but. Just cosmetic frippery.
Heated garage is the worst. It melts the ice/snow on the car and generally accelerates the corrosion process. I never heat my garage unless I am working on something.
I agree, but he lives in a condo, so no choice. It might not even be really heated, but underground garages are rarely below freezing. It does beg the question though, if you live in a condo, what do you need a jacked up cladded AWD vehicle for?
Heated underground garage? That will do it. Nothing like daily freeze-thaw cycles while soaked in salt and water to really accelerate that corrosion.
I don’t think there is much you can do in that situation but oil-spray the hell out of it every year and hope for the best.
Was camping in upstate NY over Labor Day and saw 2 different Transit Connnects with the bottoms of the rear doors basically gone which was evidently surprising enough to me that it registered among all the other rusty vehicles on the road.
A car has to be stored outside in California for 30 or more years before it starts to look like any of those vehicles above, if that.
And that is just surface rust cause the paint burnt off. Sun damage causes more problems than rust in the southwest
It seems like all the newish full size Chevy and Ram trucks bubble up within a few years.I am talking 2018-19 models.I live in Pennsylvania and they spray that salt brine like it’s free on the roads and highways right before a snow storm.All vehicles here rust underneath no matter what.I totally gave up going to look at vehicles from the Southeast New York area near me.
+1 on Ram 1500s. They seem to have a sub decade shelf life in upstate ny.
At least they fixed the problem from the 2000 era models where what rusted through and broke first was the top of the frame between the cab and the bed. I’ve seen so many of those driving down the road with scoliosis.
Out here in the arid west, I found myself doing a double-take when I saw rust spots on the tailgate of a 5th gen Ram 2500 the other day. Local pickup too, not relocated from the midwest or wherever has rust.
Montrealer here:
Gestures broadly.
They use crushed granite as abrasives here in winter along with enough salt to pickle whales.
One chip through the paint, and bingo, rust.
At least the salt and granite fills in the potholes a little.
When I lived in Minneapolis it wasn’t uncommon to see cars 2-3 years old with rust already bubbling under the paint. Probably the worst example was my boss’s one year old Audi wagon. It was already showing rust on on the rear hatch after the first winter, and by the end of the second winter the door bottoms had rotted out enough the lower plastic cladding had fallen off. My boss viewed cars as appliances and never washed his vehicle, so the salt junk on the roads just sat there and chewed away at the metal all humid, rainy summer long.
Pretty bonkers. Audi started making the 5000 wagon in 1984. Audi became the first major manufacturer to 100% galvanize their cars. The 5000 was galvanized starting in 1985. I personally owned an 1987 Audi 5000 turbo quattro wagon in International Falls, MN. It lived in Michigan and Minnesota for its entire life and really didn’t start rusting on the tailgate until it was close to 20 years old/200,000 miles. It had a 10-year rust warranty on it.
I also experienced weird bubbling on an Audi on an aluminum panel once! Popped the bubble and scraped it away and was surprised to see that the metal and primer under the paint were both perfectly intact. Still no idea what or how that happened.
Yeah, this was the mid-2000s, so I hadn’t expected it either. The car was street parked at home, so the plows would toss junk on the car all the time too (the cladding that fell off was the street-side). I kept suggesting to wash the car, but my boss just shrugged and never did. It was a shame because it was honestly an awesome car before the rust set in.
McLaren Super Series (12C, 650S, 720S) are notorious for front fender corrosion.
I’ve seen 2-year old 720Ses have that corrosion. I expect 750Ses will be the same.
It was a couple years ago now, but we had a 10-ish year old Mercedes E-Class come in that was rusted to hell, which is extremely unusual where I am. As I looked at the front of the car, I noticed the license plate frame was from a dealer in Maine. “Welp, there’s ya answer!”
I used to live in Maine right on the ocean. That meants 6-8 months of salted roads plus salt spray in the air. Every single new car and truck had rust underneath after the first winter. Most would have rust bubbles around the wheelwells after 3 years. It was totally normal to see a 3 year old pickup with holes in the bedsides. Taking anything apart on a car that saw a few winters meant pb blaster and torches.
Now I live in Florida right on the ocean as well. The cars are nice underneath but do rust from the top down from salt air and humidity. Rust and holes around the windows from where the salt spray settles in is common.
I prefer the Florida rust.
Right there with you on both counts. Former Mainuh now mostly Floridian. I hate rust. But I live far enough from the ocean that the sun is a much bigger issue than salt air.
The PNW is the Holy Grail of places to have a car from. No salt, but not much sun either.
Visiting SoCal recently, I saw a gold BMW i3 whose carbon fiber body was severely rusted.
It’s like the owner has the rust version of the Midas touch. 😉
Parking in the yard will do that.
Huh? How it’s that possible
Ohhhhh!
*Slow claps*
I’ve lived in the PNW my entire life, and it was a shocker visiting family in Northern Michigan as a kid. The most incredible example I saw was a GMT800 pickup, which had only been out of production for a few years at the time (2008ish?), with completely rotted bedsides. It was also pretty funny to see the same model of Subaru we had at home with holes in the doors.
Every time I visit Portland I inevitably see some old vehicle in good shape I can’t believe still exists.
In my fleet I have a 95 Chevrolet Pickup, and a 97 Grand Marquis which both spent their whole lives in WA. Not a spot of rust on either. My ’77 Cherokee does, but only through neglect. Frame and floors are perfect.
Southern Ontario. The newest with bad noticeable rust are the Sprinters and Rams. Rams are generally around the rear wheel arches only and I haven’t noticed it on the newest gen so maybe Chrysler solved it. Sprinters are patches all over the body.
I’d say full size pick ups. It’s always rockers and rear bed sides near the wheel arches. Until Ford switched to aluminum, it didn’t matter the brand.
Ford frames still rust like hell though. Friend of mine just got rid of an aluminum Ford that looked like the Titanic underneath. But better than the older ones – another friend had an F-250 that the *dipstick* tube rotted off of. He went to check the oil and found the tube was just swinging in the breeze from the top bracket. How do you even DO that? Maine is a harsh place for vehicles.
Personally, I don’t find them any worse or better (frame wise) than GM or Dodge. And I’ve got no love for Ford. So as long as their bodies last longer compared to the other two, and the frames are roughly the same, they are a head when it comes to corrosion.
Oh, I definitely agree. They all suck for the steel bits, so might as well get the one with the least steel to rot. Gun to my head to buy a truck, it would be a Ford.
I’m giving David’s new Jeep project a week before I expect to see rust.
I was shopping for a used car in Connecticut about a year ago and was consistently blown away by the appalling level of rust on Ford F-150s. Even ones under 10 years old.
Look, I live in the North, I know that rust is going to be a thing. I looked at a lot of pickups because I missed having one, and the Ford were always winning the Swiss Cheese lookalike contest. Dodge and GM products would be older, also clearly living hard lives, but the rust difference was alarming.
F150’s have been aluminum since 2015 model year.
This is exactly why I own an F-150. Boxed frames are still known to rust on the inside and create their own drainage holes, however.
They can look great from above, and like the Titanic from below.
I am from AZ, no not a lot of rust here.
However
I have noticed paint fade on relatively new cars. I’ve probably noticed a dozen 3rd gen Tacomas missing paint on the roof from sun fade. Same thing with last gen Mazda3’s.
Think back, beginning in the late 90s up about 15 or so years after that, maybe it’s still happening. Regardless of manufacturer, vehicles with black, grey, dark blue paint all have failing clear coats. I don’t know why.
The bubbling is on the dashboard
I guess in exchange, I don’t think I’ve ever seen a cracked dashboard. I suppose you win, but I at least get 8 solid months where it’s enjoyable to be outside.