This happened this am.

[fastfredracing]

Spare car for a local pastor. He loans it out to students when they come stay with him. Last year, I told him it was the last year, it would be able to be inspected.
He did not drive it all last year, and asked me to take a look at it again.
I welded up an exhaust leak, and was doing a quick and dirty tiger hair patch on the quarter panel.
I took it home last night, to spray some sliver paint on my sweet body work, and about 50 mph, BANG!!! screeeeeeeeeech.
Frame broke , right where the control arm attaches. I would have never caught this in a normal state inspection .
As I was leaving the last intersection before it happened, I noticed that the steering wheel was no longer centered, and was wondering if I was getting a flat or something .

[drkshdw]

That could've turned out a lot worse than it did. Lucky it was you driving it and not a kid.

And looks like the result of some wicked PA/NY road salt. Dunno what you guys put in that stuff but it really takes a toll on the cars there.

[fastfredracing]

Yep, there is a man upstairs. he was to loan it out to an 18 year old female exchange student this weekend . I was just sick of being at the shop yesterday, and decided to paint it at home instead. Worked out splendidly .
It was pretty hard to keep it on the road once it broke .

[rfuerst911sc]

I agree with that road salt comment I was born/raised in Upstate N.Y. and you could hear the cars rusting at night ! You might want to go purchase a lottery ticket .

[onewhippedpuppy]

Holy crap! That's scary stuff.

[slow&rusty]

Is this a manufacturing flaw or integrity issue related to being in a salt \ snow environment?

[fastfredracing]

People from different environments cannot fathom just how bad stuff rusts here. This is typical. I think it is a 2004 .

[rfuerst911sc]

Originally Posted by fastfredracing

People from different environments cannot fathom just how bad stuff rusts here. This is typical. I think it is a 2004 .

Agree 100 % with your comment . I learned VERY early on about anti-seize and penetrating oil while living in N.Y. it is a never ending battle to undo nuts and bolts . Also learned oxy/acetelyne is your friend !!! I've lived in the South now for 26 + years and don't miss that road salt one bit . My brother still lives upstate and every car he buys regardless if new or used he has had them Ziebarted . Some may say this is a scam but his vehicles NEVER have rust issues .

[asphaltgambler]

That's no accident............glad that it happened with an experienced guy behind the wheel at low speed....

[drkshdw]

If you wanna know what NY/PA salt does to a vehicle, watch Eric O. at South Main Auto on YouTube. The piles of junk he works on that look like they've sat at the bottom of the ocean for 50 years yet are only 4 years old with 20K miles on them. It's unbelievable how bad this particular salt is on cars.

[flipper35]

At least the car wash is cheap and has the underbody wash. It helps to go through often here. We may not spread as much as PA though.

[wayner]

I chuckle every time I see a Californian part out a car for rust

Those cars would be considered to be in great shape in Canada

[greglepore]

Its become much worse in the last 10 years or so, around the time they began spraying liquid brine to pretreat roads. Newish pickups around here all look like crap, and brakelines are sacrificial.

[Tobra]

Originally Posted by rfuerst911sc

IYou might want to go purchase a lottery ticket .

Nope, used up all his luck for this month.

[rwest]

Had a 1993 Geo Metro that all of a sudden started turning on its own- luckily, it was on side streets near my house, so very low speed, pulled into a parking lot and saw the same sort of damage. Went home and bought a new car a few days later.

[porsche930dude]

Yup subframes dont last long here. On the other hand my mothers 2000 audi a4 and my brothers 2001 vw gti are remarkably rust free and they never get washed.

[Baz]

Whoa....good job on managing that suspension/frame breach, Fred!

There's some Karma at work there, buddy.

What did you mean when you said this was the last year it could be inspected?

[pete3799]

Talk about rust......i finally had to park my 2003 Tacoma. Towards the end of winter I could hear something banging under the floorboards. After a few weeks i decided i should check it out.
I just went out and took some pictures. My camera battery went dead on me but i got a few.
Maybe the battery didn't go dead it was just too scared to take any more pictures

[wayner]

Those tacomas had a rusty frame recall

[Bob Kontak]

Originally Posted by drkshdw

watch Eric O. at South Main Auto on YouTube.

Watched a couple of his vids. He's good. Subscribed. Thanks.