Japanese car rust...

[fuel tanker man]

I just drove my sister to the body shop this evening to pick up her 1995 Nissan 240. It had heavy rusting on the right quarter, and some bubbling rust on the left quarter which she had the shop repair. The body shop manager told her that the car would likely continue rusting, and he further commented that the Japanese cars had a more pronounced tendency to rust than American cars.

My 1993 Escort has been driven in the same conditions as my sister's Nissan, and the Escort doesn't have a single spot of rust on it anywhere.

Considering the body shop manager's observations, it does seem that he has a point.

Subarus tend to really rust out bad. My nephew (my sister's son) has a Subaru wagon about fifteen years old that looks like it was dredged up from the bottom of the ocean. Toyota pick-ups are pretty bad as well. I've noticed early 1990's Hondas which also look rough.

Probably this isn't as noticeable in areas where the roads aren't salted in the winter, but around these parts it's pretty obvious.

Is it the steel? Inferior metal prep or paint?

Just wondering...

Dan

 

[Steve S]

Japanese are cheap cars made good ,American cars are good cars made cheap.

 

[labman]

I can't say why, but I think we got ahead of them in the 70's, and they still haven't caught up. You just don't see any rusty American cars or trucks less than 10 years old. Even the older ones, the rust may be due to defective accident repairs.

 

[Master ACiD]

seems like its the other way around down here. my step dads 98 f150 has rust all over the suspension and drivetrain. the a arms and leaf springs and even parts of the frame are rusty. theres literally flakes of rust comming off the differential cover. the rear end assembly is also covered in rust. ill probably end up replacing the cover for him one day soon because im sure its going to start leaking. brake calipers are all rusty too. light rusting on the exhaust. muffler looks like its going to get holy soon.

on the other hand, my crv which is driven on the same roads shows virtually no rust underneath. no rust on the body, none on the suspension. very light rust on the cv shafts. a little on the steel wheels. none on the brakes, none on the exhaust.

interestingly enough, theres no rust on either of our bodys.

i dont know how to explain all this, but it is what it is.

 

[mormit]

There is some truth to that. Japanese make cars rust out in about ten years.

On American brand cars, the paint is dropping off in sheets (GM) and it's on its second transmission by 120,000mi.

Take your pick. Rust repair or transmission replacement. No fun either one.

 

[brianl703]

As far as I know the paint problems have been fixed for about 15 years. The cause was an EPA-mandated reformulation that wasn't fully tested. UV light from the sun broke down the bond between the paint and the primer.

 

[NJC]

Maybe the Japanese never learned the proper galvanizing techniques? I agree though, my '84 Accord has quite severe rusting problems: holes in 3 of 4 floor boards, rocker panels etc. Another family member had an '82 Escort and the body was completely (as far as I could tell) rust free. But crapola supreme engine and drive train.

I had a discussion with a co-worker recently. The perfect car, I said, would be a combination of a domestic body mated with a Japanese engine. "Just like what I have", he says.

Ford Taurus SHO w/ Yamaha engine

But I thought the Japanese cars had this rust problem fixed by the 90's - from what I am reading here and elsewhere, this is not the case.

 

[GeaugaFletcher]

It doesn't matter where the car was engineered or built if you live in the rust belt.

RIP many good cars before their time because the salt monster chewed them into little brown flakes.

Moving from Cleveland to Tulsa was the automotive equivalent to discovering Shangri-La. A car will truly last indefinitely down here - you can keep it as long as you like, just keep replacing the mechanicals that wear out. In Cleveland, after five years, there was enough rust to make your mechanic frown. After ten years, you could have a bookie take bets on how many nuts/bolts would break because they were rusted in place permanently.

 

[Palut]

Granted I don't live in a rust prone area, but my family has owned three Honda Accords. One is 20 years old, one ten, and one is one year old. Of course the new one has no rust. The ten year old one (mine) has no rust, and the 20 year old one only has rust where paint was smashed off in a fender bender that occured in the early 90's and was never fixed.

 

[Shannow]

Downunder, we don't see many rust-buckets, but those that I remember clearly are/were early-mid 70s GM and Ford.

These days, to walk through a carpark and see bog around a window surround is pretty rare.

I think that it's designers/engineers working within their boundaries of knowledge.

When the mid '60s ford Falcon came to Australia, it was literally destroyed by our roads...Ford learned from that.

The Japanese bring cars to Australia for durability testing, as it's harsher than their engineers can dream of.

If a council salted an Australian road, they'd be in court in minutes for destruction of the road user's property.

 

[lght1]

Hi

My GM "H" body has 208,000 miles, no rust on body and has original 4t60e transaxle.

Last fluid change, which is done about every 4 months and filter change once a year, yielded zero clutch material and metal filings.

BTW, the roads are now white in color from the salt used the last few weeks.

 

[Moloch]

Er.. I live in the Rustbelt we use ALOT of salt.
I work at a scrap yard the only thing I can tell you is that all cars from 90 and up rust pretty much the same, the rest is up to the owner.

 

[JohnnyO]

Mostly I agree with Moloch. In the 70's and 80's the Japanese cars, actually all imports except Mercedes, rotted out real quick. U.S. cars were a little better but not by much. My guess is that other countries don't use as much road salt so they're not used to building in rust resistance. Since about 1990 corrosion protection seems to have gotten better on everything. Main trouble spots I see are the lower door and tailgate seams. Now I see quite a few cars around 12-15 years old looking decent, not so long ago you didn't see anything at all over 10 because they evaporated.
They don't call us the Rust Belt for nothing.

 

[Silk]

Are these cars built in your country,or are they imported fully built?

We had very bad car rust problems in New Zealand until the late 80s - Australian cars were very bad,things like inner door panels were bare metal and in our high humidity conditions rotted quickly.I used to live on a small island and have seen Subaru's with the doors completely rotted out in 4 years.Then in the mid 80s after some rust issues when untreated panels rusted out,all locally assembled cars were fully dipped.Then we moved to bringing in fully built up from Japan - we hardly ever see any rust on cars now,Japanese domestic vehicles are almost rust free.

 

[Schmoe]

I remember living in Guam in the '80s and the American cars held up real well while the Japenese ones would be totally rusted out by 5 years. It was just how it was then.

 

[2Fast4U]

I grew up north east of Philly.... The forein cars always seemed to rust through extremely quick... especially Toyota trucks.

I've been living in Tampa for about 7 years now and notice very little rust on anything. I do see tons of crappy chryslers where the hoods are faded/pealing to crap. Plastic car headlights down here also go yellow after a few years... really gives the vehicle a dull look.

 

[JHZR2]

our 94 toyota previa has 196k, nothing ever gone wrong on it, and not a single spot of rust... despite living in northern NJ. my GF's 94 integra spent most of its life in Miami, and yet it has rust in a couple spots...

My 83 MB 300D has 228k and not a spot of rust. My father's 96 MB E300D has 167k and has a rusty wheelwell and spot on the door... both have lived forever in the same geographical area, within 20 miles.

None of our American cars have ever had an issue with rust... but I think that the US cars have about 15 layers of stuff under the paint which the others do not... Ive never even seen a US car with a deep scratch get rust where the depth of the scratch is... Ive seen Japanese cars rust in rock chip spots before...

No matter how much Americans like to deny it, Japanese make good products... I think of our previa and of our echo chainsaw... If they could get US rustproofing, or the US could make cheapo stuff with better quality... man that would be nice.

JMH

 

[AcuraTech]

All cars rust. I dont believe Japanese or American cars are more or less prone to it. Its not like American manufacturers came up with a secret way to prevent cars from rusting.

Certain cars are more prone to rusting in certain areas. All cars will get rusty underneath after a number of years in the salt belt.

Maybe people believe Japanese cars rust for the worse because they last so long. I have seen many Accords with over 200K but no Tauruses with that many miles. A 200K Accord has seen alot more salt than a 100K Taurus.

(This thread seems very anecdotal in nature, so I though I would add my 2 cent opinion as well.)

 

[rjundi]

Cars after 10 years in NH are going to rust somewhere, the question is how much. If they salt the roads in your area then it should be about the same.

You really can't base rusting or non-rusting of an entire country cars on one car though. Case in point my fathers 88 4runner still has very rust and is parked in the garage yet my mothers 88 GMC Subarban (3/4 ton) was sent to the scrap heap back in 2000 due to failing inspection due to rust. My old 95 civic (226k miles) rusted from inside out with spots starting to show and the bumper fell off, basically a bad design and common.

 

[eljefino]

Looney bigoted hearsay I still remember from my eighth grade science teacher:

quote:

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Japanese steel has more scrap content, because they have no iron mines, and is therefore lower quality.

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I will add, that I have been very happy with the materials engineers that spec'd the fasteners on my saturns... haven't snapped or stripped one yet. (knock wood) My old mazda pickup had frame rust AND lousy bolts that would shear if you looked at them wrong.