trailing arm mounts 2nd gen

[Nas Escobar]

I'll need to do this same job one day, so am glad to know about it. 

It's a wonder that Nas has rust free (older!) models.

 

My cars were driven by older people and don't get driven in the snow. Plus the DC area doesn't get as much snow as the northeast does. There will be one year or 2 in a decade where it snows a lot but the winter is pretty sedate in DC. It's more windy than anything.

 

I do need to paint my subframe though. I'm getting surface rust and I'm not a big fan of that.

[95GS]

I think I recall a huge blizzard in D.C. this past winter, but snow can't last long in that clime. 

Not the same as 4-5 months of road salt. My 1995 subframe is about half the thickness 

of the one I just received from Heartbeat. Even the bolt heads and nuts don't accept the standard sockets.

Painting before installation.

[Nas Escobar]

Yup, towards the end of January. Before that, there was a blizzard in February 2010. 2010 was pretty snowy actually. But then 2011-2015 were sedate.

 

The other thing about road salt is that its not the salt itself that's bad, it's salt and water. Water creates surface rust as you'll see on your brake rotors when you leave your car parked in the rain. That happens to me all the time on all my cars. But I drive and the surface rust disappears. The rotor isn't compromised.

 

Now mix water and salt on bare metal and you have the tin worm. DC winters are usually dry but can dip to below freezing. Plus there's usually strong winds.

 

So my car's exposure to salt is usually once a month. I usually wash my car the day after it's dry outside if I do drive it. Usually the "other" car gets driven when it's nasty like that outside. Usually it was the Camaro but this winter it's gonna be the Infiniti.

[jiggity76]

Here is Iowa they use a salt or brine mix with some sort of solution, maybe water and they coat the hell out of the roads all the time.  Before any little snow fall is predicted, they spray it on the roads and you can see the white haze on all the roads including parking lots and side streets.  Vehicles always have this white haze on them from it driving on it and it literally eats away at the body panels and under carriage.  Several people at work who have trucks that are only 7-8 years old have rockers, cab corners, and above the rear tire on the quarter panel that are bubbling up and starting to let go.  Cars usually have rust on the rockers towards the rear tire and the quarter panel.  They like to rust right in front of the rear tire or above it.  All vehicles rust on the bottom of the door seams and tail gate/ SUV hatches.  All my friends who have different makes of vehicles that are again 7-8 years old have rust in these places.  If you want to avoid rust here you simply store your car from Nov-to Apr or May when everything clears up. 

[95GS]

  If you want to avoid rust here you simply store your car from Nov-to Apr or May when everything clears up. 

 

I think there's another option, esp. for the type of DIYer found on this forum.

Though it takes time, anyone who can perform mid level mechanical work

(let alone those who swap engines on the weekend) is able to do a tear-apart

and spray those (well-known vulnerable) areas.

This region (Quebec) is pretty salty, especially urban jungles. Rustproofing businesses abound here, with many private garages

doing it too. Not sure if this is commonplace elsewhere. Conscientious car owners get an annual spray each fall. Oil formulas vary from thick buttery custard to thin seeping oil which creeps into every crevasse. 

 A standard job is $60 - $100 CDN. 

When it was a few years old, my GS was treated to a deluxe treatment by the previous owner. Cost several hundred dollars, but the fellow removed many interior panels, skirting and used a good quality formula. Not a one hour treatment. Now it gets a garage spray treatment most years, plus my own interim attention to sensitive areas.  Most of us could do the same, before it rusts. 

The body's not corrosion free, had some years of neglect, but largely preserved despite its age & climate. 

 

In my limited but passable bodywork restoration (rot repair) on other cars, I found it was a mistake to paint inner nooks and crannies, hoping they'd remain quiescent, sealed, rot proof...but not so.

If there's any rot there, it will return. Instead, only the exterior gets paint, behind the scene gets seeping rustproof oil. 

Repeat as required. The rot, in my experience, lay dormant.

 

'Underbody or Rockergaurd Coating' also seems pretty tenacious on good metal.

I've never tried POR 15 or truck bed liner, but have used phosphoric acid to get to bright metal for primer application.

 

So, since we know our vehicles and their weak spots, we can give them a fighting chance.

If it must be a winter DD.

 

Whoa. Off topic. My old trailing arms are rusty, just picked up new Dormans. Nice.

[BrianG]

This is awesome, and may just be what I need to save my TGP and I know at least one other person that will like this.

[Imp558]

Phone pics but you can see more of the area that was affected by the refit:

 

[Imp558]

And alll 3 of them are sideways.