Around here, I see them go at about the same rate. The metal recyclers beat their trucks to hell. I've seen them the same gen as my F150 beat to E36 M3 and rusting apart. Mine only has a little rust around the wheel wells. My ranger is beat up, rusty, but still running. Similar story.
I'd worry more about finding a truck in good condition rather than trying to figure out which one will rust less.
Something to remember about rust: if the vehicle was hit and repaired, even repaired well, it will rust out much faster than if it had factory paint and sealers. Most hits really aren't repaired very well. Often the used parts put on need to be fixed for little to no extra time added by the insurance company. Now the shop needs it to look shiny and nice when you pick it up-where do you think the tech is going to scrimp and cheat? Not painting and prepping what you don't see, thats where. Exactly the places rust likes to start.
Up here in MA, they ALL rust, but it seems that Dodges rust sooner than the rest. I recently saw a 2010ish Ram 1500 with a rotted tailgate, bed, and rockers. Maybe he's parking it in the ocean, I don't know. My '97 Dakota is starting to get pretty bad. All of the bumpers rust out, and are expensive because of demand. I was extremely lucky to find a rust free pair in a junkyard. Pretty much all of them, minus the awesome Cummins diesel trucks, have transmission issues too. If it's cheap and not rusty, it needs a transmission, guaranteed.
Ford's suspension parts seem to rust faster than the rest of the truck. Cab and bed mounts, spring perches, and control arms rust with a vengeance. My old '92 Flareside's rear spring perches dissolved over time and the leaf springs were resting against the bed floor!!!
When I found that, it became the next guy's problem. And then there's the whole mod motor spark plug vomiting thing....
GM trucks also rust, especially the S10's. I haven't seen a clean S10 truck or SUV in a long time unless it was turned into a mini truck or had a V8 swap. The full size trucks tend to hold up better, but only when taken care of. I find that GMC trucks tend to hold up better, only because most of the people that buy them spent a little more for the GMC name, so they tend to take care of them better. The GM trucks seem to command a premium up here over Fords and Dodges.
FWIW, my dad has a 2008 Tundra with the 5.7L. It is his daily driver, and there is not a speck of rust anywhere on or under it. The quality has improved with them.
Does anyone else agree that in general pickup trucks rust faster than cars?
as a service manager in the northeast i can tell you that they all rust about equally
the titans my customers had have all been traded in on tundras, the titans dont seem to be very well made
as far as other non rust issues i would rank them in this order
toyota gm ford dodge nissan
dodges always have weird (expensive) problems
gms eat wheel bearings and the brake lines and fuel lines rust
if you can get an 08+ gm they have coated lines from the factory
Depends, what car? But keep in mind, when people park their pretty car in bad weather they're driving their big 4x4 pickup. So it's going to see twice as much salt/bad weather.
In reply to solfly:
I thought I heard that (coated lines) but hadn't looked into it any further. If the new trucks weren't so large and have a terrible rear seat in the CC I'd consider one.
In reply to Bobzilla:
Like I said, "in general", meaning the average or all trucks versus the average of all cars.
I see your point about the use of the vehicle, but that doesn't mean one doesn't rust faster than the other. You're just giving a potential reason why.
In reply to bravenrace:
Yes and no. Trucks have nooks and crannies that aren't cared for as well as a car's. They also usually do more "work" and get beat up.
If a truck was really cared for as much as a car and used like a car, I think it would rust the same as a car made of the same materials.
In reply to SilverFleet:
Since you mention it, I recently replaced my F150's rear springs because they were literally breaing apart. The "perches" as you called them are still hanging on. I expect to replace them in the not too distant future.
In reply to N Sperlo:
But how do you explain the completely rusted out rocker panels on nearly every GM truck in my area more than 5 years old? Like Bob said, they don't rust from the outside in, they rust from the inside out.
Maybe we should be talking about potential ways of saving trucks from rusting out. I have no problem going down south and buying one, but how do you keep them that way?
I had one that I brought up from Texas. It was really clean. I had it oil sprayed every winter, and it was garage kept. It rusted out just as fast as a northern truck once it was here. What am I missing? Is there anything that can be done to preserve trucks in this area to stop them from rusting, other than the obvious?
sprays, from what I've seen, only trap in the dirt/salt/etc. On ours, we do a complete underbody wash/car wash every 3-4 weeks in the winter. It helps because our 06 still looks new without a spot of rust (minus the rock chip on the hood I found last week and fixed).
I would imagine an oil spray would gold the salt in places you don't want it long enough that once the oil dries, it leaves the salt behind to start nawing. Add in a light spring rain and that salt is working those sections all summer long.
Just my guess.
EDIT: this pic was taken last Monday (sorry for the blurriness, the iphone case was dirty). Truck was purchased new by us in July 2006, manifactured March 2006 and has seen every winter in Indiana since. It's sitting in the garage now with 78k(? I think? Never check it) miles on the odo. It is garaged kept and is our "go-to vehicle" when the weather is really bad. Even being a one wheel peeler it gets around in the snow better than either FWD cars.
fluid film is supposed to be good
In reply to solfly:
fluid film?
http://www.fluid-film.com/
it's lanolin based
www.youtube.com/embed/3ioqLr5341w
I do think trucks rust faster than cars. My guess is they use thicker but cheaper metals to make them. The frame has more openings in it to allow salt and water in than the unibody on a car. But a rusty truck will hold together for longer than a rusty car, unless you keep loading it up to beyond capacity of course.
RIGHT, THE FRAME IS CLOSER TO BARE UNTREATED METAL THAN THE UNIBODY STRUCTURE OF A PASSENGER CAR
Fueled by Caffeine wrote: drive to south.. buy truck. Drive home. Once rusted, repeat.
A thousand times this.
In reply to DILYSI Dave:
Have you read my posts?
bravenrace wrote: Living in the heart of the rust belt I have my own ideas about this, but I'd like to hear from others. I'm talking mostly about 4WD 3/4 ton extended cab trucks in the $5k-10k price range. What say you? Oh, and you guys in the south can save your smart ass comments, as I've heard them before and agree...
I live in Cleveland, and the answer is "Oregon trucks".
Swank Force One wrote: FWIW, i've never seen a Nissan Titan with any sort of visible rust. Same with the 2nd gen and up Tundras. I'm not sure how helpful that is, though... as i've never been under either one of them, but the bodies seem to hold up decently. You know, just another anecdote that probably doesn't help much.
Ditto...my good friend has had his Titan in Hawaii for 7 years, and he lives at a beach with a constant breeze coming from offshore (salt air). Says all his tools in the toolbox have gotten rusty just sitting there, but the Titan is rust-free. YMMV.
He only mentions this because I had told him "don't bring your newish truck to Hawaii, it will rust away.."
I have upstate NY friends who swear by these products. http://www.ruststop.net/ Specificlaly the spray.
I have not tried..
Honda Ridgeline trucks rust the least Just wanted to get something started. I bought a 2004 Tacoma DBL Cab from a couple from Texas last year and went the Fluid film way. I'm crossing my fingers and watching closely to the frame. I looked at two 4Runners from the same dealership within the last 2 months. Both were the same year, same mileage and both spent about the same amount of time in the Akron/Cleveland area. One was rusted very bad underneath and the other one was super clean. Go figure.
bravenrace wrote: Maybe we should be talking about potential ways of saving trucks from rusting out. I have no problem going down south and buying one, but how do you keep them that way? I had one that I brought up from Texas. It was really clean. I had it oil sprayed every winter, and it was garage kept. It rusted out just as fast as a northern truck once it was here. What am I missing? Is there anything that can be done to preserve trucks in this area to stop them from rusting, other than the obvious?
Actually, my 1993 Suburban has lived its entire life up north, was rust-proofed (oil sprayed) almost every year, and parked outside for it's entire life and it isn't rusty. It's got a few rust spot on top from the paint being UV attacked, but the underside is in great shape. Good rust-proofing works. Period. Plus, all the little hardware under the vehicle rusts a lot less, meaning less broken bolts, rusted lines, etc...
What you did wrong was bringing it in the garage. Rust needs water. Snow and ice turn to water only when it melts. Bringing a vehicle covered in salty slush inside a heated garage is a terrible thing to do.
solfly wrote: http://www.fluid-film.com/ it's lanolin based www.youtube.com/embed/3ioqLr5341w
That's what I use. So far so good, but it's only been a couple of years.
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