[T3] Rust Survey Results! (sort of long)

["Jaranson, John (J.W.)" <jjaranso@ford.com>]

With the recent discussion of rust, I finally took a few minutes to look
more closely at the replies that I got from the rust survey a few months
ago.  There are actually a couple of interesting trends.  First some
background.  I received 19 specific response and a couple of general ones.
The responses were pretty evenly distributed into 5 geographic regions:

NW United States (4)
SW United States (5)
MidWest/NE United States (4)
SE United States (4)
Northern Europe/UK (2)

There was only one universal spot for rust amoung the regions.  You guessed
it!  The battery tray.  No real surprise, I guess, but I thought that there
would be others.

So heer are the results by region......

SW USA cars reported the least rust.  However when rust was reported it was
always associated with bad seals.  Floor pans rusted, the rear cargo area
rusted, and the bottom edges of doors rusted, but it was always because some
seal was bad and let water in that soaked the carpet or crap in that clogged
drainage holes.  Some upper body surface rust was also reported.

SE USA cars were somewhat similar.  Seals were again often to blame.  The SE
USA cars were the only ones to report significant rust on the upper surfaces
of the body, particularly around the bottoms of the windows.  Alos reprted
were rust around the headlight and taillight housings.  The SE USA also
reported rust in the inner fender wells.

NW USA cars reported significant rust in the rockers and floor pans and in
the air plenums both front and rear.

MidWest/NE USA cars reported the most rust.  Heater Channels, rockers, inner
fender wells, floor pans, seatbelt anchors, front beams......you name it on
the bottom 6" or so of the car and it was reported to have significant rust.
Seals were never mentioned as problems and cars that were completely rusted
out on the bottom were still pristine on top. (my car is a good example of
this)

And finally, the Northern European cars reported very similar results to
those of the MidWest/NE USA, although to a somewhat lesser extent.

What to take from all this........

If your car lives in a dryer/sunny climate make sure your seals are still
good.  The increased UV (sun) light exposure deteriorates the seals faster.
Moisture inside the car from bad seals is your biggest culprit.  

For those in the wetter/rainy climates, check the drains particularily for
the front air plenum and the rear fender airboxes.

Those of us in snowy/road salt climates where we have to use the heater
often are basically screwed. 8^)  Or we don't drive on the roads in the
winter.

Sorry so long, but thought you would all want to know.  BTW, these trends
are consitnet with the corrision that we try to prevent in modern cars.

Later,
John Jaranson
'71 FI Auto Fasty
http://hometown.aol.com/jaransonT3

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