Rust issues after 1 Wisconsin winter?

[a few waffles]

On my '25 Pro I just noticed what looks to be some surface rust along the body under the doors on both sides of the vehicle. It's stored inside but we did put some miles on this winter. Anyone else have similar issues? I know Toyota has a corrosion perforation warranty, but not sure if they'd do anything for this prior to it creating holes. Any advice or info at all would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance!

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[Overland Toy]

I don’t have any advice but that sure looks bad to me. I guess I do have at least One advantage to be living in Southern California. NO RUST,

 

[Brody_703]

I would fluid film the frame. Cheap insurance for salty climates. You can likely find a professional near you if you don’t feel like doing it yourself.

 

[Rotor-RPM]

Waffles did you do any kind of undercoating?

 

[a few waffles]

Waffles did you do any kind of undercoating?

I did not. Despite living in southern Wisconsin, I haven't seen anything this significant this quickly on any vehicle I've owned.

 

[Beedeviled]

Damn, sucks to see this. But good that it appears to be surface rust only. You may want to crawl under the truck and check other areas as well. If it were me, I’d remediate all the surface rust (steel brush, mechanical, etc. as needed) on the underside of the truck and then paint it with Steel-It or some other product. Then for routine maintenance, treat it with something like Blaster Surface Shield or have it treated by a shop.

 

[Formidable]

On my '25 Pro I just noticed what looks to be some surface rust along the body under the doors on both sides of the vehicle. It's stored inside but we did put some miles on this winter. Anyone else have similar issues? I know Toyota has a corrosion perforation warranty, but not sure if they'd do anything for this prior to it creating holes. Any advice or info at all would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance!

First of all, scrub all of that crap off. Get the salt off the undercarriage asap otherwise every time you drive in rain you’re causing further oxidation. Most of it looks like caked on mud, grime and salt honestly. Any remaining surface rust just wire wheel off. Pick up a POR15 Kit on Amazon or your local auto shop, (pep boys, autozone, checkers, etc), which includes metal treatment and rust inhibitor. Make sure you follow the instructions to the tee and pretreat any rust (yes you can POR15 over any rust as long as inhibitor is layered on), or bare metal areas after prepping. Then hit it with the POR15 epoxy. Consider getting the entire undercarriage prepped and sprayed with undercoating, wool wax, fluid film, dinitrol or ceramic coating.

 

[Formidable]

I had my undercarriage prepped and sprayed with industrial ceramic coating within the first 500 miles of ownership. Everything blasts off the undercarriage with a pressure washer. Water beads like crazy. Worth consideration.

https://www.4runner6g.com/forum/threads/cryomode-industrial-ceramic-undercoating-applied.6001/

 

[pmedicj]

That is horrible! My 2010 Corolla that lived every year in New England since new didn’t look like that before we sold it.
take it back and have them fix this!

 

[Nodak]

personally it looks like caked on dirt not rust. usually that part is painted so it shouldnt have rusted that quick.

take a tooth brush to it and some water to remove it and see if it really is rust.

 

[Bhoop]

I just bought a used sr5 with 20k on it. It had previously been titled in South Dakota. After I had it for a week or so I noticed rust similar to yours on the bottom edges along the rocker panels. I didn't notice it until the sun hit just right. Once it warms up here, in Minnesota, I am planning to mask it off and hit it with some Rust Oleum rust converter, and then use Blaster Surface Shield on it. I am a little disappointed, honestly, but hopefully with some preventative maintenance it won't get any worse.

 

[surfcast_rig]

NY/VT here, car is 10months old and i wash it biweekly, tons of rust on non-painted metal underneath. there is even a few spots around the engine that had significant surface rust out of nowhere.

 

[jtothej]

On my '25 Pro I just noticed what looks to be some surface rust along the body under the doors on both sides of the vehicle. It's stored inside but we did put some miles on this winter. Anyone else have similar issues? I know Toyota has a corrosion perforation warranty, but not sure if they'd do anything for this prior to it creating holes. Any advice or info at all would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance!

https://www.amsoil.com/p/amsoil-heavy-duty-metal-protector-amhsc/

Alex from Legit Street Cras uses this exclusively and raves about it, go watch any video he does he caots the underbodies of any car he buys in Chicago - sprays on and becomes a wax he sells this as a dealer

 

[HVLA]

personally it looks like caked on dirt not rust. usually that part is painted so it shouldnt have rusted that quick.

take a tooth brush to it and some water to remove it and see if it really is rust.

That is what I thought it looked like as well.

 

[HVLA]

NY/VT here, car is 10months old and i wash it biweekly, tons of rust on non-painted metal underneath. there is even a few spots around the engine that had significant surface rust out of nowhere.

That stinks. Makes me glad I live in the desert.

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