My son has/had me looking at used GM Silverados and Sierras until I learned of GM frame rust/rot...

[BehindBlueI's]

Yep. People like me and a partner of mine with 344,000 miles on his F150 who drive trucks until they are worn out are in the minority. Most people like a change every few years. There are loads of trucks for sale with 20,000 to 100,000 miles and these are not close to worn out. People get rid of them because they want a something new.

I've never worn a vehicle out. I've totaled them out, but otherwise they were always repairable. I've changed vehicles as my needs and wants changed. Tough to drive a stick shift regular cab truck with a rear facing child seat in the middle... The only ones I totaled were due to a trailer breaking and rolling both the vehicle I was driving and the vehicle on the trailer. That sucked.

I think March is 10 years in the truck I have now, still nothing on the market I'm more interested in at a price I'd be willing to entertain.

 

[JeepHammer]

Probably will draw a lot of flack from some guys,

I've not owned anything newer than '90 for a long time, and I do a lot of off road vehicles from way back, like 60s/70s Jeeps...

What we use a lot of is boiled linseed oil, let it dry, give it two or three coats.
I have an '86 grand wagoneer that I only use in winter, lots of salt and ice melt, and the frame looks pretty well new.

The old '73 CJ looks pretty well new also, and it's been linseed treated since I got it back in '95.
Took a sand blaster to get the tar based undercoating off, but it was worth the time.
The '73 didn't get driven in winter, no top or doors which is why it survived as long as it did...

Every two or three years I power wash everything and apply new linseed oil.
What stays on the frame is there forever still doing it's job...

When the brake lines went, I installed stainless.
That required a hand pumped hydraulic inverted flairing tool, and replacing iron clamps with rubber coated clamps to keep the iron from rusting the stainless.
It's not cheap or easy for the average guy, but it solves the brake line issues.

A tip might be to put a yard sprinkler under the vehicle to wash it off when it's above freezing,
In winter a floor drain in the garage is worth gold if you go this route...

 

[HoughMade]

I've never worn a vehicle out. I've totaled them out, but otherwise they were always repairable. I've changed vehicles as my needs and wants changed. Tough to drive a stick shift regular cab truck with a rear facing child seat in the middle... The only ones I totaled were due to a trailer breaking and rolling both the vehicle I was driving and the vehicle on the trailer. That sucked.

I think March is 10 years in the truck I have now, still nothing on the market I'm more interested in at a price I'd be willing to entertain.

Yeah, the Silverado isn't really worn out, but I'm starting to be less than 100% confident when I take off from the Region for points a thousand miles away.

 

[indyblue]

Back when I was more into fixing up autos, it seemed you could buy every piece to build a 64, 65 Mustang out of a catalog without having a car to begin with.

There are now many vehicles you can build like this now. Companies like Dynacorn make complete new body shells. You can build FJ40's, '57 Chevy's, F-Body's, Mustangs, etc. from the ground up with new parts.

If I had a little more money, I'd love to build an older platform with new engine/suspension tech.
Even better, you can get many older 4X4 bodies (Land Cruiser, Land Rover, Jeep) made of aluminum now.

 

[74 or more]

Fancy vehicles $$$ new and parked on the road! I bilt a car port using great dane trailer interior fiberglass for roofing on the end of my shed for $100. . The wind blow dries my Chevy (“06 , 60 k miles in 2014 $6 k Work Truck) Slight spot on a fender , I pourded gear grease down the steak pocket.

 

[BONDOBUCK]

Holly molly. It almost makes you want to puke. And it appears GM only designed their undercoating to last one year. Unbelievable.

Yowza!

 

[BONDOBUCK]

2002 Chev Silverado, 5 yrs in MN on my farm, rest of time 4 wheeling in AZ, got offers for it monthly, wife says when I go, it Goes too, to my son. I had a 1990 before that that was totaled so my son cut the frame in half and rewelded it, had that from 91 to 02, was INSPECTED in MN and resold for a heck of a profit, NO frame problems

 

[BehindBlueI's]

Back when I was more into fixing up autos, it seemed you could buy every piece to build a 64, 65 Mustang out of a catalog without having a car to begin with.

Corvettes were definitely like that. If you had a checkbook and an Eckler's catalog you could build one from scratch. It'd be a lot more money than just buying a new one, mind you, but you could do it.

 

[KokomoDave]

My 2012 Silverado's frame is perfect! It's my paint job that sux!! I can't soda blast the rust as it has the pearl white paint scheme. Looks great until you need to repaint it. Then, it will need multiple paint jobs to get it close. Geez!!!

 

[GRAVES219]

I have an 05 Silverado that just hit 200k mi and it runs like a top, has typical rust spots in the bed sides (even tho rockers and rear arches were once replaced) The frame is ugly lookin but its solid! Only bad spot is where the tow package was. Someone did something dumb (before I owned it) and ripped that part straight off.

 

[Bstarkey_46947]

Maybe. When's the last time you wore a gun out? When's the last time you bought a new gun?

Purchased a new gun 4 weeks ago for a Christmas present and don't recall wearing one out because of my accuracy (don't understand the correlation with vehicles). I happen to own 4 vehicles. The issue with vehicles is the treatment of the steel frame and the grade of steel prior to the painting and undercoating. I worked in the automotive realm for ~18 years.

 

[gregr]

Ford had an issue with this as well.
A respected Ingo member traded out of his really good-looking ford when the dealer showed him the front frame was beyond repair and beyond dangerous. Seems it was a bit more common than most folks knew.
He bought a new Toyota.

I love the Toyota's. My 2009 Tacoma only has 122,000 miles on it, and I`ll be 65 in April. I hope it`s the last vehicle I ever need, and there`s a good chance that may work out.

 

[gregr]

I had a `96 Tacoma that the frame almost rusted in two , I bought a used `97 Tacoma before I found out the" buy back" program . Paid $5600 and 6 months later , Toyota gave me $9300 for it .
I now have a 2011 Tacoma ........seems like Toyota didn`t learn anything , I received a similar notice in the mail that mine needs inspected for frame rust and they are replacing entire sections of the frames if required .
I suspect all the manufactures have a common denominator .....(Chinese Steel ) ?

The rust issues were attributed to their third party provider if I remember right. So yes, it was Toyota`s fault, but it wasn`t really. Either way, the Toyota's are typically much more mechanically sound and long-lasting than almost anything else. Honda seems to be in that same class.

 

[stocknup]

I love the Toyota's. My 2009 Tacoma only has 122,000 miles on it, and I`ll be 65 in April. I hope it`s the last vehicle I ever need, and there`s a good chance that may work out.

The rust issues were attributed to their third party provider if I remember right. So yes, it was Toyota`s fault, but it wasn`t really. Either way, the Toyota's are typically much more mechanically sound and long-lasting than almost anything else. Honda seems to be in that same class.

I have had quite a few Toyotas trucks .....`83, `94,`96 , `97 and a 2011( which I still own ) and a `04 Camry . Even with the rust issues , I `would still buy them again . Miss the 22R engines for sure in them . It was nothing to get 200 to 300K miles out of them .
I am in the same situation as you also .....have my 2011 with 94,000 miles on it , am retired and rarely drive it any distance at all ( maybe 50 miles a week ) Hoping for the same as the last one I will need

 

[gregr]

I have had quite a few Toyotas trucks .....`83, `94,`96 , `97 and a 2011( which I still own ) and a `04 Camry . Even with the rust issues , I `would still buy them again . Miss the 22R engines for sure in them . It was nothing to get 200 to 300K miles out of them .
I am in the same situation as you also .....have my 2011 with 94,000 miles on it , am retired and rarely drive it any distance at all ( maybe 50 miles a week ) Hoping for the same as the last one I will need

My repair shop owner in Danville said that with todays vehicle manufacturing standards, it`s not unusual or uncommon for ANY make, even so called "American made" vehicles to last for a couple hundred thousand miles. Yet, I still trust Toyota, and I believe I would trust Honda too. My daughter and son-in-law have a Honda Pilot, don`t remember the year, (maybe a 2015?), but I was surprised when she told me they have around 215,000 miles on it, and she said it still runs just like it did when brand new. Nevertheless, I guess I`m a Toyota guy, even though for years I was a Chevy Silverado guy. No more. I`m Toyota thru-and-thru.

 

[gregkl]

The rust issues were attributed to their third party provider if I remember right. So yes, it was Toyota`s fault, but it wasn`t really. Either way, the Toyota's are typically much more mechanically sound and long-lasting than almost anything else. Honda seems to be in that same class.

What do you mean by third party provider?

With very few exceptions the OEM don't "make" anything on their own. Pretty much everything is provided through a Tier business model. Tier 1's sell directly to the OEM, Tier 2's sell to the Tier 1's and so forth.

I work for a Tier 2 automotive company. Though we do act as a Tier 1 for some of our customers and we are direct with Toyota and Tesla so for those two we are truly Tier 1 which is not where I like to be.

 

[gregr]

What do you mean by third party provider?

With very few exceptions the OEM don't "make" anything on their own. Pretty much everything is provides through a Tier business model. Tier 1's sell directly to the OEM, Tier 2's sell to the Tier 1's and so forth.

I work for a Tier 2 automotive company. Though we do act as a Tier 1 for some of our customers and we are direct with Toyota and Tesla so for those two we are truly Tier 1 which is not where I like to be.

I could research it again, but hope to not have to. I just remember reading that the Toyota frame rust issues actually came from another company they had contracted out to, build, and/or, treat their frames...

 

[gregkl]

I could research it again, but hope to not have to. I just remember reading that the Toyota frame rust issues actually came from another company they had contracted out to, build, and/or, treat their frames...

You are probably right. Other than some sheet metal stampings, the OEM's buy pretty much buy everything else.

I'm in the plastics end so I don't have first hand knowledge of the steel end but the frames are most likely made by someone else.

 

[DoggyDaddy]

The rust issues were attributed to their third party provider if I remember right. So yes, it was Toyota`s fault, but it wasn`t really. Either way, the Toyota's are typically much more mechanically sound and long-lasting than almost anything else. Honda seems to be in that same class.

I remember when Toyotas started being imported (or at least promoted) back in the late 60's or early 70's? I mainly remember that their slogan/jingle for their ads was, "You asked for it, you got it. Toyota." I was a big fan of Mad Magazine back then and they had a cartoon of a car falling apart with that slogan.

Now they're a solid brand (as are many imported brands).