I have a 99 and it definitely has too much rust. I took pics of various things. All the white is salt from those damn trucks. Should I replace the muffler? don't mind the ghetto grounding kit, i'll clean it up when it gets warmer. So is that a bit much rust? How could this have happened. Also, shouldn't I have two of these things?



Here's the muffler:

 

underbody:

 

engine bay:

 

when it snows in NJ, do they salt the roads?

 

Ouch...that's pretty abd for a 99

 

yes. salt .. calcium.. wutever it is.. i try to rinse it off asap though.

 

wow, that's a pretty good amount of rust. my 97 max doesn't have nearly as much as your 99. sorry bout that. winters are killing your car softly huh?. it might be a little too late to invest a few $$$ in a rust prevention coating . good luck

 

I've got more...I'm starting to see rust on the bottom of the driver's side rear door and I have original paint...

FLO_BOY

 

that sucks man for a 99 i would think that much rust would be on a 95 but not a 99
i have a big spot of rust on the front of my fram you can see it thru the front bumper. Its a eye sore to me.

 

So what should i do? I am willing to crawl under there, sand off most of the rust and do whatever protection I could. I'm willing to go all the way, because money's not to rampant in my pocket. Also, the muffler, seems like the outer finish is just rusting off, should I rip off all the rust and wrap it in some heatshield? suggestions please. Thanks

DAMN JERSEY WINTERS

 

I have a 96. I tried to replace the lience plat bulbs. the bracket that holds the lamps was rusted off the car body. I went to the stealership and ordered another on. 43.00 for this small rustable metal strip. If I could have seen what it looked like I'm sure I could have made one. My car came from Balt. Md and you can tell.

 

maybe they lived on a beach

 

isn't there rust inhibitor goop that you can put on rust to stop it from spreading?
FLO_BOY

 

My Muffler looks exactly like that. The metal thats holds the muffler to my car is broken, so the muffler shakes every time i run through a bump or something...........anyone know how much to fix this?

 

I got my muffler from Napa and it's lifetime.I bought mine 3 years ago and just changed it like a month ago.All I had to do was buy a new gasket.When I bought it it was $115.

 

I have as much rust as you do...
Probably more. I wince everytime my car is in a shop getting upgrades done- I am sure the guys doing the upgrade are wondering, "why in hell doesn't he replace the rusted off EVERYTHING on his damn car??!?!?"

 

You call that Rusted???
Come up there and you will see that every car is worse than that.
I must take a picture of my car right now.... only the top isn't white, and yes the car is dark blue, damn salty roads.

 

damn.. shiet's rusting to the ground.. mine hardly has any rust, and its a 97..

 

i think theres a spray paint kind of stuff that you can spray the underbody of your car to protect it from rust.

 

people from kali aren't allowed to post on this. grrr haha you guys are lucky sonomabishes

 

sand off as much as you can and use a rust converter, it does some kind of chemical reaction changes it. than go over it with the underbody/sound deadening rubber in a can (aerosol). just make sure that you get all the rust off before you coat it with rubber.

 

rust ?

 

Their cars just get swept away...

 

just clean it a bit. paint some things, polish others. now worries. Its all just surface rust, except for the muffler.

 

are you sure you didn't take those pictures of MY car? My 99 GLE is rusted in all the same spots! Damn these winters!

 

My '98 has more rust than that. It came from upstate NY so it has seen a lot of salt. Dont worry about the muffler. The muffler on my '98 is worse than that, and on my '91 it was 10 times worse. Never had any probs. Every once in a while when a piece was hanging off too low I would pull it off but it is only the outer layer of the muffler so its not a prob.

Also one thing you can do to prevent rust is doing the undercarrige when you go through the car wash. Or you can put a sprinkler under the car. That does a really good job of getting it clean. Then when it is clean you can spray some oil on the bottom of the car to rust-proof it. Transmission oil works really well and you can use the old oil when you flush your tranny.

 

My car is the same way... I wouldnt even worry about the muffer... thats normal

 

Just did a pretty big rott job on my 92. Had to cut alot out and weld new metal in, I will have pics soon. Your not lookin bad, take a wire brush it and go for some rust reformer and bondo if u actually break threw

 

whew! im relieved... i was buggin out. well tomorrow, time permitting i'm gonna start cleaning my engine bay and painting whatever rusted piece I can. Do u think I need high temp spraypaint? this Krylon Fusion stuff says it's good to 120 degrees F?.... I have a whole can left of it, might as well put it to use. I'll post pics when I am satisfied with the job. Tri state area... snow watch tomorrow night =T here come's the salttrucks

 

preaty typical for any place that likes to salt a lot, NaOH + Mg will melt ice up too -35 degrees but on the down side will speed up the rust process 5x.

**** happens...looks like nothing major exept a hole rusting through your muffler

 

Wow- my 99 is not so bad. But then again I have my car garaged. Still I live in NY and they salt here too. Good luck!

 

im gonna tell you now, do not wash your car after having a ton of salt on it, unless it will be warm, and your cry will dry. Water will seep into areas that still have salt on them, and speed up the oxidation, which will result in more rust than leaving it on. I washed my car on a nice day, and let it sit for a while in the sun, i wont be washing it again untill the weather picks up.

 

I've never heard that before... interesting point you make there but wouldnt it be better to get it all off before it just sits there and eats away?

 

Damn, that is because someone didn't rinse that **** off on the regular! Scrub and clean............

 

the thing is, that when your washing your car on the exterior, and your doing it yourself, how often do you wash the underbody? water will spray up onto the under body, wetting it, but not completely rinsing off all the salt. Also there are little nooks and crannies in the car where you can get too, and the salt wont be completely rinsed off. Meaning water gets onto it, and like i said earliar, the oxidation process is sped up. My friend who owns a shop told me this, and if you think about it, it makes complete sense.

 

you live in north thas why

 

yea, damn you southern states, and all you other states with no snow! i hate you all!

 

Think about that while you water your lawn... or read about hurricanes, flooding, earthquakes, and wildfires in FL and CA

People in CA are kinda short on water... And besides, I'd rather have my car die off slowly than get carried away or destroyed in a damned hurricane...

 

After a winter storm, I will take it to a car wash. An underbody wash is critical, all the salt needs to be remove with warm water. Salt will do alot of damage beneath the car. There's another storm coming to New York City around noon and the salt trucks are loading up. Once the snow melts and the road clear up, it's time to clean the underbody. Try and get it to a car wash, rather than DIY.

I've heard you can put some type of foam on the bottom to avoid corrison, but is not cheap. Maybe I can check for the pricing.

 

the other way to look at it is that if you keep rinsing the car (that is, do a good job of it) then the overall salt factor is greatly reduced and should be less impactful...

if you keep adding water to a salty glass of water, eventually the saltiness will go away...same should hold true when washing your car...nooks and crannies? keep hosing the car off...clean water will hit those nooks and crannies too!

FLO_BOY