Good question, I think it depends on if you get your car rust checked or not.
One of our ooooold delivery vans started getting body rot at about 12 years old. But we also have another one that is 10 years old and has almost no rust at all yet. So it may be different vehicle to vehicle. Oh, and this is in Canada so loootsssss of salt on the roads

 

Wow I think a newer vehicle would do better. We have road salt and sand as well in the winter.

 

depends how you take care of it... never washed and stored in heated garage, probably 10 years. I have seen Ford Focus with serious body rot this year.

 

You should of taken a pic of the Focus because thats interesting I never heard of the Focus having body problems.

 

A lot depends on how you take care of it or some vehicles are well known for rusting

 

Yeah often you get a car that has a few spots were water/mud/salt collects and eats the metal... or you have a car that has badly applied paint and the paint comes off then the metal is eaten naturally. For sure how you take care of it... I've seen a Grand Prix 97+ with basically no rocker panels at all along the sides and my father has one without a speck of rust...

 

Climate plays a huge factor.

Heat and UV damage are big factors on composite materials in the southwest, and salt and chemicals on highways in the winter in our northern states wreak havoc on car bodies. Also cars in coastal areas are known to be problematic. If you keep your car washed, undercoated, and waxed properly, I wouldn't see why it wouldn't last for 10-15 years with little wear.

~Brian

 

I've seen rust through on 2000+ Taurus' around the rear wheel wells.

And yea, it all depends on the weather conditions and how its cleaned. I picked up my Century from Florida this year and from there it has virtually no rust so I find myself washing it often, even every day, when the roads are salted and wet. I kneel and wash the undercarriage, floor pan, fuel door area, wheel wells, etc out with hot water.

I also make sure to rinse off under the hood like around the shock towers but most importantly underneath the lip of the doors, tailgate, and hood, where vehicles most commonly start showing rust at.

I find myself not driving my Forester every day but this winter I've found myself washing it off after every trip I make out...both vehicles should last pretty long at this rate.

For those that don't encounter road salt it's still good to wash out things underneath. Mud can get caked up and hold moisture. I'm undecided how sea salt has an effect.

Modern vehicles have really good primers, base coats, paints, clear coat, etc so I think it would be difficult to treat a vehicle badly enough to tap into the perforation warranty.

Some vehicles just do rust out in certain areas far sooner that the rest...take 1st and even 2nd gen Ford Explorers...first to go are the dog legs (area in front of the rear wheels)

 

Wow I never have seen a Ford Taurus with rust on it that new. Wow so now we know the Focus and Taurus don't hold up well.

 

http://jalopnik.com/tag/down-on-the-street/
I always love looking at the old cars in CA.

 

That makes me sick! I wished MN had CA weather!
I got a 99 S10 ZR2 and the doors are rotting out. It was common on these trucks as well as cab corners.

 

Obviously depends on conditions. Where I live it's dryish in the summer and cold and damp in the winter, but never snows, hence there is no grit on the roads. As a result my 13 year old car is rust free.

 

my friends 2002 jetta is starting to rust. thats one reason why my g5 is parked for the winter.

 

I know our 2000 Chevy Cavalier has rust when we got it in 2003. Who owned it before must of dinged up the door and it started to rust. But last year it starting to rust on the hood for no reason so now its gotten pretty big. And it is starting to rust in the normal areas for rust. So I thought I would add my experience of that stupid menace rust!

 

It's not so bad if you take care of it. If you start getting a surface rust just go, take it off, put primer, paint, clean it, boom good as new

Usually on new/recent cars with rust in weird places, it is an accident that busted off the paint and it was fixed badly or not fixed... hood usually this is rock chips with little pocks of rust

 

My 97 GM is rotting out, My wife's 01 Ford has a start of cancer.

My shopteacher 30 some years ago said "If car manufactures added $200 worth of Nickle, when tey smelted there veihcle. rst would dissapear.

My wife's vehicle was teated at the dealership for $800.00, in 2001 and it has rust.

$200 in 1984, or even $500 today. and rust wouldn't happen?

It is a "No Brainer"

 

Actually I think they did

Many cars since the 90's are showing up with galvanized steel body panels... this is zinc but anyway. GM went big on that and the cars are holding up very well. I remember TONS of rusted-out Celebrities on the roads, but the worst Impala I ever saw was maybe a few brown stains

I think the problem with the galvanized GM's is the paint tends to fall off and people keep driving around, I've seen some like this. But it is still better than in the 80's when whole sheets of paint came off and people drove around and the car was not metallic blue but primer gray and rust everywhere.

 

Biggest problem I've seen with GM cars is lower door rust where the door skin is folded over the door frame. Maybe they've fixed it in the newer vehicles?

 

Seems like Cadillac's, Oldsmobile's, and Buick's have better rust resistance compared to like Chevy's and Pontiac's...is there a real reason for this?

 

Possibly better care is taken of them due to price. Also Cadillacs and Olds seem to hit the junkyards right fast because of the Northstar being expensive to fix and the resale value is crap

 

wont never have to worry on my Ion:

 

Are the floorboards composite too?

 

I think this is one area the domestics have an advantage over the imports. My g/f's 2002 Hyundai Elantra is rusting along the bottom door seams and has surface rust on the rear hatch. She has had it undercoated a couple times, but not every year. It seems too soon to be rusting out like it is.
My 97 Safari van is in similar shape, but with an extra 5 years on the body.
Suck on that Hyundai!

 

The 2000-2007 Taurus is notorious for rusting along the rear dog legs. Something to do with stuff getting caught between two layers of the body.

 

So far I would think - and hope - that it's just the earlier ones, say 2000-2002, where rust is poking through. Ford really cheaped out on rustproofing for a long time.

What also rusts quickly is 1996-2000 Chrysler/Plymouth/Dodge minivans. The rear fenders, sliding doors, and rocker panels are the trouble areas.

 

A buddy in HS said his family in MN like in the 60s and 70s had to replace cars every two winters

 

My grandfather's 68 Beaumont was no longer roadworthy with the frame imploding by 1977 or so, the car was turned into rebar in a very direct manner of recycling, he threw the fenders and bits into the concrete when he made a boat house, 30 years later I talked to the current owners and they wondered why there were car parts poking through :lmao: