Whenever I got a new car in the past I always got it sprayed yearly with hydraulic oil. This kept it from rusting and worked well, They would drill holes in doors panels etc and it worked. My last car (2000 Insight - 261,000 miles) was aluminum so no oiling was needed. The Golf I was considering had all the metal panels and doors made from galvanized steel - no problem there. What is the 2010 Prius body made from and do Toyota's have rust problems? I know they made some trucks that rusted the frames out so badly they were confiscated by Toyota ( at a great price to the owners) . The first Prius was what 2001... Have any owners got a few hundred thousand miles on them yet is salty locations, that can speak to the presence or lack of rust? Thanks. Ted
A total waste of money IMO and it might actually inhibit the anti rust applied at the factory. Not too many cars rust out anymore, so that is why most cars have a really long, extended mileage rust through guarantee. What is it, 5 years and 100,000 miles? I am very glad it worked for you, but the thought of saturating everything with Hydraulic Oil is kind of scary to me.
If you look under the car you will see plastic covers on most of it anyway. I think with the cars we get today it would be a really bad idea.
This is laughable. Modern cars have very effective rustproofing applied at the factory--typically a zinc coating applied in a dip tank. I can't believe dealers have the nerve to even offer this anymore.
Very common around here, with oil it takes about 15 min yearly and costs $60. Done privately not thru a dealer. The dealer only tried to sell me $650 worth of simonizing (inside and out) and $550 worth of GAP insurance since it was a rental agreement. We get a lot of slushy salted roads all winter long. Cars here rust out before they wear out. Car washes get a lot of winter business with people trying to rinse all the salt off. Just saw a Ford Windstar with its door bottoms rusted off - will not pass inspection here. I do not know what Toyota does for rust proofing - do they use galvanized steel, or do some kind of galvanizing dip or plating when they build them? Thanks for all the replies.
Hey, tedjohnson. I empathize with the salt issue, being a transplanted Minnesotan. My vehicles lived in a corrosive environment for 5 months out of 12 also. Now living in midway USA, I owned a GenI- 2002 Prius. Sold it at 115,000 miles. Virtually no rust issues from its life in Kansas where salt also seems to be as seasonally plentiful as summer humidity. The current paint formula doesn't seem to be as forgiving as earlier jobs. So I don't know. Hopefully, there are many panel made from noncorroding materials under the pretty shine.
Interesting. As I looked under the car the other day I saw the plastic cover, and I thought the same. The problem is rust does not only happen under the car, unfortunately. Well at least not here, in the north, where a lot of salt is used to melt snow. Rust also appears at the bottom of the doors, around the wheels, and also frequently on the front part of the hood because of stones hitting it in winter (they also put sand, when it is too cold for salt to work). As an additional issue, I was watching a tv program the other day where they were presenting the Prius. As a side comment, they said its antirust protection was "incomplete". Unfortunately they did not elaborate. That makes me wonder whether I should get preventive protection.
