Yeah, my next door neighbor in Florida (a vacation home) has a mid-90's Celica that doesn't have a spec of rust on it anywhere. That's not surprising since it has never seen road salt and is rarely even driven in the rain. Bring that car up to NY and drive it through a few winters and lets see what happens!
RUST 2010 5th gen
- Thread starter puk
- Start date
Yeah, my next door neighbor in Florida (a vacation home) has a mid-90's Celica that doesn't have a spec of rust on it anywhere. That's not surprising since it has never seen road salt and is rarely even driven in the rain. Bring that car up to NY and drive it through a few winters and lets see what happens!
JohnsD90
New member
Knock on wood there is almost no rust on it. It's outside alot now too. I am just as surprised as you, but it seems there is some sort of stock coating of the frame/chassis of it, only on the rear window triangles is there rust and im gonna sand and paint it this spring.
IIRC VW offer a much longer corrosion warrant. Coming from the UK I was shocked to see Toyota offering only 6 years corrosion warranty - it tells you a lot about the quality of rust proofing but also how much salt they use up here - I swear I could drive through the sea every day and do less damage.
JohnsD90
New member
Thai
Elite Member
Actually, there are NUMEROUS stories of VW warranty being useless for rust issues, which are PLENTIFUL in VWs. Despite the longer rust warranty, VW has been notorious for denying repairs of rust issues...in fact, it is long known that VW sucks at backing up their cars, even while under warranty period. This is why customer service from VW has been ****ty all these years.
charlier180
New member
^^^^ Part of the reason why my last vehicle was a 4Runner and not a VW.
Thought 300+ miles was too far to drive to a VW Dealer I trusted for warranty and other service. Must say however that my older VWs have most definitely help up better when it comes to the type of rust that my 4Runner started having after just over 3 years. A good friend of mine is a VW Tech. He should write a book with the stories he has told me about the VWs he has worked on the the customers he has dealt with. Sad to say in a lot of cases the VWs are more intelligent than their owners. I guess that is why I own older VWs.
JohnsD90
New member
This is very true, i have read many threads about VW denying repairs, and it was much trouble do get this fixed. It's rather said. It wouldnt stop me from buying there cars but it really says something about there consumer affairs, i cant however comment on stuff under warrenty as we have never bought a VW with one.
Scuba6
Member
No pic handy, but I did have a spot of rust that matches what the OP described. For me, it was on the "4" in the large chrome "4runner" on the back hatch. It didn't make sense to me why there would be rust there, especially with the truck only being a month old at the time. It took some work to get the spot off.
TRDSmokedU
New member
Have you noticed rust anywhere else? What did the dealer say?
Scuba6
Member
I haven't noticed anything anywhere else, but then again, it has been hard to keep the truck clean with all the snow and salt mix. I will look closer when I clean the truck this week.
I didn't take it to the dealer - I just used a green scrub pad to VERY carefully rub the spot until it was cleaned off. If it hadn't come off, I would have taken it in, but I also didn't realize it was a problem that other folks were having at the time.
Scuba6
Member
I haven't noticed anything anywhere else, but then again, it has been hard to keep the truck clean with all the snow and salt mix. I will look closer when I clean the truck this week.
I didn't take it to the dealer - I just used a green scrub pad to VERY carefully rub the spot until it was cleaned off. If it hadn't come off, I would have taken it in, but I also didn't realize it was a problem that other folks were having at the time.
harper7
Senior Member
Well we know that's not rust from the truck. That Garnish as it's called and the "4RUNNER" letters on it are all painted plastic.Plastic does'nt rust so it has to be metal coming from someplace else and sticking there and rusting.
I've seen tiny metallic pieces come from brakes that are hot and stick to paint and rust. Common on track cars where the brakes glow red but we all know how everything seems to get sucked under SUV's and onto the back door.
Scuba6
Member
Yep - agreed. I knew the plastic couldn't be rusting, and was more just confused as to how / why the spot was there at all. Since it did come off, I put it out of my mind until I saw others mentioning what seemed to be a similar issue.
Do I now understand that the problem mentioned in the first few threads with the 4th Gens was not on the garnish itself as I described?
TRDSmokedU
New member
Glad u got it off. Keep us updated.
harper7
Senior Member
If you read this thread ,his was mettalic road debris that was caught behind the plastic garnish piece and was rusting and he cleaned it off.......quote..."I just used a green scrub pad to VERY carefully rub the spot until it was cleaned off."
Several post have reported this and your would be the first to actually be body rust if it is.Here's another one........ http://www.toyota-4runner.org/5th-gen-t4rs/137624-rust-spots-my-doors.html
A clay bar is a bar of clay used for detailing purposes. It helps to remove minute particles from the surface of your paint so that they don't get ground into the paint during subsequent washings, polishes, or waxing. You can find it in any auto parts stores. Several auto care companies market them.
JayceeP
New member
It will make your paint extremely smooth and silky. It will also help reduce the dullness in any paint that wasn't properly cared for by removing the haze those contaniments mentioned above cause. It will not get rid of scratches. You are essentially removing a layer of paint protection/wax that is full of particles etched into the paint. Meguiars Smooth Surface Clay Kit is what I use.
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