Underneath the Zed

[TOM'S_ZED]

Had the first proper look under the zed today whilst doing the gearbox and diff fluids and to be honest I'm not impressed.

 

Is it normal on these cars for everything to be rusted up it looks like its been parked in the sea all its life the body isnt to bad but all the ancillaries i.e braces anti roll bars track rod ends etc look shagged the cat heat shields are pretty much hanging off. The car has only done 48k.

 

Hope someone can tell me this is normal lol.

Its a UK car not an import

Edited April 17, 2013 by TOM'S_ZED

[Shaun1982]

I noticed mines got some surface rust on the rear frame, previous owner had it flagged up on it's last mot. Saying that my mate who's a mechanic said it was nothing to worry about.

[Pete87]

As said floor is good but all my braces and that are rusty I'm going to get a company to undersell mine after addressing the rust, I recently did my arches and they had light surface rust in a few places. Best to sort it out ASAP if your going to keep the car long term like I plan to.

[Shaun1982]

Yeah I think I might buy some of that sealant stuff & do mine at some point

[TOM'S_ZED]

yeah sounds like mine actually looks worse than it is. I reckon although an exspensive route new braces from tarmac sportz anti roll bars front and rear new track rod ends re paint the diff cooling fins treat the surface rust then wax oil oh and some new suspension and exhaust system and i might be getting there

[TOM'S_ZED]

and i thought civics were bad lol

[TOM'S_ZED]

oh yeah the sump pan is corroded to and a few plastic clips are missing

[Mikesding]

I haven't looked properly under the car but I was surprised at how rusty the bolts were holding in the wheel arch liner

[The Chubby Ninja]

Mines is the same. Its 04 with 31k and its horrible underneath. Im going to take the braces off, sand down to the metal and paint them a nice red or blue so should look alot better

[Pete87]

Yeah I think I might buy some of that sealant stuff & do mine at some point

 

Just make sure you do it properly as if you don't you can just cover up the rust and make it worse. I used Hammerite with wax oil in it I sanded down to bare metal then applied three coats also its a good idea to remove the suspension and check the top mounts as mine had surface rust and the r33 used to suffer bad with rusting top mounts.

[TOM'S_ZED]

can see mine coming of the road for a week or two to get to the bottom of this

[Pete87]

can see mine coming of the road for a week or two to get to the bottom of this

 

I think it's just car manufactures don't use as good quality metals like they used to so they rust quicker but as they say prevention is better than a cure. To do all my wheel arches it has cost me like £10 I would have done the underside but my garage is not big enough to do it that's why I will get a company to do it as I have seen there underselling abillitys and there spot on.

[bamdc2]

I underseal mine once a year, just get 4 cans of waxoyl a wire brush and go crazy! When I bought the car the rear brace was pretty rusy but once you get the surface rust off and waxoyl it should all be ok.

 

Be warned its a proper messy job!!

[Shaun1982]

Waxoyl is what I shall use I think lol

[KC350Z]

mine is an import and was all sealed when imported by my friend and is off road during winter and is nice and clean underneath

[amstrange1]

You can get Waxoyl branded black underseal in a spray can from Halfords. Very handy for protecting vulnerable bits where there's not much protection on them from the factory. Seems to be fairly common on Japanese cars for them to be light on the seam sealed and underseal.

[KC350Z]

That's because jap don't salt the crap out there roads so not needed as much

[amstrange1]

Yep, just a shame that for European market stuff they don't strive for the same corrosion resistance standards that the European OEMs do. I've been involved in a few corrosion tests at work, makes you cringe seeing a new car end up looking like its lived at the bottom of the sea after 2 weeks of testing.

[KC350Z]

I agree make sense to under seal them all the same

[RS8055]

Had the first proper look under the zed today whilst doing the gearbox and diff fluids and to be honest I'm not impressed.

 

Is it normal on these cars for everything to be rusted up it looks like its been parked in the sea all its life the body isnt to bad but all the ancillaries i.e braces anti roll bars track rod ends etc look shagged the cat heat shields are pretty much hanging off. The car has only done 48k.

 

Hope someone can tell me this is normal lol.

Its a UK car not an import

 

Had a look under mine for first time (as the exhaust is blowing). Understand exactly what you are saying. Mine's done roughly 52k and aesthetically looks pretty bad.

Edited April 18, 2013 by RS8055

[mattross1313]

Took mine to get the tracking done today - or try to should i say. The guy ramped it up and went to adjust my rear camber (I have to much apparently) and he could not move the bolts. He was literally hanging off the spanner but it wouldn't budge. I then jumped underneath to have a nose and the rust in unbelievable for a relatively new car. (yeah OK, 8 years old).

 

Will most likely get 4 new bolts and go back get my camber done. But will also need to address all the rust - roll bars, general metal work, arms etc....oh and the saw looking brace in the middle of the car....wow!! not much left!

 

First port of call will be to attack it all with a wire brush and see how it looks then use some K-rust (or is it Q-rust?) to treat all of the metal, then seal it in with Waxoyl or similar.

[z350convert]

Mine too looks like it's been kept under the North Sea since it was built. In truth I think it looks worse than it is but the sump was shot as described last week ant the silencer went quite early. The water pipe from the oil cooler seems to have been eaten away by the rust mice so that's going to need replacement (£50 +VAT for a bit of mild steel tubing, according to Nissan). I reckon Nissan skimp on the materials and preparation. Maybe some batches are worse than others. Some protective treatment a good idea if you can afford it.

[leonk]

Have a look at this site for products and loads of info. I've bought stuff from them and would recommend but if nothing else it's good for all the tech info.

 

http://www.rust.co.uk/

Edited April 27, 2013 by leonk