I bought my 2006 H3 last October with 84K milage. While I took pictures for my other post (about rear differential leak), I notice some rust on the axle, springs and frame (please take a look at the pictures). Here in western new york, rust is a problem because of the snow and salt. I don't know much about rust, can someone give me an ideal about:
1. How serious is this kind of rust?
2. What should I do to remove the rust or prevent it from becoming worse.
It's my daily driver. I don't need to keep it in showroom condition, however I don't want it becomes a rust box. I love the truck!
Thanks a lot folks!

 

This is rust that has accumulated over time. One of the very first things I check before ever buying a vehicle. It is a sign that it has been parked in a damp place for several years, or was wheeled hard in mud a lot and not sprayed off afterwards. Not good. We live in Ohio where the winters are horrible and we drive ours every day and you could eat off the bottom of ours. In the winter we spray the undercarriage just about everyday. That's just a sign that someone was lazy. That is some serious rust and if left untreated will cause a lot of problems in the future and maybe still will on some of the parts. I know there are some rust inhibitors that can be sprayed on that are supposed to stop the progression of rust. I honestly don't know how well they work. I have just read about them. You definitely need to address the frame rust. I would get to that soon. Some people just spray paint over the rust, but that is not a fix as the rust will still keep spreading. Others may have some ideas, but I think I would speak to a professional as this is a pretty huge job. It may cost some big bucks but rust like that can cause a lot of parts to stop working and cause metal failure.

 

Sorry egro, I have to disagree with your assessment. That looks like the average 7-8 year old vehicle in the midwest where they use salt for the ice and snow on winter roads.

nelson; Unless you plan on keeping the H3 for 20+ years I would maybe spray or brush some rust inhibiter on it then spray over that with some paint. If you don't believe me go take a look at any used car lot for an 06 model 4x4. I say 4x4 because it will be eaiser for your to look under one of those vs a passenger car. We personally wash our rigs under body quite often in the winter and they do stay cleaner with less rust than average but the average vehicle owner does not care.

 

I do agree with you Tainter. I just have a serious aversion to rust. I learned from my first rig. Looked like show outside, but I didn't know better to look underneath. Was only 15. It was udrivable within a year because of the rust. I spent my savings from working that summer to buy it and it was all gone. Was going to cost more than double what I paid for the truck to have it repaired. Junked it and had to save up another year to buy another one. Really sucked.

That is probably why I am pretty O.C.D about keeping my rigs clean now.

Maybe like tainter said, spray an inhibitor and then paint it, that may stop the spread of the rust. I wouldn't just spray paint it though.

 

I see rust at all welds like the process makes it rust prone. my driveshafts were rusty all over when new!
I brush on rust converter from ace hdwe,? I can get the name. it seems to work. I am reluctant to over spray to keep it light. I had a factory undercoated car rust away,UNDER the coating. lost that one and it was a great car.
in july when its hot ill be crawling around with my brush.
btw the stuff is sold in a spray can,,,doesn't work as well. brush it on.

 

Out of all the rust treatment systems on the market today, the one I've found to be easiest to use and also being one of the most effective at keeping rust at bay is Rust Bullet. It is an aluminum-rich coating that absorbs full-thickness into the rust and binds with it. Other systems I've used such as POR-15 are more labor intensive and I've found the POR system to be very dependent on prep if you don't clean, degrease, and etch the surface properly, the POR coating will later peel off in big sheets.
Rust Bullet is easy with very little prep: brush off the loose stuff and apply 2 coats as directed. I believe they advertise a 10 year claim if apllied properly.

I had rust starting in the same spots pictured above, inlcuding all the seams although not as bad, and applied Rust Bullet over a year ago and then top coated with a satin black industrial spray paint and have had no recurrence of rust on the seams even after driving through a particularly nasty Midwestern winter season including the spray-on liquid salt they pre-treat the roads with. I highly recommend this stuff.

The parts store rust convertors that turn the rust black are not a permanent solution and only create a crust over the problem. The rust will still continue to decay the metal underneath and will flake off in short order. A 2 part epoxy primer is better at sealing rust than those types of convertors.

.02

 

Big thanks to everyone!
I think I got something to do, or at least something to think about this summer!

 

Also forgot to mention I used the Rust Bullet on the lower rear door seam where they always rust after stripping down the seam with a dremmel wire brush. Haven't even top coated it and after a year it has held up great.

 

Old used motor oil brushed on works wonders. Try it on a old tool thats rusted and youll see what mean. On the 06 tj i owned did the oil brush treatment yearly and even with plowing commercially still looked plsn...underneath. WI. winters are truck killers. That rust is minimal.lol!

Chris

 

We're in the Norhteast too and I was **** about scrubbing and flushing the bottom of our '06 each spring. It was worth it, the truck was rustless this spring when it was totalled with 160k miles on the clock. The body shop guy who did the estimate was crying because our truck was awesome and the insurance company didn't want to fix it.

Our '06 was in better shape than our new '09 with only 18k miles logged in fact.

In about a month, I'm going to give the new WD40 Rust Preventor a try. It was rated on par with the best oil treatments commonly used in Canada.