15 years for a northeastern truck is pushing it IMHO. The rust will eventually start to take its toll on any vehicle up there.

Apply fluid film once a year. Maybe take some of your skid plates off, sand them and repaint them every few years. Eventually, the axles and frames will l develop significant layers of surface rust; at that point you may want to look into repainting the frame and axles.

But, by that point, there is a good chance the paint/body itself will start to develop surface rust. You can drive vehicles for longer than 15 years up here, but they will start to turn into rust buckets.

Don't worry about rust. Do some maintenance (listed above), take care of the vehicle and drive it. By the 15 year mark, you'll likely want a new vehicle, even if the 4runner is still in semi-decent shape. I take very good care of my 4runner (2011); fluid film, frequent washings (including wax and claybar), ect. There is already some surface rust on the paint and a good amount of rust on the frame and axles....even with good maintenance that stuff is inevitable in certain regions.

POR= Paint Over Rust. It actually more difficult to use POR on bare metal or new metal. As already mentioned you need to brush off the loose rust but you don't need to get it down to bare metal. I don't use their cleaner/degreaser but I do use the metal prep that is supposed to neutralize the existing rust.

Being in Vermont it's a never ending battle for rust prevention, worse now that the state has hopped on the salt brine train. Formulated to stick to the roads means formulated to stick to your vehicle.

What do you guys think about rust on this 2017 4Runner? Is this something I need to worry about? The truck has been running in the tri-state area.

It's cosmetic at this point but after another few years...

So it's normal in this area. Gonna need to wash off the salt I guess.

looks good to me. spray it off thoroughly and apply Fluid Film once or twice a year and you'll be fine.

Even brand new they all have rust on a lot of the welds and of course on the wheel bearing area as well as many parts of hardware. All of that is thick steel and any rust is superficial, the welds however are more serious.

If Toyota could engineer a hydroformed frame that was dipped like the body they would last for many more years.

I know I am replying to an older thread but I came across a list of the ten best and worst cars with respect to rust. It's from 2013. We are well aware about rust issues of earlier vintages but on this list, the 4Runner features among the best for rust protection. I have noticed this forum likes to pokes good natured fun at Jeeps, and the Wrangler prominently features on the "worst" list:
Top 10 Best and Worst Cars For Rust | Full Throttle

As for the credibility of the list, the Volvo V70 is listed among the very best and I can confirm that my 2003 model has surprisingly little underbody rust.


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2016 Trail Edition Premium (25,000km)
2003 Volvo V70 (270,000km)

im still doing full fluid film undercoatings in the tri state area if anyone is interested. shoot me a message..

whos looking to have Fluid film undercoating!!!

Ain't that the truth ha. My dad's 2002 Taco got bailed out by the recall or else he would've had to get a new vehicle a couple of years ago.

when spring comes clean up all the rusted welds .. I use galvanized paint , then I use rustoleum high performance paint . spray and brush on . tested this and it works .

my 2016 still looks great.

That's probably a really good idea I'm just too lazy to do something like that. I do know of a used car place that cleans up the truck frames and paints em. They look factory.

i touchup the frame with this 3M stuff on amazon, works great... blast the rust off first. then spray it on....

I just decided to live in California.

*Rust: has left the chat."

Spammer in the house... and reported.