Winter road salt.

I got splashed by sea spray coming across the bridge over Tampa Bay ahead of Hurricane Helene and left my then daily driver Miata unwashed a few days. The stainless steel exhaust had rust on it very quickly. I will hit the taco with fluid film before the next storm season.

 

Are you sure it was rust and not surface stains. I thought stainless steel didn't rust.

 

I’m original owner of a 2013, 300,000kms on it and my paint looks awesome, frame looks great, I’ve done nothing other than wash my truck once things get gross. Just had a mechanic buddy check my frame and it looks good. I wouldn’t stress unless you’re keeping the truck for 20 years.

 

Wash once a week, top to bottom, jam the wand into the frame, its all you can do.

Don't use the parking brake after a wash, these trucks are known to freeze up.

 

Just depends. What kind of undercoating did you get? Anything rubberized is going to accelerate the issue if you didn't make absolutely sure there were no contaminates or moisture under there. CRC is good.

Anything like Krown, Fluid Film, or Woolwax should be reapplied every year.

 

There are different grades of SS. Some are far more resistant to corrosion then others. The more chromium that is in it, the more it resists corrosion. Chromium isn't cheap so most SS exhaust systems don't use the highest most expensive quality SS. The higher the chromium content, the more brittle SS becomes when transitioning temp ranges so too much can actually be detrimental in something that has frequent heat ranges it goes through.