starbase89

Hi.

I'm looking into buying a 96 4Runner, and the one that I am looking at has a good amount of rust and rot around the right rear wheel well under the moldings. The car has 188k miles and has lived it's whole life in New Jersey where the roads are salted every winter. Is this a common occurrence? I was under the impression that the body integrity on the 90's models was better than my old 87.

Thanks

Greg_Canada

My 99' body held up much better than my 89'. I would keep looking and get one without any rust. Seriously, keep looking.

Gamefreakgc

If there's rust on one place, there's probably more rust other places (or more to come in the near future!). Hard to think that only one wheel well would rust and everything else is sparkling clean.

Rust = bad news.

wyoming9

iTrader: (1)

If it was driven most days in the average commute in NJ good luck finding one without rust!!

This liquid brine is brutal I worry more about fuel and brake lines then body parts.

If you are serious about finding one rust free South of I-40 west of the Mississippi.

TX78666

I had very good luck in Colorado. South Florida had some surprisingly rusty frames, although not as bad as up north.

Gamefreakgc

I disagree with that chart. Around here, they will use sand at lower elevations. They do periodically use salt at mid-level elevations but for the high passes they just close the roads. I've never seen a truck in California with rust due to salt on the roads. Actually, not sure if I've ever seen one with rust at all. The low humidity is great!

The deep south has bad rust due to high humidity, so don't think that the south is rust free just because the chart doesn't say they use salt. It just hardly ever snows!

TX78666

I don't understand.

The chart says they use salt.

You say they use salt.

Where's the disagreement? The chart doesn't say they use salt throughout the state, all the time, or that the cars rust. It just says they use salt. I doubt they use any in San Diego.

I'm just saying I had good luck in Colorado, and bad luck in Florida (which you alluded to). If the OP wants to look in California, that is his/her prerogative, just as it is his/her prerogative to disregard the chart, or just keep looking locally or whatever.

I spent a week on the beach in South Padre once, and the hinges and other hardware on the exterior of the house were all rusted from the salt in the air. I wouldn't look for a 4Runner there, either.

Good grief.

TX78666

You're welcome for the helpful chart. I would have liked to have found it here when I was looking for information.

;-)

Jomoka

Here where they salt a lot, it's very rare to see a 3rd gen with body damage. The bumpers, sure, they get rusty fairly easily. But body rust, almost never see it. At the same time, it's very rare to see a 2nd gen withOUT any visible body rust. Toyota did something a lot better with the 3rd gen.

Perhaps that one had some body damage that wasn't properly repaired? One of the few 3rd gens I've seen with rust had a rusted passenger sill, upon closer inspection it looked as though it had been repaired. That was a $1000 3rd gen that wasn't anywhere near worth $1000.

If you're combing through CL ads, one thing I've noticed to look at are the various metal brackets in the engine bay. This is a pretty decent 'tell', and most CL ads will usually include an engine pic. If they're rusty, the rest of the car is probably pretty rusty.

TX78666

Good to know.

I had been asking for photos of the rear diff and frame around the rear wheels.

reaj

iTrader: (6)

Keep looking, Here in colorado I'm rocking a 96 with 257,000 now, not inch of rust I look every oil change on the lift. I'm the 3rd owner, previous owner was here in colorado too and it came from Washington only spent 5,000 in Washington so I think I got lucky! As far as the chart unless its really cold and snowing here IE 10 degrees and under, they (Colorado department of transportation) use liquid de-icer such as mag-chloride. If it snowing and really windy blizzard status that's when they switch over to solid de-icer a sand salt mix, however my personal idea on rust is the amount of humidity constantly in the air (yesterday was 21% humidity in CO), here in colorado dudes are rocking beat up fords and Chevys from the 60s with no rust just terrible motors!

EDIT: CDOT plows our mountains passes so the traffic keeps flowing here!