I just checked out 2k1 I30t from a private seller locally.
the car drove good but I noticed and the guy showed around that there were about 10 rust spots (rust below the paint so the paint is bubbled up). I was surprised to see that many rust spots for a car of 4-4.5yrs old, especially an infiniti. spots are where the rear door handle is, next to window sills all around, etc.
my question is, is it normal for an I30/maxima to have weak paint?
I know I live in great white north but my sister's 2001 hyundai is doing better than that.

Oh, and it's got 116k km (~ 72.5k miles) on it. what's the reasonable price in $US or $CAD I should offer to the owner?

any feedback is appreciated.

thanks

"Southern use" 97 here but no issues with rust. The paint is in good condition all around with typical wear on the front from highway travel.

Typically any car used mostly on highways will have the "Rust effect" going on. Rock chips that hit the hood and body panels that go through the primer will eventually rust. Can you believe i have only 8000 miles on my car but i have a small rock chip on my hood that is leading to rust. It can happen, my g35 with massive rock chips (highway abused and the worst paint yet) has rust spots (really really fine though) all over the hood and one on the spoiler. I need to get a new hood or paint job bad. Especially on a black car.

I can understand if the rust spots are on the hood or around the fender, but it's all over the car especially around the side windows.
Well, I have to see the car in daylight today or tomorrow again to see how bad the spots are.

yeah it just seems this guy treated his car's exterior pretty bad. with the manufacturers' warranties against rust these days there's no way he should have that much.

Have you read the warranty on rust though???? I am really wondering how much do they actually warrant for warranty. Do rock chips and and door dings along with daily use count? or are they talking about manufacturer defect? Just like the warranty on some service parts, if it's from normal wear and tear they don't warranty the problem.

I need to read my warranty again, if they do cover rust from road debris then I am getting my car fixed asap.

No. It only covers perferation (i.e. actual "holes" rusted through the sheet metal).

Not normal. Car was abused. Probably rarely washed and never waxed.

Yeah, I think they painted our cars with water colors!

Decided to buy this I30t.
Agreed to do the transaction on Thursday.
Can't wait to have I30t in the family.

What about the rust??

rust comes equipped with the car

I'll either try to fix them after winter or just leave them if it doesn't get worse.
I knocked down 750 from what he was originally asking for.
though he's the second owner, he got from the dealer ship (traded in car I presume) and did a lot of maintenance with some fixes including 96k km service.

I agreed to pay $12,750 canadian. (7% provincial tax comes along on top of it though, ouch~)
I think it's pretty good deal, considering its MSRP was $41.5k CDN new in 2001.

Glad to here it comes fully equiped with the rust! Better get rid of it before the **** gets any worse...

7% tax on a private party sale ?!? Thats a damn greedy government you got there...

Picked up the car last thursday.
Haven't driven much.
I liked all the power gadgets (memory seat, one touch roof, sun shade, etc).
One thing I didn't like, fake plastic wood stickers all over the dash and door.
I took some pictures and it's in yahoo photo album.
http://ca.pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/yjm...real/my_photos

3 major rust spots are shown. (3 more minor are there).
I'll ask around to see how much would be to fix those. or I'll just wait till next spring and repaint the whole car if the cost is not so much more expensive.

You can send me those fake wood stickers so I don't have to buy a kit, lol.

With the exception of rock chips leading to rust, if you wash your car regularly and dont let salt/snow build up on it, you're not gonna have those types of problems for a long time.

Was the wood trim kit optional?
I thought it was standard on touring.
Does anyone have pictures of interior without wood trim kit?

YJ

The touring model came standard with the wood trim. Honestly I don't think anyone would chose not to have it, but I'm sure it's possible.
The year model you have I believe came with more wood trim than the touring year model I have. I think you guys acutally have a partially wood steering wheel as well.

I thought it was all wood accent stickers. But around the shifter and ashtray, doors are real wood (maybe plastic) trim (hard material) and stereo, A/C, memory seat buttons, behind steering wheel are those plastic(rubber) stickers. I guess the first owner just bought them from dealer at $100 or so and put them on.

Thats because the wood trim around the shifter, ashtray, etc... are oem trim pieces... that other is stuff around the gauge cluster and dash vents is the cheap @ss aftermarket sticker kits that various vendors sell. The previous owner put it on. If I were you, I would remove that cheap ****.

are there any kits that are known to be more quality looking?
i'd been eyeing this site
http://www.woodtrim.com/catalog_detail.cfm?prod=77805
and they seem reputable, but who knows.

From what I have seen they all look like crap. I mean they are stickers for God's sake. Just leave the interior alone... They are really ment for American vehicles that have crap interiors to begin with and anything that covers up the cheap looking plastic is an improvement.

If you put that kit on, it is not going to match the refinement of the rest of the Japanese materials. The 2000+ I30 interior is extremely nice as is... save your money for some thing else.

I have the same exact car.

I paid $4,200 USD with 125K miles. Its a '00.

Seriously man, it just won't look as good as is, why mess with a good thing