In places that salt the roads in winter, are all cars doomed to rust out at 10?15?20? years old. I come from a place where rust in cars stopped being an issue in the 1990s. So seeing pics of modern cars rusting to pieces blows my mind.
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Rust from road salt can be mitigated, just depends on how much time, effort, and money you put into it. Regular and frequent car washes (especially undercarriage) during winter will go a long way. You can also have some sort of protective barrier applied to the bare metal, such as paint or wax.
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A car that’s even basically maintained will easily last 15-20 years, without much consideration for its environment. That being said, salt will cause a car to rust much faster than normal, for sure. Having your car [oil sprayed](https://www.jiffylubeontario.com/rust-proofing-your-car/) every year before winter will greatly increase the chances of a vehicle lasting 15-20 years.
Additionally, you’ll want to wash the areas where salt accumulates as often as possible. I just assume it’s everywhere and wash the whole car. It’s also important to remember that your boots/shoes have snow on them, which means more salt to clean. Frequently vacuuming and cleaning with specific chemicals is recommended. I usually have winter footwell mats as well, which prevent most of the salt from touching the vehicle itself.
Basic maintenance like frequent oil changes and changing parts at regular intervals (sometimes years, depending on the part) prior to failure also help.
Notwithstanding accidental damage, as long as you treat a vehicle with care and respect and don’t beat the hell out of it when you drive, a car in winter can easily last 15-20 years. Especially modern vehicles.
Looks like OP is from Aussie (is your username a reference to Nissan’s 2.8L inline 6 diesel?), but over here in New Zealand, we also don’t salt roads, cars from the 90s (30 years old) are plenty, and I have a 2001 Nissan Skyline that’s obs 22 years old, which has had a small amount of rust removed from an exhaust mount, 210,000km, was my daily until last year etc.
Then you watch car YouTubers in the UK that are all ‘this 5 year old Audi only has minor structural rust, what a great find’ and I’m all ???!!!?!!?!?!!!
I’ve had one car that was doomed from rust, it was a 1986 Nissan Laurel, in 2006.
Born and raised in Minnesota. Lots of car washes to cut down on the salt sitting on the vehicle, especially the undercarriage. If you can see the salt caked on the sides of your vehicle, definitely needs a wash.
Michigan here- I seen brand new trucks with rust on them at the dealership.
10 year old vehicles are blown out with rust if they are never washed.
washing and undercoating can very much keep vehicles rust free or near rust free though.
Yes. But things are much better than they used to be. 50 years ago cars rusted out in 2-5 years. Rustproofing is much, much improved.
No. I grew up in Nebraska. I maybe got one car wash a year every spring when the snow was gone to wash all the salt off. My 10 year old car had zero rust on it when I sold it.
No. I grew up in Nebraska. I maybe got one car wash a year every spring when the snow was gone to wash all the salt off. My 10 year old car had zero rust on it when I sold it.
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