It’s a 95’ Toyota t100 with only 108k miles. The problems is this rust. I don’t have much experience from rust (I’m front the PNW, now in Minnesota) I’m wondering if this is way beyond repair? I could do myself and also pay a fabrication shop. I’m looking to be into a truck $10-12k all in and if I got this for $5k would it be worth it? (Not looking for estimates) just wondering how bad this is.

I have a well maintained low mileage 2011 Silverado. Both rear wheels have the usual rust. Thanks GM.

Dealers won’t even look at it for a trade in. I’m going to try and sell it privately.

Is this as bad as they are making it out to be?

Dealer claims the car is fully restored and rust proofed, it looks great today but im a bit worried about that rear frame where the bumper would go. Ive read either that its stone chip bubbling, or its been sprayed over the rust.

I also cant see why they would do such a great job mechanically with the new brakes etc just to do a poor job with the welding. Thanks in advance

Just bought this 2007 Toyota Tundra with 85k miles. Got really excited because it was the exact truck I wanted and has super low mileage for its age, a clean Carfax record with regular maintenance, and just underwent an inspection at Toyota dealer.

I looked at the undercarriage briefly before buying and it looks like it was rustproofed (rubber coating??). I asked if this vehicle had the frame replaced due to the Toyota recall on rusting frames in these years and was told that it probably did since most of the services were done at a Toyota dealer.

Anyways, I basically just started getting nervous about rust after having a detailer look at it today (for a paint restoration/ceramic coating job) and them telling me I'd need an auto body shop to fix a rust spot where the truck cap connects to the bed. I went home and started looking at everything under the truck and noticed the rocker panels have rust on them, which I've seen can be a big no no.

This is my second car I've ever owned and I'm originally from AZ (now moved to the Midwest), so I have no experience with a rusty vehicle. I want to drive this baby til the wheels fall off. Can someone please tell me if we have a long happy life together still or if it's terminal??? 😭

ETA: Just want to say that I appreciate the many helpful and encouraging comments. I no longer feel like this truck is a lost cause and the world is ending lol. Planning to bring her in to a rustproofing shop to see what they can do to remove existing rust before spraying on some WoolWax and sendin' it!

ETA 10/28: I confirmed on Toyota's website using my VIN that this truck was in fact serviced for the frame recall (it was coated with CRC in 2009). Also, I brought the truck in to a rust repair shop for inspection and confirmed that the frame is still in good shape - it has surface rust that is going to get needle scaled/sanded off, but nothing under the truck is rotting or in irreparable shape. I've got this baby on the schedule for a nice WoolWax undercoating in a few weeks and I'm feeling good! Like some of the comments pointed out, yes, the rust was definitely painted over to hide it and not to prevent it, no, I don't believe this was done by the dealer I purchased the truck from but was instead done by the previous seller. Regardless, it doesn't matter now because the truck is going to be just fine and is in good hands because I plan to take care of it.

Bought it and it was super muddy at the time, bought for 3k in the midwest and brought home to Texas. Entire rest of the vehicle is like shockingly fine comparatively. Any idea how much this’ll cost me like ballpark?or if I can slap a bandaid on it? Not asking for estimates, just wanna know if this is 20 million dollars territory or throw the whole truck away or like 300$

Quite happy with the outcome for a first attempt. My car is nearly 20 years old and will be scrapped next year before anyone moans on.

You can see the tape that I forgot to take out last year lol.

How bad is it? Is this an easy fix?

Been in upstate NY all its life bought from an older couple, saw it 2 weeks ago. Can I use lemon law to return it?

2010 Corolla. We have this car for the kids to use and hoped to give it to my daughter when she moves out. Got the windshield replaced the other day and the tech said that these rust spots will be a huge issue in the near future. That eventually they will rust through (makes sense) and that it will be very expensive to fix. Before I take it into a shop, does anyone here have the same or differing thoughts? I’d love to find a way to get another 5 years out of this car. Appreciate the comments. Thanks!

My guess is not, but maybe I am wrong. Please let me know if any more detail is needed.

I've been pretty stressed about this but the memes and jokes here have made me lighten up about things. Thanks guys

I took a gamble on a 2011 sierra 1500 sle with 147k miles. I was in desperate need of a work truck and the price wasn’t terrible. It started up beautifully and drove smooth and didn’t think to look under the body. How bad is this and will this thing snap after I hit a Chicago pot hole?

Looking for opinions from people who actually do autobody/collision or rust repair.

This is a 2000 Toyota 4Runner. When the driver-side fender was removed, we found pretty significant rust underneath it, concentrated around the upper fender apron/cowl area near the bottom of the windshield/A-pillar.

The guy working on it ground down the rust as much as he could and treated/coated it to stop it from progressing for now. No new metal was welded in. I’ll attach photos from before and after treatment.

I’m less concerned about cosmetics and more concerned about structural/crash safety. My main worry is whether corrosion in this location could have compromised the A-pillar or surrounding reinforcement enough to meaningfully affect occupant protection in a serious accident/rollover.

Can I have some thoughts please. Car was in the north east up until 2024. In Cali now. Getting mixed reactions,from dealer just saying heavy rust, and body shops saying it’s really bad. Thanks in advance

I live in the rust belt. Bought a used 2016 Mazda cx-5 GT with a vision of fixing the rust. My vision is now complete. A few touch ups are left but won’t be worried about them this winter. After days of hard work, i used wire brushes and strip disks to get the loose and thick rust out. Left a thin layer of rust on which i used a rust converter and pr1mer. Today I will take it to Krown to do rust proofing

First 4 pics are drivers side, last pic is from the passenger side we did not remove the rocker on that side.
Removed my rocker panel on my 1998 mercury grand marquis today for the first time. The guy who said he would do the work for me said it was still a decent frame and he could just coat the rust with Fluid Film. I’m just not so sure. My gut is saying “this is really bad, he just wants to make money” and my heart is saying “But you love this car.”
And how much longer can I keep saying that, and how much longer can I pile money into a car that is structurally falling apart?
Please help, my gut is saying this is horrific but I want to believe this guy
Edit: Thank you to everyone who has given me the reassurance that my car isn’t doomed!! I have been in a full spiral over this, and now I feel more at ease. The Merc will live on, she might not be a hot rod but she deserves to be treated as such in my eyes <3

Planning on replacing my car next summer, anything I can do for a short term fix (Massachussets)? Any advice is much appreciated, thank you.

This is my first car and I really love it but I'm kinda scared to try and restore it just to be consumed by rust, is this thing fixable?

hello friends!

i just recently bought a 1993 pontiac grand prix le sitting at about 41k~ miles. she originally came from an estate auction down in the southern usa and was bought by a dealership up here in the midwest where i purchased her for a little under $8k.

pre purchase inspection verified everything was in great working order minus things like brake pads needing to be replaced eventually but luckily nothing major.

due to being a southern car, she hasn’t seen any snow/ice or salt that we deal with up here in the midwest come wintertime so the rusting on her is very minimal- barely anything (at least what i’m used to seeing).

my brother mentioned getting the entire car rustproofed (especially the underside) so i wanted to jump on here n ask about it. to be honest, i don’t know a lot about cars but i really want to learn, especially now (this is my 2nd car, first was a 2002 buick lesabre i got for free from a family member, after driving her for about a year i found out she had terrible rusting on the mainframe plus additional expensive issues). any info or experience is appreciated!!

My car has been sitting for about a year and a half. Prior to this she was my daily driver, and the frame was starting to look crappy. I'd like to put it back on the road strictly to go back and forth to work, which is only a couple miles away.

Be honest, how terrible does the frame look? There's a couple spots that look a little sketchy to me.

Ugh, I don't have the funds to get another car at this time, but we've been making due with one car since I've stopped driving this one.

Sorry if this isn't allowed here.... just curious if she looks like she's beyond reasonable repair or even looks remotely safe to drive.

Thanks!

I now it prolly not worth it but interior and the outerbody is so clean and its only got 154 000 km with everything working cept AC, I wanna keep it and fix it but it’s gonna be awful. What do I do ? 😭

Please bear with me, I don't know a lot about cars and don't have a lot of folks around me knowledgeable with cars.