I was washing my car off the other day to get the excess salt off, when i see a small spot of rust coming thru the paint right above the rear passenger side wheel. this car is only 8 years old, it should not have rust coming thru already. Is this a common place rust forms on the 5th gen? i will not deal with rust on an 8 year old car. Its getting fixed asap or its getting traded.

 

Easy, killer. Where exactly do you live? And are you the first owner of the car?

Up in Buffalo, NY, (where I'm from) it's commonplace for a 5-6 year old car to start seeing rust around the fenders and on the undercarriage from all the salt that's put on the road.

If you take it to the body shop now before it gets much worse, it may only take minimal repairs.

Edit: Also. Pics of damage?

 

I live in south central PA. I am not the first owner but im pretty sure it was a local car. i ran a carfax when i first got it and the original owner was from philly area.

 

It's a Maxima, not a Delorean, they rust.

 

My moms 97 Corolla doesnt even have any rust on it.

 

How many miles does she have on it compared to your Max, though?

And how often does she drive it in bad weather compared to the Max?

Just because you care for the car's exterior doesn't necessarily mean the previous owner did. I would have the car lifted and have a tech check the entire undercarriage for rust. Just my personal opinion, though.

 

Rust sux, period. Just like the poster above, it's a car, and they rust when exposed to salt.

WWWHhhiiiiichhh is why I store my Maxima away for the winter to prevent this, but in hopes that my $300 beater doesn't break down.

 

IMO these cars rust prematurely. I have rust coming up in that same exact spot you mentioned among others places.. I go to junk yard cars with less rust then mine.

 

junk yard cars have no rust cause theyve been sitting out of the salt for years

 

OP like mentioned your car is bound to rust. I would not freak out about it. you may want to take care of it. but dont get so upset about a small rust spot...is it a show car? and where do you store it? in a garage or out?

Jake

 

Its a 8 years old car, so probably shows sign of rusting. Take a picture of it and show us the rusted part.

 

This is why I love living in the south.

The undercarriage of my car looks like it's 3 years old.

 

^^^^ for sure. Not knowing what rust on a car means FTW

 

I have 111,000 miles on the max and her corolla has around 105,000. We drive out cars everyday and both are stored outside. I feel it is too soon for my car to start rusting.

 

My 03 Max has rust in the rear fender well. I've been told that the rear passenger side is a very commom place for rust to start because of how snow and salt builds up there. I took mine in and they told me they could fix it but that it would be back in 6 months. It is not on the outside yet, just on the inner lip, but I know it is comin. I'm from ND originally and we don't use salt there, only sand. It was really messy during thaw, but you didn't have to worry about the darn salt and rust like you do in MN.....FRUSTRATING!!!!

 

How long have you had the car? If you caught the rust soon enough, you might be able to have the dealer fix it if they provided a warranty when you bought the car. If not, you'll just have to have a body shop patch it up and then take extra care of the area from here on out.

Still in for pics to see how bad it is.

Oh believe me, I spent the first 15 years of my life growing up in New York in the snow belt, so I know exactly what rust looks like on a car.

And why it's such a mother ****ing pain in the *** when you have to do engine work on a northeastern car.

 

Well then, problem solved. Seriously, what's all the fuss about? You can't stop the laws of physics just because your Mom's Corolla is a cherry ride. Just fix it and move on. Just think about how great you're going to feel when you look at the repair job all clean and shiny.

Why people complain about things that are within their power to change is beyond me. It's just a car. Fix it.

 

it's rusting through which means it started doing this some time ago. It doesn't happen over night. For where I live there should not be rust coming through on an 8 year old car. My guess is that it started doing this at least a year ago. I'm sure you wouldn't be happy if you found the same thing on your car.

 

Don't get us wrong, we don't look forward to our cars rusting. And yeah, we know bad rust doesn't happen overnight. Well, except on cheap Autozone rotors.

It simply sounds to me like the previous owner(s) didn't maintain the exterior/undercarriage of the car. So you're saying the rust is so bad that you can actually see through the body into the wheel well?

 

Most Maximas rust in that place. My 1999 Honda Van has no rust but 2000 Maxima has on the rear wheel well. I was told by a body shop that even if they fixed it, it will come back in less than year because the drainage is not designed correctly in that area.

- Vikas

 

True enough. I'm really enjoying my car, so I would be freaking miserable.

Then I'd simply get it fixed and be happy again. I don't get this thread.

 

I mean, he said it's getting fixed or traded. So I'm not really sure where he's going with the ultimatum.

But if it's actually a 6MT, I'll gladly take it off the OP's hands. A few hundred dollar's worth of body work isn't really all that bad. It could be worse.



Be glad you don't own one of those in the northeast. The 240-280 Zs were notorious for rust around the lower fenders, frame and rocker panels.

 

I got my 01 off a guy who did not take care of it what so ever, it's got minor rust in pretty much all the wheel wells, and a decent size spot under the passanger rear door, along with some small little dabs, lucky i have a connection to a body shop guy for a paint job and know how to do the small ammount of body work myself, but I live in Canada so its expected if you don't keep your car super clean, not a big problem though, as long as the frame itself isn't rusting out.

 

It's not quite that bad yet. But since it's coming through it won't take long for it to spread. I'm going to take it to a body shop as soon as the weather improves to see what they say.

 

in my opinion the 5th gens dont have the highest quality stock paint, if you take it to a body shop they charge you about 1000 to sand the pain off cut the body add more metal to your car get a quote first they wanted 1600 to fix my rust, i did it myself(only no pearl) for under 100, if you have friends that can help you or leave it an wait a year til its missing alot of paint otherwise 2 years down the road youll be back there to fix it again

 

No Maxima 5th, 6th or 7th gen has good quality paint, 350 or 370z's either. The paint is soft, chips and knicks reallllly easy!

 

Its an 02 6 speed with meridian package, sterling mist with black leather. 111,000 miles. Anyone wanna offer a good price for it?? lol

 

Oh and it had HLSD!!!

 

My 01 has several small spots coming up. But with 320 000 kms on it, thats not too bad. (just picked up the car 2 mths ago) It has a lot of hwy miles on it and most of the cancer came from stone chips.

When the weather gets better, it's time to remove the cancer.

 

I live on an island surrounded by the Pacific so I have to take extra care of my car. I try to wipe down or wash my car at least every two weeks, wax every other month. I do have one nick of rust on the roof between the sunroof and front windshield. Figured it was from a flying rock. But I have it somewhat contained with nail polish the size of half a pin head. Not so concern about the exterior. Just concern about what you don't see like the under carriage.

 

Mine is starting to rust around the inner fender lip. I had it quoted for repair.

2K for a pull it apart clean it, apply rust prevenative and sealant and then seal it back up and paint.

I was quoted 4K to replace all the pieces (rear quarter skin) that are touching rust versus just cleaning them up.

Mine sits out all the time, is my winter DD so I am unhappy but with the amount of salt this town puts down I am surprised actually it didnt start sooner.

 

Just wash and wax your car regularly, and you'll do a pretty good job of avoiding rust.

I have three or four good-sized spots on my hood where rocks have hit and chipped straight through to the metal. Keeping wax on the exposed metal has prevented rust from showing up.

Considering your Location says Honolulu, HI, I'd hope most org members would have the common sense to think, oh, duh, lots of salt.

I'd really love to visit the island sometime. I've heard it's awesome.

 

Not accurate. I am religious as all get out and I didnt prevent rust. The area in the wheel well is horrible design for foul weather states. The two pieces of metal are seamed facing the inner well. However water (salt water) gets into the seam and creates the rust. No way you can keep that clean and forget about waxing it.

 

You're correct, Colonel, it's a poor design.

The inner lip on my wheel wells are no longer smooth. More like the skin on an orange. I figure any time now it's going to get very unpleasant. If not this year, then certainly next.

While I'm aware of it, I'm also not losing sleep over the issue.

 

What it comes down to is how long is "one" going to keep the car. Try finding a 4 door 5 spd sedan that doesnt cost 40K+ and is the same size as the Maxima. That is spurring on my outlay of cash to fix it. I want to keep it about 5 more years.

 

Actually, I completely forgot about that spot. Yeah, I do have some mild bubbling in wheel well, even with not ever really exposing my car to salt. I've seen a writeup somewhere here that shows how to split the seam, grind out the rust, and seal it back up without causing the fenders to have a "worked on" look. I haven't seen it around in a while though.

 

Yeah I saw it and contemplated doing it. However I dont have access to body working tools. Plus if I make a mistake, I am taking the plunge to have it fixed anyway. So since my time is also valuable once I get the money saved up it will get done professionally.

 

Meh, the problem is, there aren't any seriously reputable body shops here in Nashville. That's why I'll probably take on the task myself. My dad has a few body working tools laying around somewhere, so I'll probably just use those.

I plan on keeping the Max until I run her into the ground, so I'm hoping the body can hold up another 5-7 years.

 

Yeah and my car only has 68K on it too. I plan to run her into the ground or until my family gets tall enough that the rear head room becomes a problem. But I got some years for that!

Im lucky about body shops. Wife got tagged in the second month of ownership of her Rav. Hit the dogleg of the back door. They did such a good job INCLUDING no tape lines you cant tell it was repaired. So I am lucky. hehe.

 

Yes, of course it comes down to that. Although priorities are personal and vary, Time is immutable. And with corrosion primarily associated with time... ba dump bumb.

I'm approaching my 8th year at 57,000 miles. It seems that I'm on the 10-year plan. When the wife's CR-V is paid off, Rochester will be buying a G37-S 6MT. (Or a Mustang GT 6MT, depending on how seriously affected I am by mid-life crisis.)