Exhaust and rear upper shock mounts corroded

[Rorysbrown]

I picked up my car about 3 weeks ago and I just had installed today the Protex Paint Protection by Xpel. When it was up in the air with only about 980kms on it, I noticed how rusting the exhaust and corroded the the rear upper shock mounts are. Not impressed. Our exhausts are not stainless steel?

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[stanglife]

That's not cool. I thought I was staying 100% stock but I guess I'll be looking at swapping the exhaust when my car gets here.

 

[Anthony@HTM]

That's salt damage

Our stainless steel on the exhaust isn't the best.

My car never touched snow but from the plant to the dealer it was on an open trailer so it got exposed.

I went ahead and hosed the underbody of the car on a lift with water then used a red scotch brite with wd40 and scrubbed it off

Looks perfect now

 

[Epiphany]

That's salt damage

Indeed it is.

Neutralize it wherever you see it before it really takes off.

 

[Donkey]

That appears to be on the surface still. You should be able to remove that, there is actually a rust remover that's biodegradable. you could use that clean it and do the same to the mount them paint it black. The exhaust should be fairly good if you keep salt off of it.

 

[hiccup]

When I had my xpipe welded on last fri the muffler shop said the aluminized extensions would do because the factory stainless is gonna rust some over time. Not so on board with that statement.. so im thinkin down the road I will be replacing the extensions and maybe xpipe before the factory exhaust goes

 

[Dawg]

That doesn't look too spiffy. I bought my wife a ZX2 in June of 1997, it was an early release 98 model, first year production. She drove that car til December of 2013 and we gave the car to our oldest daughter. It spent over 16 years driving in Chicago winters and the last 2 and a half years in Wisconsin and that dang thing still has the original exhaust on it. Fact is, other than Brakes and Tires and two timing belts it's never needed anything other than routine oil changes. It's still going strong and zero rust on the body.

 

[nastang87xx]

The exhaust is 409 stainless from my understanding. It'll happen but do understand that 409 will have some surface coloring but won't flake rust nor will it rust through. I would prefer 304 as well as it is also lighter and better performing against heat and corrosion but it is what it is.

Hey Lethal Performance...304 mid section pipes? Like your previous Over Axles? Eh? Maybe? Yes? ;)

 

[nastang87xx]

Oh and the shock mount isn't corroded. That just looks to be salt collected on the surface. Spray 'er off, you'll be good.

 

[04Terminator]

This is why I never drive my car in the rain. :eyebulge:

 

[gravedgr]

This is why I never drive my car in the rain. :eyebulge:

:lol:

It's a car, not a crystal vase.

 

[Bullitt2065]

Ford has a long history of this kind of thing. The rear axles on my 08 Bullitt (and all 08s) were rusty before they even left Flat Rock.

It'll be one of those things where in 40 years, people will be restoring the cars of today and in order to be a perfectly restored example, everything will look perfect, but the axle will be left rusty.

 

[04Terminator]

:lol:

It's a car, not a crystal vase.

True, but I'm still not going to drive it in the rain. LOL! That's how I kept my 04 Cobra in excellent condition when I sold it last year. I have a rainy day car; why dirty my baby?

 

[gravedgr]

True, but I'm still not going to drive it in the rain. LOL! That's how I kept my 04 Cobra in excellent condition when I sold it last year. I have a rainy day car; why dirty my baby?

Why not?

I'm buying mine to drive, not sit and look pretty. To each their own.

 

[EFI]

Better stainless steel will indeed prevent that kind of rust on the exhaust even when exposed to salt.

However the aluminum bits will have oxidation like that no matter what if exposed to salt. The entire engine bay of my DD is like that. You can scrub it with a wire brush, but it will come back.

The only thing that I found to prevent that is either powedercoating those parts or spraying them with a metal clear coat.

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