Rusty suspension

[American Friend]

Was slightly alarmed to discover how rusty the suspension is on my 2006 Corolla. Car only done 80,000 miles, and the body looks mint. Is this normal?

 

[fordulike]

If you live near the coast, or the roads are heavily salted in winter and you don't regularly wash the underside, then possibly yes.

[American Friend]

Don't live near the coast, and do wash underside occasionally. Car serviced annually at main dealer since new. Had both arms replaced at a reputable local indie garage who said they'd recently seen a similar age Yaris just as bad. They also said Mercs of a certain age were worse. No idea if the roads in North Yorkshire are thought to be heavily salted in the winter compared to other parts of the country though. 

[fordulike]

On a positive note, you've had some good mileage out of them, considering the battering they get. Usually, the ball joints or bushes go before rust eats them.

[oldcodger]

Wow,   thats bad !

Surprised you never received a mot failure or advisory as that kind of corrosion does not happen overnight.

Was looking at replacing mine as the mot guy said the rubbers , though not gone were going that way.

Have seen some  FirstLine arms complete with new ball joints ; do you know what make your new ones were ?

[American Friend]

Amazing what you find hidden underneath. Strangely, no advisory on the MOT, nor any warning from the Toyota dealer either until the car went back, a month after the MOT (not Toyota), for the airbag recall. Sorry, I don't know what make the arms are. Toyota quoted £300 for the one arm fitted. The ones the local indie sourced looked identical to Toyota's and were half the price, including ball joints.

[mickburkesnr]

I think Febest and Firstline come up top if you're looking for components like these for cheap. Not much long term experience with either manufacturer but have used them on my Corolla.

I would think the garage would have the receipts for that if you asked them nicely enough. They should be kept on record for 6 years for their own book keeping when the tax man pays them a visit. But I wouldn't hold your breath either.

[American Friend]

I'm not particularly interested, but if anyone else wants to inquire, the garage that carried out the work is Colin Pitt in Otley, West Yorks. They've been around for ages restoring vintage vehicles as well as doing routine work on modern cars. I would have thought the new parts should last a fair while but then again I wasn't expecting this degree of rust on the original arms at this stage in the car's life.

[oldcodger]

Was going to add some protection to my new ones, possibly some extra paint or Stonechip on the outside and spraying a wax solution into the cavity.

Not meaning to upset you, but what would concern me is,  unless its just those arms were substandard in some way,   what are all the other surfaces like under your car ?

Expect the garage would have mention it to you if they saw other bad areas ...?

From looking at mine, the thin cover under the petrol tank on the offside rusts easily and also the rear crash bar which can be seen from under the rear bumper, plus the brake discs shields.

[American Friend]

After the problem was pointed out to me by the Toyota dealer who did the airbag recall a few months ago, I brought the car around to this independent garage and had a good look with him underneath while he had it up on a ramp. There was a lot of rust visible all around as you'd expect, but this by far was the worst of it. I'm not overly concerned now that I've replaced both arms and ball joints (Toyota only recommending replace the n/s arm in the picture). I'd had an advisory the year before for a corroded brake hose ferrule, but that really was just surface corrosion that was cleaned up. Curiously, it was the same MOT place who did the MOT this year and didn't mention anything about the arm. Won't be using them again.

If it was an MX-5, I'd be thinking waxoly, but hey, it's just a cheap old Corolla. I've had no real trouble with it until now. However, a mate of mine has been spraying used engine oil underneath his 16 year old Berlingo every winter, and he hasn't had any problems with corrosion. 

[Mike169]

Hi, I did car MOT's for many years and that is an instant fail, either the person that did the MOT wasn't very good at his job or he didn't see it..........is the hole on the top or the bottom of the arm? Mike.

[oldcodger]

7 hours ago, American Friend said:

 There was a lot of rust visible all around as you'd expect,

  corroded brake hose ferrule, but that really was just surface corrosion that was cleaned up.

My cars first few years were in Darlington and since in Yorkshire so probably as much exposure as yours. ( now over 100k miles)

To be honest I would not expect a lot of rust, there is some under my car  but nothing I would call serious or excessive......

The brakes ferrules   rubber hoses  - replaced all mine as a matter of course after 10 years,  as experience as taught me to.

What can happen , unseen /noticed is the rubber can balloon slightly of braking,  or even collapse so stopping the pads returning.

When the ferrule rusts, removing the visible might seen good, but the rust will be moving down the ferrule under the rubber so making it a failure point

If you can see any extra thickness where the rubber goes over the  ferrule thats a sure sign the rust is pushing the rubber out.

Generally an easy job to replace the parts, though undoing some of the brake pipe nuts can be a problem due to the reaction between the two different metals used, though if using a garage , that should not be a problem for them to fit new joints.

[American Friend]

A coach driver in the Yorkshire Dales was telling me today that there were traces of salt on the roads from November to March. So I guess you could say the roads where I do most of my winter driving are heavily salted. He didn't think it surprising that an eleven year old car might have serious rust underneath, which is what the first person who replied to this thread seem to be saying as well.

[Mike169]

Incidentally it is 99.9% of the time that it's the N/S of the cars underparts that rot first due to the fact that's where the water runs to collecting all the muck/salt collects and the tyres splash it up under the car. Mike.