Need Some Opions/advice On Corrosion

[Andy H]

After being under my truck replacing brake lines, I noticed a lot of rust. I think this is excessive for a 2002 with 75k miles. What do you all think? Why would it be rusting this fast, and what can I do to stop it and make it look better? Here is a link to some pics http://picasaweb.google.com/AndyHawks/Rust#

 

Thanks,

Andy

[focijoe]

Where do you live? Do they use salt on the roads?

[Andy H]

I live in East TN. I have only had the truck for about 8 months. I did a carfax, and I am the 3rd owner. 1st owner lived in Haysi, VA and 2nd owner lived in same area I do. And yes, they occasionally use salt on the roads when we get snow (which has been rare).

 

I have had an 88 Sierra and an 88 Cheyenne and neither one of them had anywhere near this amount of rust underneath!

[wicked ace]

I had, until a few months ago an '03 silverado Z71. The brake lines were ready to be replacedas well. Over the course of it's life I noticed as the frame coating dried and flaked off, rust was soon to follow. In fact it was getting pretty bad on the frame rails front suspension and rear cover. I live in SE Pa where they go crazy with salt and drive regularly up into the pocono mtns.

[wtbrowne]

That's a lot of corrosion, but none of it looks like serious rust through on body panels yet. The truck has been through nine winters and time does take it's toll. If you mean to keep the truck for a long time, I would jack it up, remove the wheels and put it on jack stands. Try to get it high enough so that you can work sitting up and scrape as much of the lose stuff off with a paint scraper as you can. Then sand it with a course grade paper to remove the worst of it. Then Have the underside undercoated. Ziebart comes to mind, but there are others that will do a good job. You don't need to sand away all of the rust - just get the lose stuff. Undercoating will adhere very well to a clean, prepared surface and the truck will be good for another ten years.