Acceptable Rust (under carriage)

Just curious, I went to two different dealers yesterday looking at Off Rd pkgs and one was a 08 "left over" and its pretty nice (fully loaded) and got offered a decent price which I could still fight to get lower no prob. But I noticed the leaf springs had corrosion and rust. So I looked underneath and was sorta surprised to see some rust (orange) and corrosion (white) in various spots. I was looking at a left over 07 and it had a lot more rust and corrosion on the leaf springs and under carriage... anyway the 08 has 92 miles on it. I told the sales guy that I felt it should be discounted for that rust or something should be done to fix that. He just said no. That's how it goes (how life is i guess). I then looked at an 09 Sport they had on the lot for the hell of it and looked underneath. Clean for the most part but there was a little bit of corrosion on the leaf springs and behind the wheels, etc... not much but still noticable.

Is this acceptable? Am I being way too anal here? The sales guy was like "Its going to happen sooner or later..." but ok maybe it will but shouldn't it happen maybe a year or so down the road from when I drive it off the lot? I think the sales guy felt I was being unreasonable... i guess i am anal and have OCD

Thoughts? I kinda felt as if ok the one with 92 miles on it was driven in snow maybe and that's why its like that...the 09 had only 22 miles on it so it really wasn't driven anywhere...but I guess its possible it was driven in the snow but would it really corrode that fast?

How are your guys holding up? Or is there something you can do to protect the under carriage, but is that really my responsibility in the first place?

 

I wouldn't be too concerned. Metal exposed to the elements will rust and it would probably take decades for the surface rust you are seeing to even begin to be a problem, especially if you take care to wash the vehicle regularly.

I'm actually always amazed at how quickly rust can appear. The rotors on some vehicles I've had literally get a fine layer of rust on them after sitting overnight after a car wash. It's amazing and it looks bad, but I don't think it's all that harmful in the grand scheme of things.

 

Mine has rust under it also. Kinda disappointing, but that's a fact of moisture & metal. I don't even wheel my truck or expose it to anything unusual. It's just surface rust.

 

I noticed spots on my frame yesterday. Just used some paint and touched it up. Looks good now. I'll be getting it undercoated the fall to help with the winter salt.

 

Yeah...Dealerships can't do anything about natural stuff. It's usually just surface and easy to clean off...Touch it up with some paint or get it undercoated.

 

ok, when i eventually purchase (waiting till after the 4th of July) I'll first look for one that has no rust and then look into undercoating, heheheheh. i guess i was just surprised to see that rust on new trucks on the lot.

 

Yeah...new is relative. An 08 coulda been built almost 2 years ago at this point...and it's been chilling around waiting to be bought....