Toyota Auris Corrosion

[webjaved]

Hello,

My car MOT was up for renewal, it went to the garage last week and it passed. However there has been some advisories that needs to be addressed. I am wondering what I can do about this?

Monitor and repair if necessary (advisories):

• Front Sub-frame is corroded but structural rigidity is not significantly reduced (6.1.1 (c) (i))
• Front cross member corroded
• unable to test all items underneath because of accessive underseal
• Rear axle corroded
• Rear Coil spring corroded both (5.3.1 (b) (i))

It's flagged up on the last 2 M.O.T's it has been in for, I have had black sealant put under the car to treat the rust. The advice that was given to me was to get rid of the car as in the long run it will cause me more money to get stuff repaired.

He said that where the corrosion has taken place, he could push with his finger to make holes, now I am not sure I believe him 100% but there has been corrosion on the car, I suspect that the car has might have been stood still in water due to the corrosion. The car is driveable and is safe, so I am wondering what potential costs am I looking at to get this repaired/treated?

I've used 2 bottles of this Hammerite Underbody Seal Aerosol 600ml but it's not made much of a difference. Would something like this work? Waxoyl Rust Proofing Black 5L

Thank you

[TonyHSD]

Hi, you have to repair first the corroded parts and then seal with whatever you choose to use. Spray only on top of corrosion will make it even worse. Basically two or probably three options:

drive the car until gets failed and scrap it 

Use the car to purchase a new one on scar page schemes, Toyota may do current some of those 

repair the car and keep it for another few year’s before the rust emerges again and the cost will be more than the car itself. The climate in Uk and the salt and grit that been spread during winter months are just an enemy to all cars. 

[webjaved]

8 minutes ago, TonyHSD said:

Hi, you have to repair first the corroded parts and then seal with whatever you choose to use. Spray only on top of corrosion will make it even worse. Basically two or probably three options:

drive the car until gets failed and scrap it 

Use the car to purchase a new one on scar page schemes, Toyota may do current some of those 

repair the car and keep it for another few year’s before the rust emerges again and the cost will be more than the car itself. The climate in Uk and the salt and grit that been spread during winter months are just an enemy to all cars. 

It would have been helpful if he could have provided me with pictures of the corrosion, I should have taken some pictures myself to show you the extent of the corrosion.

If I was to repiar the corroded parts, what type of products would you recommend?

The road salt and grit is annoying, that has no doubt contributed to this. It seems like every year or so you'll need some sort of protection applying to the bottom of the car to combat any rust taking place.

I'm going to drive the car for a further year and then look my personal situation to see if I am able to get rid of the car. If I can, I will have to cut my losses on it.

Quote

drive the car until gets failed and scrap it 

It is driveable so that is a good thing for now, if it wasn't then that would have caused me a major problem.

Quote

Use the car to purchase a new one on scar page schemes, Toyota may do current some of those 

I've not been aware of any these schemes, where should I be looking?

[TonyHSD]

I am not sure I can help any further on either of the questions you have , perhaps someone else can help who had previously dealt with similar issues. If it’s me I will most likely drive it until is not road worth it anymore and will take it from there. I will also change the mot garage as sometimes some testers are getting very picky and do write notes or failing cars without real reasons.  You can take the car to another place and ask for a second opinion and quote for eventual repair for example. 
Good luck 

[Mooly]

I suspect most of these advisories aren't mission critical at this point. Our old 2003 Corolla had far more advisories in 2018 than in 2019, 2020 and 2021 and none of the reported advisories have been acted on. All four springs corroded, brake line corroded, some bushes 'deteriorated'. 

All it has ever actually failed on is an indicator bulb deemed not orange enough.

 

[AisinW]

I cannot really say until I saw the pictures.  I also have tons of surface rust but it does not matter at all.  You can spray it with some grease or sticky oil base coat on non rubber parts. It will stop the surface rust.  No matter what car you have, it will have surface rust on the exposed parts that are not covered.  Newer cars are generally covered well on the under body. It reduces scratches from gravels and sands on the road= less rust too. You also can buy primer with Zn coating and sand/scrub all area that has heavy surface rust, spray it with brake cleaner  and spray it with  Zn-primer coating. paint it black and spray durable enamel clear coat on top. 

[webjaved]

Thank you for those that have replied to this post. I am going to drive the car for another year and maybe look at applying some rust Waxoyl - apart from the rust the car is in good condition. Runs well, so I am going to continue driving it for another year and then review my financial position before deciding what to do next.

I quite like the new Auris shape and the Mercedes A180, then you have the Audi A3, VW Golf.

I am going to try and getting some pictures to upload on here so you can see the extent of the corrosion.

[Saxmaniac]

The Dinitrol products are way better than Waxoyl or hammerite  but once tinworm sets in the best you will do is to slow it down unless you replace metal where thin and grind back to clean metal, which is a lot of work. I've been experimenting with POR 15 metal ready on a rusty non Toyota spare car which is phosphoric acid based, and their POR 15 is the toughest coating you will ever find! Expensive though

[webjaved]

1 minute ago, Saxmaniac said:

The Dinitrol products are way better than Waxoyl or hammerite  but once tinworm sets in the best you will do is to slow it down unless you replace metal where thin and grind back to clean metal, which is a lot of work. I've been experimenting with POR 15 metal ready on a rusty non Toyota spare car which is phosphoric acid based, and their POR 15 is the toughest coating you will ever find! Expensive though

I'll take a look at that product - thank you. I'm first going to take a look at the corrosion, take some pictures and then decide whether I should do anything about it.

[webjaved]

Here are some pics of the corrosion/rust, it doesn't look as bad as the MOT tester was making out. I'm going to take it to another garage for a 2nd opinion. 

[TonyHSD]

Most cars from that age in Uk will be as rusty as much, some more some less. Best to treat rust like that is to clean with wire brush as much as you can , rust proofing or stopping with something and then paint it with black colour that is suitable for these applications. The problem is that to get access to some of the rusty components you have to do a lots of dismantling and you may like to try treatment as is as much as it’s possible. My car has similar rusty parts, slightly less than yours. , so far no mot notes. 👍 and for the above reason I decided to leave it and will work eventually in the future if the car lasts that long. 

[webjaved]

3 minutes ago, TonyHSD said:

Most cars from that age in Uk will be as rusty as much, some more some less. Best to treat rust like that is to clean with wire brush as much as you can , rustproofing or stopping with something and then paint it with black colour that is suitable for these applications. The problem is that to get access to some of the rusty components you have to do a lot of dismantling and you may like to try treatment as is as much as it’s possible. My car has similar rusty parts, slightly less than yours. , so far no mot notes. 👍 and for the above reason, I decided to leave it and will work eventually in the future if the car lasts that long. 

I don't plan on doing any of the work, I'm going to take it to the garage and get a quote from him. 

That rust needs removing and then protection applying to it as winter is around the corner, the last thing I want is it spreading even further. 

[Mooly]

This looks suspect as far as a picture can show:

 

 

[webjaved]

1 hour ago, Mooly said:

This looks suspect as far as a picture can show:

 

 

 

I'm going to take it tomorrow to another garage and get it looked at, I'll find out how much it is to get it looked at and whether we can apply anything to it so the car doesn't end up with more corrosion over the winter!

Those cracks don't look good to me.

[Mooly]

See what they say. Photos can be notoriously difficult to interpret without actually being there and seeing it first hand.

Good luck anyhow.

 

[webjaved]

4 minutes ago, Mooly said:

See what they say. Photos can be notoriously difficult to interpret without actually being there and seeing it first hand.

Good luck anyhow.

 

Yeah, I need the car put on a ramp and lifted up so I can take a proper look, some proper pictures and a video recording.

[webjaved]

I took the car to the garage yesterday and had some protection applied to it after getting the surface rust cleaned. There were no cracks and there we no holes being made when pushing the metal with your finger.

I got it done at a VERY good price due to him being a friend of the family. All he mentioned was that the clutch needed to be adjusted and he noticed some sort of over-revving.

Well atleast the car has some protection applied to it! I'll see what I can get for it if I look to part exchange it for another car. If I'm getting a bad deal I will just keep the car for a few more years.

 

[webjaved]

Videos attached.

[furtula]

Clutch on Auris is self adjusting.  

Most of those rust protection is actually making it worse, as it tends to become brittle, chip off after a year, then just holds salts and water for longer, accelerating the issue.  That coat looks to be one of those, but i might be wrong. 

After the winter is over, go over it and check if there are any cracks, or brittle surfaces, if yes, you will be better off removing those parts, than leaving them on.

 

[webjaved]

1 minute ago, furtula said:

Clutch on Auris is self adjusting.  

Most of those rust protection is actually making it worse, as it tends to become brittle, chip off after a year, then just holds salts and water for longer, accelerating the issue.  That coat looks to be one of those, but i might be wrong. 

After the winter is over, go over it and check if there are any cracks, or brittle surfaces, if yes, you will be better off removing those parts, than leaving them on.

 

 

I've applied the protection with the intention of getting rid of the car, winter is only around the corner so I thought it would be best to get something applied for the rust, I'm going to pop down to a few local dealerships on the weekend and see what they value the car at and what I can get for a part exchange.

I don't think I will have this car for much longer.

[Mooly]

If the rust is purely surface and 'cosmetic' and structural integrity is not effected then it should (it is) OK. 

[TonyHSD]

Best spray to use on these parts is simple black Matt spray directly to rust, but clean as much as you can for best results. That spray is very thin layer and cover nicely and tidy, once it dries and get dirty it masks itself very well and mot tester will never notice there was any job done, my personal experience. This is what I had been using in the past. https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Simoniz-Black-Matt-Acrylic-500ml-/324760815183?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&_trksid=p2349624.m2548.l6249&mkrid=710-127635-2958-0
It will not prevent the rust to show again most likely but will help a bit and it will not cause more damage like other specific coatings. 

[webjaved]

25 minutes ago, TonyHSD said:

Best spray to use on these parts is simple black Matt spray directly to rust, but clean as much as you can for best results. That spray is very thin layer and cover nicely and tidy, once it dries and get dirty it masks itself very well and mot tester will never notice there was any job done, my personal experience. This is what I had been using in the past. https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Simoniz-Black-Matt-Acrylic-500ml-/324760815183?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&_trksid=p2349624.m2548.l6249&mkrid=710-127635-2958-0
It will not prevent the rust to show again most likely but will help a bit and it will not cause more damage like other specific coatings. 

I can't remember the name of the protection that was applied, all surface rust was removed as best as he could and applied the protection with an air spray, it looks loads better now. 

I will bare in mind that spray you've recommended. I'll add it to my watchlist so I don't forget about it. 

I'm going to check the car after December/January and see what the state of the car is. I might not even have it haha! 

[AisinW]

The rust looks benign. Just surface rust.  I have the same problems in my Auris 2015. I just clean it with wore brush and sand it down. Apply some rust stopper with Thannin base from Nigrin. After 1 day, I respray with Zn primer. It last 2 years without new rust. The primer coating peel off on the painted surface but still stick on the previous rust surface

[webjaved]

22 minutes ago, AisinW said:

The rust looks benign. Just surface rust.  I have the same problems in my Auris 2015. I just clean it with wore brush and sand it down. Apply some rust stopper with Thannin base from Nigrin. After 1 day, I respray with Zn primer. It last 2 years without new rust. The primer coating peel off on the painted surface but still stick on the previous rust surface

Luckily mine was just surface rust too, it's been cleaned and protection applied to it as you can see from the video, didn't cost me much now it's a matter of how long that lasts now.

I've been looking at other second cars and the prices are just expensive. I'm just going to stick with it and see how long the car lasts me. It's not caused me big problems, long may that continue. 

May we all be protected and be safe on the roads.