Rusty S197 Mustangs?
 

Has anyone else found large patches of rust on the underbody of their 05-09 Mustangs?

I've garaged my 07 GT since the day I got it, and the rear part of the front chassis, where the lower A-arms bolt, are covered in some rust. It has never seen any salt/snow but I do drive it in the rain during spring/summer/fall. However, it has only 11k miles and there shouldn't be that much rust.

I can understand the cast iron parts rusting, but not the chassis.

I was just under my car two days ago and was very pleased to see that beyond surface rust on the exhaust, driveshaft, and axels, my car is completely rust free.

My car came from Florida, and has only been driven in the snow once in my possession. I'm not sure how common rust is on s197s but I hope it doesn't turn out to be a big problem for you. My advice is fix it sooner, rather than later. Every car I've owned other than the mustang had Been mid 80s or older, and rust is a pain in the butt when it starts to take over.

I can see spots of rust on the part of the car where the A-arms bolt, as well as the A-arms. This is visible from the wheel wells and while changing the oil. I don't see any rust on the aluminum parts. I kind of wish Ford would start using more aluminum/magnesium parts like Audi at the high prices they charge.

Rust happens, not in all states but it happens. I seen a 2007 Mazda 3 with rust running all around the rear wheel wells and hatch door and that's a 5 year old car
My caddy has 250000 miles and it 14 years old and only has 2 very small spots of rust on the whole car. Just keep it as clean as possible to avoid it really but it's still going to happen

I know! They keep saying how metallurgy has improved, how corrosion protection technology has improved, blah blah - but my GT that has been garaged in the winter/salt months is still rusting. It's just exposure to rain water, not salt water. I'm not impressed.

My '07 GT never showed any signs of rust, but I'm nowhere near salt water and we don't salt our roads in the wintertime here in the Seattle area. It was a daily driver through rain & snow and it was rarely garaged, so it was always exposed to the elements.

About 100 miles west of me - at the Pacific Ocean - I see cars are prematurely rusted everywhere. The salt water mist/spray in the air gets to everything - cars and otherwise.

I havn't noticed any major rust spots under my car, but the hood is a different story. I have 2 blisters on the leading edge of the hood that are about an inch or two long. In the next few months I plan on getting a Cervini's 4" cowl induction hood in flat black!

Don't drive in the rain.
I didn't.
I have the same miles on my 2006 Vista Blue and have no rust:p.
I don't see it on my White one and that is up to a whopping 17K.

There's a fair amount of uncoated and not so greatly coated steel on the underside of a car. Much of it will get a rusty hue from just driving in the rain but it isn't any sort of issue, it's just cosmetic.

Also people's ideas of rust vary widely. without photos it's difficult to tell what this is.

I was never a fan of the Ziebart types of undercoating, always seemed to me that years down the road rust would creep under somehow... be that as it may, I kinda like the spray-on bedliner stuff, the roll-on looks about as durable to me. when my car was just a couple days old I pulled the fenders/door panels/etc and scuffed/bedlinered all the 'weathered' surfaces in the wheelhouses, injected paint into all the vertical pinchwelds, soon as it started seeping thru the tiny gaps, taped it over so it would fill the panel seams tight between welds. all but the lowermost drains are sealed, theres little 'scoop-like' openings in the upper subframe structure just above the headlights, I made little reverse scoops to keep roadspray from blowing into the hollow section, yet allow breathing...

I predict the first rust issues these cars have will be a vertical line between the door/front wheel opening- theres a foam 'pad' stuffed in there with gutouts in the foam that say 'up' for installation I guess, problem is the cutouts let the foam fill with water, both mine were full to the cutouts at a few days old, when I pulled the fenders water poured out at the bottom where the center plastic had already cut thru the rubber, yet sealed against the fender...but fenders are easy to swap.

first heavy repairs I think will be core support behind headlights...look thru the airbox snorkel hole to the flat piece behind the headlights- betcha theres a layer of road grime there- note the front edge is a vertical/down pinchweld...what gets in stays.
next is the 'flap' just in front of the rear tires - the tops on a couple of our cars were open on one or both sides, worse yet is if you hold a camera way back behind the flap(between it and the frame rail, facing fwd) and look, bet the seam is not sealed. all 3 of ours were open on one side- this is one of the filthiest areas on the car, any salt spray gets invited into the razor thin gap between floorpan/wheelhouse/rocker pinchwelds- would be a very pricey fix, if even possible. Ive got pics I'll dig up and repost- the old 'might want to look under your car' thread I put up lost the pics when the forums crashed years ago...

I brush painted the 'holes' in the front control arms to seal the gaps between the 2 stampings, they still look new at 6 yrs/48K later, the wifes 15K 07 already looks relatively terrible with rust rings around the cutouts.

I didnt undercoat anything on the floorpans, but did inject paint into all the seams I could find- I'd rather be able to look/see what shape its in when doing oilchanges. after changing oil, I take a oily rag and wipe down the undercarriage, only rust on the body parts is the nuts holding the little air deflectors under the rear seat, and of course unpainted stuff like driveshaft/axle/etc

I wonder when mine will start rusting lol

I try to check up on all the little things and take it for an under car wash but I figure it's just a matter of time. Even though it's not my daily driver anymore, I figure the winter will eventually be a pain in my ***. But hey, I bought to drive it so I'll cross that bridge when I get there

I looked closely and I think it is the powdercoating that is coming off the A-arms, and possibly corrosion going through the e-coating at the front edge of the chassis parts where the A-arm connects. It is inherently "surface" rust, but it is still rust from a car that doesn't see snow/road salt and only rain. It is also garaged for the entire winter.

My daily driver is a 2000 Crown Vic and there is a buttload of rust on the front end, mainly from powdercoated parts that are peeling. I'd love to see an Audi or BMW after a few years of winter driving. I suspect their heavy use of magnesium and aluminum fares much better than the American cars.

got rust underneath on mine but not to worried. worst case ill buy another one :nice:

Underside is rusted all over the place but I daily the car in the PAC NW all year long. This means 9 months of cold and rainy weather so the car is rusted right over on the underside.

rust will happen no matter what you do. the alloys they use for the metal nowadays are better than what they were years ago. they also have prevenative measure to allow the metal to last longer, (i.e. using alum alloy in some things) to prolong the process. overall if you keep your car nice and take care of it. you will have rust but very moderate. most parts under the car is exposed to many things and will speed up the breaking-down process of metals. just have to keep up with it and replace parts as needed. nothing lasts forever.

nothing lasts forever- true, but I hope to thoroughly wear mine out before rust sets in :)

I do think these cars are built well enough that theres only a couple 'bad' areas to watch out for, checking that flat area behind the headlamps, and especially that flap in front of the rear wheels occasionally, taking time to flush those kinda hidden areas would be minutes that add years type of thing...theyre both kinda inaccessible, and will involve some major work to fix.

I personally think pulling the door panels every few years and cleaning out the door bottoms, even squirting some paint in after its cleaned/dried to reseal the bottom hem(keep drain holes open) would help a lot too...

those hidden areas are the killers....
you keep those clean and it will def. help with the overall shape of the car.
i try and keep mine out of the rain totally. it helps keeping it in a garage and not driving it in the winter.