Some rust at the bottom of the car

[TheClassyCanadian]

Hello everyone!

I have a 2013 Nissan Leaf SL and I just noticed some rust at the bottom rear of my car:

I was wondering if this is something I should be worried about?

 

[Bob]

It's impossible to judge from the photos, but my general feel is that this is surface rust, not structural rust (yet). Again, from my amateur perspective, this is probably nothing alarming, although we all hoped for better. My advice is to inspect it once per year and have it repaired if it seems to become much worse so that there is a risk of metal failing.

I've used a "miracle" product called "cold galvanize" as a rust preventative. You spray it on metal as if it were spray paint. It contains a large amount of zinc, so the theory is that it decomposes rather than the metal rusting. Unfortunately, I have never done a controlled test to see if it really helped, and don't know if it can help once the surface has already rusted. It is also at risk from road debris, and can scratch off. There are also other "miracle products" like POR15 with amazing claims.

I think that all of these miracle products are good at turning our money into their money. :-( But it won't cost much and won't hurt to put some on. Who knows? It may slow the rust.

http://www.homedepot.com/p/Rust-Oleum-Professional-15-oz-Flat-Gray-Cold-Galvanizing-Compound-7585838/100142963
http://www.por15.com

Bob

 

[garmashe]

I also spotted a lot of rust on my 2012 SL. I think it is due to low quality of steel used. Also, keep in mind, this car is electric, so, during the drive cycle it never heats up and gets dry as most internal combustible engine cars do. So, no heat, no drying up after the rain. It could remain wet for a good portion of it's life. I made a lot of pictures of rust developed on my car. Also, I compared them to my Honda Accord 2000 under body pictures taken at the same time. Surprisingly, 15 years old Honda looks not much different from 3 year old Nissan Leaf!
And that is very disappointing for the car that was build in Japan (it's VIN starts with letter "J")

 

[RonDawg]

I also spotted a lot of rust on my 2012 SL. I think it is due to low quality of steel used. Also, keep in mind, this car is electric, so, during the drive cycle it never heats up and gets dry as most internal combustible engine cars do. So, no heat, no drying up after the rain. It could remain wet for a good portion of it's life. I made a lot of pictures of rust developed on my car. Also, I compared them to my Honda Accord 2000 under body pictures taken at the same time. Surprisingly, 15 years old Honda looks not much different from 3 year old Nissan Leaf!
And that is very disappointing for the car that was build in Japan (it's VIN starts with letter "J")

What parts are rusting? The pre-2013 cars used more aluminum in its construction than the 2013 and later models.

 

[garmashe]

Car is garage kept since it was purchased new.
Here are some photos:
https://goo.gl/photos/z1JmP1fZFyUFGT26A
https://goo.gl/photos/yS2YTy7HAa7X84Bn6
https://goo.gl/photos/CaiijJJfPds2oJwV7
https://goo.gl/photos/TouYhdkbB7vE1XsV9
https://goo.gl/photos/ogXvXrMpNEhj9TMz9
https://goo.gl/photos/VioJ7i6PcHwchJkMA
https://goo.gl/photos/r3wuDjmgxmaNx8vNA
https://goo.gl/photos/fZyM3U2ZPxLCP6h67
https://goo.gl/photos/mbNWkF47bMaBwVGN6
https://goo.gl/photos/cFzPpJ6mnVkYgu9X6
https://goo.gl/photos/zj9YVsjxfNCNPjvp8
https://goo.gl/photos/5mL7WzSxiPjkjeYG8
https://goo.gl/photos/J23D9xBmvVW3XDbY7
https://goo.gl/photos/vMchLSAJEniLkoLu9
https://goo.gl/photos/56URb3GQ5CEpyUri7
https://goo.gl/photos/dfSW8oXm7YyHizBD9
https://goo.gl/photos/SKtdRbwFGbKh3ar39

By the way, this is an under body of a 15 year old Honda Accord 2000
https://goo.gl/photos/yhXKpc1hdBW57PK17
https://goo.gl/photos/3WP82RZrn1i7UEvr6
https://goo.gl/photos/7AnCSnyzqRrxfuwm7
https://goo.gl/photos/xTVryCjTPppTF4YG7

Appears that Honda suspension and under body is better protected from the rust, or it has better quality metal. Doors in Honda are in a much worse condition, but who cares after so many years and miles, right?
But what will happen with Nissan Leaf after even 5 years? Don't even want to imagine
Last time I saw such a bad rust was on a poorly built Russian car - LADA Samara. I owned it only for 3 years since it was new (1994-1997), but rust was so bad, that some parts of the under body rusted through.
Thanks,

Eugene

 

[highend]

these photos really sucks for such a new car (leaf).... so maybe you drive in winter and it is because of salt?
I need to check my leaf - 2012 model.

 

[sub3marathonman]

I will say that I hate rust as much as anybody else here. Being from The North, the salt was terrible for the cars. I remember working on steel exhaust systems too, talk about not pretty.

Now that I've moved to Florida, I'm making sure I don't see the rust anymore. On every new vehicle I've gotten here, what I do is I save the oil from the oil change, and reach around the tires and put it on the springs, and A-arms, shocks, control arms, and on my '91 F250 I'd put the oil on the front and rear bumper bolts and any other nuts and bolts I could see. I'd also wipe the underside with oil too where I could reach. Of course, you've got to make sure you don't get oil on the brakes, as that would be upsetting.

With the LEAF, of course no oil changes, but I've got old oil from the Prius, so I've been consistently putting it on the underside, the suspension, into the hole as shown in the OP's photo, and anyplace else it looks like it would help. On one of the photos from garmashe it shows rust on a weld, and I'm always making sure to oil any welds I can see. When I rotate the tires I spend much extra time doing this procedure, jacking one side of the car up, taking the two tires off, wiping things with oil, cleaning both tires and rims, then putting it back together. Of course, you've also got to be sure not to oil the wheel studs for the tires/rims, as the torque is calculated dry for the lug nuts.

Now, if the rust has already started, as seen in some of the photos, there is something called PB Blaster. It is used mostly on exhaust parts and bolts that have frozen up, but it is the best thing I've found for cutting through rust. You can get a spray can, but I buy a larger can of the liquid to wipe on parts.

It seems more that the paint Nissan used for these underside parts is poor.

Oh, and I sold my F250 to a guy in New York, sight unseen by him, on eBay. So he said right away that he liked the truck, but several months later he called me and said that was the best truck he'd bought. He never specifically mentioned it, but I know that the underside being pristine must have influenced him too.