RUST....WHY?

[VoxVeritatis]

17 years and 165K miles with no rust or leaks (including power moonroof) in flyover country. Still cruising...

 

[Don Hall]

17 years and 165K miles with no rust or leaks in flyover country. Still cruising...

 

[Ulver]

17 years and 165K miles with no rust or leaks in flyover country. Still cruising...

Same here. I live in Tennessee, and I'm sure the previous owners had it here as well.

 

[VoxVeritatis]

Near 4-state area (KS, MO, AR, OK) here. Winter reaches low single digits and roads are treated with sand, salt, and/or sprayed with beet juice.

 

[Trainmaster]

What bugs us all is obvious design flaws, and every vehicle has got them. Sometimes they're a simply fix but when they are an unprotected spot that traps water and rusts, the problem costs us thousands.

We'll accept an idler pulley that screams at 60K miles, but bad-mouth a rocker panel that isn't undercoated and disintegrates at 100K. The Expedition is among Detroit's best, with just about zero widespread defects that junk them.

Such car models are legendary: Twenty year old Cherokees are everywhere. Headlines all sag, welded doors hinges fall off, brake lines rot out. But bulletproof drive-trains keep them on the road. Crown Vics seem to have had every bug worked out of them. They'll be with us -- forever with their peeling clear-cote.

Nothing lasts forever. I'd rather deal with New York rust than with Taurus transmission problems.

 

[TobyU]

Oddly enough, we have JAPAN to thank for the 1/2 way decent vehicles we drive today. American auto manufacturers were making JUNK until the Japanese companies upped the game and challenged USA companies to match them. Good ole American style capitalism and competition.

I had a 67 Chevy Van that didn't seem to have any rust on it.
I couldn't ever figure that out.

That depends on how far back you want to go. American makers were making a lot of great cars for a long time. The few real duds weren't really quality issues but design or styling issues.
Most of the early imported Japanese cars rusted terribly....then it seems the US ones followed suit.
It was then that the Japanese makers upped their game and set a new standard for reliability and longevity. The US makers played catch up for a good while and now they are about all the same.
I can remember in the 80s when so many people were touting the reliability of Japanese cars especially parts like alternators and starters.
The trade of was the Japanese parts lasted a lot longer but cost twice as much when you did have to replace them.

 

[rjdelp7]

Oddly enough, we have JAPAN to thank for the 1/2 way decent vehicles we drive today. American auto manufacturers were making JUNK until the Japanese companies upped the game and challenged USA companies to match them. Good ole American style capitalism and competition.

I had a 67 Chevy Van that didn't seem to have any rust on it.
I couldn't ever figure that out.

Canada started a law in the 1980's, that all cars be will covered under warranty for rust. It was for, 4 or 5 yrs. All of a sudden, they all started lasting longer. We can thank them.