My friend Jamie is from Chicago, but lives in the Detroit area. He also works for a steel company and regularly hangs out at junkyards, so it’s possible he’s seen more rust than any human in history. So when he sent me a recent picture of a completely rotted-out pickup truck, and I asked for more photos, he admitted that he didn’t think to, since it didn’t really seem like a big deal. The truck seemed fairly standard, he thought. But no, no it is not “fairly standard.”
“Passes Michigan inspection every time!” my friend sent me along with the picture of completely rotted-out white (and brown) Chevy Silverado.
The truck is a second-generation GMT-900 Silverado, meaning at the oldest it’s a 2007 — so it’s 17 years old. That’s hardly a spring chicken, so you might expect some amount of corrosion, maybe on the rocker panels and around the wheel wells, but you’d never expect this much rust:
Look at the rocker panels and that cab corner — they’ve gone completely Bluetooth!
And of course, that rear wheel opening — my god, where did all the metal go?
“That’s the Chevy Silverado, made with high-strength steel for high-strength dependability.”
But this truck really gets crazy at the rear, where the taillight has nothign to screw to, so it’s just taped to what’s left of the bedside. The tailgate hinge is straight-up gone, and the only thing holding the gate in place appears to be the upper latch and what looks like some kind of makeshift lower lip preventing the bottom from falling out:
Do I even want to know what’s happening on the other side of the truck? Is that the taillight that’s jutting out? Also, the bumper has a hole, and the frame/rear suspension is brown. It’s all brown, really. The whole thing is a nightmare.
Up front, there’s a fender flare that I’m guessing is there primarily to hide all the rust around the wheel.
“Random shitbox I saw at Walmart today,” my friend Jamie wrote to me, before saying that, even though this is the worst GMT-900 he’s seen, it’s fairly standard to see vehicles like this in Michigan.
“It’s certainly nothing too interesting,” he said. “I was leaving Walmart outside of Lansing when I did a double-take and had to go back for a picture…Someone was sitting in it having lunch. They looked cozy in the sunshine.”
To prove that this isn’t an anomaly, here are some other trucks Jamie has seen driving around — this third-gen Ram 1500 (probably a 2003-2005) can be found around Ann Arbor:
You see a lot of the same issues that the Silverado has; a rusted-through rear bumper, disintegrated metal around the rear wheel well, the bottom part of the tailgate evaporated into nothingness.
And here’s a 2003-2005-ish Chevy Silverado that Jamie saw at a steel mill:
Wowzers. The rocker panel is gone, and once again, it looks like the rear tire had TNT in it and blew up that whole rear wheel-opening.
All the rusty spots share a common theme: They trap dirt, salt, and moisture. Those rocker panels let in the grime and trap it; the rear wheels shoot up wet filth, which sticks to the back side of the rear bumper and to the inside of those wheel wells, rotting them out; t bed tends to trap moisture and leaves, and that rests against the bottom of that tailgate, which itself can often trap dirt and water inside itself. Anytime you have moist, dirty, salty filth sitting against metal for an extended period of time, you can expect your vehicle to undergo a weight-savings program.
That all these vehicles are legal to drive in Michigan is amazing, though I suppose as long as those frames are solid, and nothing flies off, I’m totally cool with them continuing their miserable lives losing the battle to The Tin Worm.
As bad as these are, none will ever defeat the Detroit Diplomat as The Official Car of Michigan.
[Note: This is no disrespect to those who drive these trucks. Keeping an old workhorse on the road is a hard thing to do, and as someone who has had to do it for years in Michigan, I respect it. And not everyone can afford a newer truck. Still, it’s wild to see machines that have become so toasty in such a short period. -DT].
It happens due to poverty, would you take a picture of a homeless person sleeping under a bridge then post an article essentially poking fun at them for their living conditions?
Wrong
Poverty may be a reason why the cars are maintained badly, but the point of the article is not about that. This was a new truck not so long ago. Keeping your reference, we are speaking about a house that reduces itself from a new build house to ready for demolition in 20 years, this should not be the case, regardless the lack of maintenance.
anyone else heard of fluid film? or wool wax? i believe these are lanolin-based. i’ve been learning. applied regularly, it seems to work really well at preventing or even stopping rust. (if things are not too far gone yet.)
Fluid Film works well but that’s the key – you need to do it early (first year ideally) and re-do it often (every year or two at the outside). Once the cancer sets in, there’s no stopping it.
Fluid Film in rattle cans is much more expensive because it has so much solvent in it – it doesn’t go as far. I buy it by the gallon and 1 gallon does my truck.
Big fan of Woolwax. Keeping my 99 S-10 on the road. Every two years I put it up on the lift and blast away. Pro tip: heat the container with a small electric heater or in hot sun to get it flowing and tune the air pressure to get a spray good pattern. Woolwax smells good too which is nice, it’s lanolin not petroleum.
PA resident here – I have noted the GMT 900’s seem to rust our early and fast compared to prior GM offerings. The Rams seem the overall worst in terms of tin worm. None of these would be allowed on the roads here – have to ship to WV or OH.
West By God has vehicle inspections.
I stand corrected. Worst cars I see when travelling are OH, IN, IL. Saw a ’73? Buick Century with flapping quarter panels last trip to IL.
Grew up in WV, then spent most of my adult life out west before coming back to Appalachia. I absolutely loathe having to get my cars inspected here. It might be worse than the annual property tax we get to pay on our vehicles.
No property tax in PA. Emissions (if in an eligible county) and safety run about 95 annually. I do feel it keeps the worst cars off the road, anecdotally I see far more highway breakdowns in southern and non-inspection states and I drive 30k plus a year.
In Omaha, I’ve seen 11th & 12th gen F150s with the bed sides held on by a few strips of metal. It doesn’t take much because the wheel arch is rusted away, the bottoms of the doors resemble lace curtains and the front fenders are 30-50% gone.
The Dodge Rams and GMT 400s & 800s are likewise rusted out. It’s not like Omaha gets feet of snow that lasts from November to April, but they sure put the salt down.
Maybe I don’t get to Lake Tahoe often enough, but I don’t remember seeing so many rust heaps up there. And it’s not like California has onerous physical inspections that removes vehicles from the road for being crap cans;; just for failure to pass emissions when some turd steals the catalytic converter.
But only some of the eastern panhandle and northern counties actually care. I live in the southern half of the state, and I haven’t had one on any vehicle I’ve owned for…. 9 years? Most people I know don’t bother either, it’s just a $15 tax that goes into the state police retirement fund. And even the “inspections” are basically “That’ll be $15, here’s your sticker, come back and ask for help if you can’t put it on yourself”
I am in the regular Virginia now, not WV. But down here in the bottom of the state no one has been hassling me about my 2-months-out inspection sticker.
I’ll get it done, eventually, to avoid any unplanned meetings with the law.
These trucks look like dirt road dwellers. I used to live on a dirt road in Michigan, winter would get salt and in the summer the county would soak the road with calcium chloride to control dust.
Yep, dirt roads are a two edged sword. You get your isolation and your privacy, but part of the price is that your vehicles rot away much faster.
Petition to buy a load of these PURE MICHIGAN stickers for you friend Jamie to slap on the tailgate of every one of these bad boys. I’m sure the Michigan Tourism department will be THRILLED about a few hundred of these stickers entering the wild as a beautiful rolling billboard for the state!@
Pure Michigan
I’ve never understood how manufacturers haven’t shifted to aluminum body panels across the board (it’s profit, I know), that alone has always shown that cars are not made to last a (reasonable) lifetime, only a lease-time while prices continue to climb lol
For the most part rust is not the issue that ends a cars life. All cars I’ve had I’ve sold off because everything else was failing (usually 10 -15 years old). What’s the point in having a car with perfect body panels when the frame is rotted out and it barely runs? I don’t want to pay the extra expense up-front so that it looks perfect while being carted off to the crusher. Use it sparingly and it makes sense though.
Whoa. That’s wild. Every single car that I have scrapped or sold has been due to rust. Every one.
I grew up in Michigan and love the state. My last three years there were in the UP. I will never move back; however, as long as they continue to carpet the roads with salt instead of requiring that people purchase proper winter tires like Europe or Quebec.
My brother-in-law was in charge of one of the most populous counties in Michigan. I asked him why he used salt instead of sand like they do out west. His answer was that he didn’t want to pay someone $25/hour to remove sand from the sewers and ditches every spring.
Nah, just burn the fish out
That’s just it. There is a small part of the US (maybe at most 5-10%) that has that issue and even in those parts it can vary. I’ve lived in both Cincinnati and Cleveland Ohio, just 4 hours away from eachother, and Cleveland cars will rust out usually and Cincinnati cars usually die some other way first.
Even in the high salt areas the more rural areas they don’t use salt, it’s just in the cites, suburbs, and highways. So, as much as I’d like to see cars last forever it’s not worth the up-front premium when it only helps like 5% of the population, and even then it only helps the second or third owner when the car is 10 -15 years old. And the frames will still rot anyway, unless they’re making the entire thing out of aluminum or stainless. Then get ready for some seriously expensive cars.
I just remember jokes about the rust belt cars. “That car has gone through Michigan’s automatic weight decrease program”.
David mentioned that:
“Anytime you have moist, dirty, salty filth sitting against metal for an extended period of time, you can expect your vehicle to undergo a weight-savings program.”
Yep, David Tracy, the “Rust-loving Jeep man,” has gone full Hollywood. 2 years ago he wouldn’t have even shrugged at these trucks (they’re not far out of the norm in the poorer sections of Michigan).
I’d have a lot more trust in the structural integrity of that Sierra than several of David’s projects. Project POStal and the FC jeep come to mind.
> 2 years ago he wouldn’t have even shrugged at these trucks
The only reason he might not have bought them for Moab content is they’re not Mopar.
Trucks folded in the middle like a taco, cars with the wheels all sitting at different angles, rear bumpers that are barely off the ground because the structure has collapsed over the rear suspension… You get to see all kinds of terrifying shit on the roads here in salty Michigan.
Dodge bumpers rust like that in Arizona, but for all else blame the lack of inspections in MI. Any state with safety inspections would have required rust-through to be repaired.
These things were allowed free roam for a decade after perforating rust.
And for the get the government out of my car types – imagine the condition of the brake lines on these trucks and that your kids could be in the car ahead of them at a stop light.
Not all inspection states require rust through to be repaired, and why would they? Body panels aren’t a safety item, like at all.
Cars in RI and MA will fail for this, if you go to a by the book shop. Which is really a kick in the nuts, the whole reason for the rust in the first place is because it’s the state insists on dumping an inch layer of road salt every time winter precipitation is in the forecast.
They do in my state. A few years ago a mechanic in VT was charged with murder or manslaughter for passing a rusty car that folded like an accordion in an accident and inspectors have become a lot more aware of severe rust since then.
https://www.burlingtonfreepress.com/story/news/local/vermont/2015/08/11/mechanic-charged-manslaughter/31466163/
Right. Severe rust. Not body damage that is literally just cosmetic.
In Europe (read: Germany) they’d probably fail for rusted body panels ‘that could pose risk to pedestrians in the case of impact!’
Likewise in Sweden.
They consider perforating rust even on exterior body panels to be a danger to pedestrians (I think). In any case, you will fail safety inspection for any open rust hole even in a the body skin.
I know some(most, I think) states do, but some don’t.
Danger to pedestrians is a hilarious reason.
I think the danger is more to pedestrians walking past the rusted jagged edges in parking lots than from collisions.
I know. And thats a hilarious reason, I think it’s wild that the state of Pennsylvania thinks it’s their job to keep people from walking into cars that could be sharp.
I remember when parking lots were still full of those 70s/80s cars that always had some kind of metal trim around the wheel arches. The mounting points for those trim pieces was the first thing to rust and then trim sticks out.
I caught those trim pieces in the leg, the gut and even less comfortable places walking by parked cars without specifically looking out for those things.
I doubt that’s the reason for the rules, but it’s a happy accident if it prevents this.
I would bet on the frames being holy as the pope
David, David… let he who is without sin cast the first stone (through the hole where the fender used to be).
As a New Yorker–the state, not the city–what do you mean, “already”?
I’ve seen some bad trucks in Michigan, but those are even worse than some I’ve seen. That tailgate needs to be taken off that truck… it is a hazard if that falls off.
Seems like a missed opportunity to throw in a Detroit Diplomat picture, even if it’s not as bad as these trucks.
A friend of mine bought a shiny new Silverado in 2016 here in central Kentucky. The rocker panels started bubbling after about 4 years and as of now have completely left the chat. While I agree driving in Michigan is hell on car parts, but the problem is much more wide spread, we get very little snow / salt around here.
Snow and salt may start the corrosion and rot, but humidity is what keeps it going the rest of the year. In areas like Idaho, Montana, Colorado, Utah, there is plenty of snow and salt, and resulting surface rust, but actual rot is rare, since it’s super dry most of the year.
The TÜV technician will definitely faint at the sight and declare them permanent vehicula non grata. No amount of begging, lying, stealing, cheating would change his mind.
I’ve seen enough movies to know that German authoritative figures can often be persuaded with proper… encouragements.
See: Schindler’s List, Inglorious Basterds, etc.
Nope. Films are fantasy and don’t always represent the modern German bureaucracy. That is unless they are politicians (which are easiest “authoritative” Germans to bribe).
Operating one of those trucks must be like driving around in a harmonica.
You should see the Holey Goat on YouTube channel Pole Barn Garage. He says the noise going down the highway is incredible, and he should know cuz he drove it on Power Tour.
It’s Michigan.
You should see the state of cars. The number of damaged vehicles on the roads, held together with bailer twine, zip ties, and a prayer – that paint was likely heavily compromised and the owner gave zeroshits to fix it. Then the winter salt came to take the rest.
I find myself torn between thinking that we need inspections to get these death traps off the roads, and knowing that the immediate effect of requiring safety inspections would be to force hundreds of thousands of poor Michiganders either off the roads or to drive unregistered vehicles. It’s bad enough with all the people currently driving without insurance.
Early morning driving in MI whilst there for work: the number of vehicles without plates driving I94 or I75 is astounding.
There’s zero enforcement and Michigan has the highest insurance rates in the country so this is what happens. The whole situation is just fucked.
You will get pulled over though if you forget to put your new registration sticker on the back of your car, as my brother recently found out. The state doesn’t like it if they aren’t getting their annual check from you.
Forcing poor people off the road is an acceptable price to pay if it means a real reduction in crashes, injuries, and deaths.
No, the real reason they shouldn’t implement inspections to get these death traps off the road is because inspections don’t mean a real reduction in crashes, injuries, and deaths. Car crashes caused by mechanical or structural failures of the car, and not by driver error or other factors, are negligibly few both in inspection and non-inspection states.
If only America were to step up to the plate with good public transit infrastructure, then it’d be an easy decision to make.
What do you mean? I don’t see how public transit changes things, safety inspections are still ineffective and a waste of time and money.
Public transit would mean that poorer people would not be forced to drive cars that are not roadworthy in order to get from A to B
I was about to say—we desperately need better options for folks who can’t afford to keep a car in working order.
Yeah, now that I have 2 teens on the policy, I’m starting to wonder how most people in Michigan can afford insurance. It’s around $2,000 a year per car for me, and it doesn’t matter if that car is 15 years old or 3 years old… they aren’t that different in price. We have perfect driving records too. It would not shock me if 20-30 percent of the population is uninsured.
Ouch, my wife and I know that we will get the arm length glove treatment when our daughter starts driving in a few years. At least we only have one kid to add to the policy.
I’m in NYC with only one car, and my kids will be driving age in 3 years.
I will be surprised if the annual premium is ONLY 4 figures. Hell I’m fully prepared that the insurance bill will be 5 figures, and the first digit will not be a “1.”
California would like a word. 3 cars, 2 senior citizens drivers and a cumulative 15-20k miles/year (non-commute non-urban). Still $3,200/ year.
If you think those pictures look bad, you should see how much money is left on their note from the BHPH lot…
Trapping moisture, combined with manufacturers going to thinner and thinner gauge steel, you get fenders that just vanish.
I mean, yes, they are all bad. But, with the exception of that Sierra, I wouldn’t give any of them a second glance if I saw them on the road.
I don’t think these are that crazy, they’re only like one standard deviation worse than normal. A large part of this country performs road treatments with a remarkable disregard for private property, and this is the result.
Also, that 3rd gen ram isn’t just because Michigan, 3rd gens are just made of beer cans and they rot even out here in the desert.
VA will salt the whole state when only cold rain is forecast. Like in the 40’s when there’s zero chance of anything freezing. They use so much salt that roads are pure white after everything dries.
I can’t place 100% of the blame on governments; I’ve got to place some blame on John Q. Public. So many people expect roads to be entirely clear at all times regardless of what the actual weather is like. I live in a top 5 snowiest city in the US, and so many people here flat out refuse to believe snow tires are helpful and simultaneously want all snow removed from roads immediately. Decades ago snow on the road was just a thing. The intent was never to make roads entirely bare pavement all winter long. You just knew to drive more carefully. If you had the money, you’d invest in snow tires.
Kentucky and southern Indiana do the exact same thing. Lows won’t be below 40, and the ground won’t be cold enough for anything to stick, but if there’s even the slightest chance that three snowflakes might fall, they salt things like they’re preparing for a snowstorm.
Similar conditions in California calls for chain control in the mountains. TBF, I’ve also seen video of 18 wheelers dragging the trailer at 20° to the direction of travel behind the tractor and a CHP Tahoe pushing the trailer to keep everyone moving.
The question is, how is it still drivable? How has it not fallen apart yet?
I mean, duh it’s going to rust.
I know you’re in California now, but did you forget really about rust that quickly? 😛
What people should do is spray the undercarriage with some kind of oil. Krown is the most well-known rustproofing, but there are others.
Yup, I’m a Krown man. Had three cars Krowned!
I think those treatments are illegal in some states.
What? 😮
Shops that do it are present in every state that gets rust.
If California bans it, it doesn’t matter, because cars don’t rust over there.
I feel like Rusty Jones / Ziebart places were everywhere when I was a kid and then they were nowhere to be seen. Had assumed it was some kind of environmental issue in my state. Is the Krown stuff different than the old stuff?
Krown is an oil spray, and so are most of the others.
Ziebart is a hard coating that can actually make things worse once it develops a crack. In that case, moisture gets in thru the cracks, but the moisture cannot get back out, accelerating the rust.
This is why Ford wins. I would not even consider another truck, because the aluminum body is such a game changer.
“bbbuuuttt aluminum corrodes too!!”
Yeah I have a 24 year old Honda Insight that says otherwise. Chassis looks perfect.
Now consider the resale value of a truck that looks decent vs one with giant holes. Again, FORD WINS.
Also I support the Cybertruck for the same reason. Any truck not made of steel is a winner.
Do you live in a climate and has the Insight been used in a way that a comparable steel car would be in considerably worse shape? I have 24 year old and older cars with chassis that look perfect, without aluminum.
Also, not all aluminum is made equal. Pure aluminum is very corrosion resistant, but many aluminum alloys, especially higher magnesium alloys, are more prone. I have never heard of an Insight having corrosion issues, but Ford aluminum panels have had a reputation for corroding for almost 20 years now. Just because your Insight is aluminum and doesn’t rot does not mean a Ford won’t.
Show me an aluminum ford rotted as much as the trucks above and I’ll paypal you $25.
I’m not saying that aluminum isn’t any better than steel, I’m saying that aluminum, especially certain alloys, can still rot to a significant degree, including all the way through the panels.
Of course, stainless is the best. Or fiberglass, that doesn’t rot.
Actually, 13th gen (2015) was the start of aluminum body on the F150.
Yes, 2015 was the first year that the entire body of the f150 was made of aluminum, but Ford(and Mazda, which used to be kinda the same) have been using aluminum panels for a long time, staring with the 1990 Miata’s aluminum hood. My 2007 Expedition has an aluminum hood and back hatch, and both are known for corrosion issues.
I can’t recall if my 98 Ranger 4WD 4.0 had an aluminum hood or not. It was a step side and had fiberglass bed sides. Never noticed any corrosion on it, but we do live in NorCal.
Yeah, I don’t think rangers used any aluminum. I don’t have any corrosion on my aluminum panels, but a family member has an identical expedition and had to repaint the hatch because of some rather significant corrosion.
Being old and height challenged, I always thought the hood of the Ranger was a bit of an exercise to lift & put up the prop rod.
No kidding, you are height challenged if you couldn’t put up the hood of a Ranger. I own like 5 vehicles with hoods considerably higher than that, including a 1986 CJ that has no prop rod, you just lay the hood all the way back against the windshield.
Well, to be fair, it was an “off road” labeled 4×4, but yeah, I’m not tall cowboy.
To be fair, before the aluminum F150, nearly every aluminum hood that Ford ever made started corroding and losing paint within 2-3 years. Same goes for the few models that Ford ever used aluminum tailgates on.
My folks lease and they’ve had numerous Fords with aluminum hoods over the years start to flake paint in large bits due to corrosion before the lease was up. The problem seems to have gone away when the aluminum F150 came out though.
Honestly that’s probably due to dissimilar metal corrosion, not the aluminum specifically. It has killed many a Land Rover. That being said it could be intergranular corrosion, which is something Land Rovers have dealt with for years.
Something more relevant to today’s automobiles and your comparison is Jeep Wrangler and Jeep Gladiator doors. The are aluminum doors with steel hinges and Jeep in their infinite wisdom decided to mate bare steel and bare aluminum, surprise surprise the paint starts bubbling almost immediately.
Bingo! You nailed it!
I’m with you there, however the ecoboom engines are not confidence inspiring, and even if you go for one of their NA engines their transmissions are not great either.
Also their “rust proofing” for their steel components is pretty lacking. During the lockdowns people were getting “New” F-150s whose rear axles were already covered in rust.
If I had to buy a new Truck it would be an F-150, but they got a lot room for improvement.
Also dissimilar metal corrosion is definitely something to look out for BOF vehicles with aluminum bodies, I’ve seen aluminum rot through on Land Rovers where the rubber that separates the steel frame and the aluminum bodies rots away.
I hope Ford will make a new E-Series out of aluminum. That would be pretty slick.
The E-series has been out of production for a decade (except the cutaways) and has been replaced by the T-series. As the owner of an E-350, I think they only place they surpass the Transit is in Gross Combined Vehicle Weight Ratings. I personally do not pine for a new E-series
Exactly, the cutaways are still in production.
In the rust belt and or the south would you rather have a steel unibody van or a aluminum BOF van?
The F150 will just lose its frame while the cab stays intact.
I promise aluminum is not so corrosion resistant that it will remain untouched in the same conditions that structurally destroy a thick steel frame. Nothing is that corrosion resistant except glass, and I mean that literally. In the rust belt plastic rusts.
Find me a super corroded honda insight. Cmon they’re 25 years old now. I’ll wait.
I have never seen or heard of one, Honda seems to have done a very good job of making those cars durable.
However, after our discussion the other day, it was funny when I saw a Ford Expedition in traffic today with the aluminum hatch corroded completely through. I mean big holes. The rest of the car was actually mint, and I could see the frame underneath still with clean black paint.
I was saying that aluminum is better than steel but not invincible, but now I’m not sure. On that expedition at least, the aluminum was clearly worse than the steel panels corrosion wise. I have no idea if new Ford pickups use the same problematic alloys they used to use.
No, no, no, the correct solution is an old Audi A8. Aluminium everything.