We should do a where they rust

In doing the rear lower 1/4 panels on the Suburban, I now know why they rust. GM, in all it's brilliance, has 2 openings plenty big enough to allow dirt to come in, and placed them behind the rear wheels. All that plus the weep points will allow stuff in as well as stuff out. So, unless you never drive a Suburban in water and dirt, they WILL eventually rust out there. Kinda like Ford with truck beds having foam where the wheel wells are and not expecting rust. Ya kiddin' me, put a water absorber in a wheel well and not expect rust?

NB Miatas will rust at the obvious rear rocker area. The outer sheet metal is welded right to the surface of the intermediate element of that assembly, not to the pinch seam, so the gap is miniscule and water will just stay there. Also, lessor known, is that the front frame horns are made from two layers of steel with some sort of black material in between. There are drain holes punched in the lower surface, exposing the black stuff to moisture, and it wicks it rather well. The result is frame rails you can push your thumb through.  I had to cut out and replace mine in the street driven car, and my Challenge Miata will need it done in the spring, too. I'm two for two so far.

All from personal experience

94-97 F series

• Behind front wheels at bottom of fender
• Above rear wheels

99-15 F250/350 Superduty

• Door bottoms
• Cab corners
• Bed rails (this is a big one, even clean trucks are rusted here)
• 10:00 and 2:00 positions on rear fenderwells
• Bed floors

94-02 Dodge Ram with Cummins

• Everywhere but engine

2002-2003 Subaru Impreza or WRX Bugeye

• Rear fenderwells above rear bumper

95-99 Eclipse/Talon

• In front of rear wheels, often hidden by ground effects
• Door bottoms
• Front strut towers under hood

Illinois

In reply to SaltyDog :

I was going to reply Wisconsin!

Datsuns only rust in the areas that are not glass or rubber.

In reply to evildky :

Kind of true. On s30 chassis they rust at the battery tray, through the firewall, and down into the passenger floor board. Nearly every Z I’ve ever looked at had this complete rot out. The next place the s30 rusts is the rear dog legs and side sill. Flintstone mobiles!

Here, near the ocean cars and trucks rust from the top down.  Blame the salt-spray in the air--- it covers everything, folks get lazy and don't wash or wax the top of their cars / trucks......and soon their roof is leaking.  It's pretty bizarre to see after living in IL where things rust from the bottom up.  

Samurai: Below the headlight openings, below the door sills, in the windshield frame and behind the hood at the base of the windshield. I'm speaking in relative terms of course, and any other location on the body will soon follow

evildky said:

Datsuns only rust in the areas that are not glass or rubber.

Huh.  Never knew Datsun made Fiats and Alfa Romeos.  

I live in Mexico City and around here pretty much nothing rusts haha.

I often see cars that are over 25 years old with some superficial rust, and cars that are older with more rust. But I also have seen ‘65 Galaxies and the like without much rust.

An E36, for example, will not have rust. Same for even an old Tempo or things like that. They just don’t rust, or the cars that rusted are in the scrapyard already.

And now that you guys mention it, Datsuns do come to mind as some of the few cars that rust easily, but still, nothing too serious.

Being in Texas now they only rust where the sun blisters the paint away.

Just so you people who don't have to deal with rust know, we all hate you.

On a large percentage of Rabbit pickups the drain in the front fender well was sealed with undercoat at the factory. Usually on the drivers side but occasionally both.  If you are looking at one of them pull the front tire and you will see a bump at the bottom of the strut tower reinforcement plate. poke it with a screw driver and run away from the car if you see rusty fluid spring forth.

78-87 c/k10's : yes

The top door hinge mount will rust on late Corvairs because it creates a nice little shelf with boarders in the rust channel, uhm, I mean, water channel that runs in front of it.  The shelf collects dirt / crap, the crap collects moisture, the moisture does the rust thing.  Yes, this will happen even in CA.

3rd gen f-bodies rust at the seams, and lower rear quarters. 

5th gen Malibus appear to rust literally every where below the belt line and past the b-pillar. 

Also, can confirm, Datsuns rust everywhere ferrous metal is involved, and some places that aren't. 

Never had a car with anything other than surface rust. Rarely see one that has any sort of major rust.

Oh, early 00s Caravans/T&C.

At the filler door because of a poorly designed drain. 

Not a enthusiast car but a lot of people on here who get them.

Burrito said:

evildky said:

Datsuns only rust in the areas that are not glass or rubber.

 

Huh.  Never knew Datsun made Fiats and Alfa Romeos.  

the only places Fiats and Alfas don't rust is the firewall and trans tunnel due to frequent undercoating these areas get

1st gen 4Runners all rot in the quarter panel flares. Something about how the inner fender inches together with the outer coupled with the stainless molding is a perfect storm for rot. That and how 80s Toyota weren't known for rust protection.

ZJ Grand Cherokees have a few bad spots:

• The rockers rust, especially on ones without rocker covers where they get blasted by tire spray. 
• The rear doglegs rust because of how the metal is put together (2 layers and crap can get between them over time)
• The front torque boxes rust (there's an opening on the front where crap can spray into them)
• Occasionally the front inner fenders will rust through near the firewall
• Hoods and hatches rust at the lips (sometimes doors too, but they're not nearly as bad)

If they've got rust anywhere else, they either suffered damage that rusted or they're probably structurally gone and have major rust in all the areas listed above.  It's all pretty preventable rust though if things are coated or modified early and cleaned often.  And it's pretty fixable too unless any of it is allowed to get really bad. 

E46s, rear quarters above the bumper and rocker panel where front fender overlaps makes a nice moisture trap.

TR6s rust everywhere, but mostly the frame at the rear suspension mount points, the rockers, floor pans, scuttle area, various places under the hood, rear fender seams, headlight area, back of the rear fenders, door bottoms and the rear valance.  But it's easier to just say everywhere.