I'm looking for a used 997.2. I've seen a few online with the options i want... but they're on the east coast. I've had a friend that bought a used A4 from the east coast and the entire underside was rusty. Would you guys avoid any 997 from areas where they salt the roads?

 

Presumably the car is under warranty/CPO? If so, there should be no problem. Don't forget millions of people on the east coast buy used cars and have no problems, as do those in the midwest, and all over western Europe (Germany for instance). Additionally, many would not be driving their 997s during bad winter weather.

 

I live in that area and it depends on the car... You can not make a blanket statement as many of these cars are not driven in the bad weather seasons, even 4S. Also if it s got low miles it has not been out in the elements that much. So I guess I m saying that you d have to look at each case on an individual basis.

 

The biggest problem from salted roads is the fasteners. You may need to use PB Blaster to break some of the nuts free. The body is a combination of galvanized and aluminum panels. While the suspension has a lot of aluminum parts.

I looked at a four year old Carrera S from Cincinnati and the underside was perfect except for heat tint on the exhaust. I purchased a one year old '09' Carrera S from Chicago. It had 12,000 mi. on the clock and the underside had a lot of rusted fasteners. I decided I could live with replacing a few bolts and nuts.

 

I would never buy an "east coast car" if I were you...

Bokchoy... Isn't that a cabbage head????

 

Huh?.. I live on the 'east coast' - actually about 120 miles inland from the coast, and we never have any salt/rust/corrosion issues.

Of course I'm also below the snow belt.. which makes a huge difference.

I think a better question might be, 'Would you buy a used Porsche from a state that salts the roads?"

I've bought a couple motorcycles from sunny Florida over the years. Never again.. talk about salt air doing some serious damage to chrome/aluminum and wiring.

 

All of our unibody cars these days are hot dip galvanized, and usually with a pretty thick coat. The only things that rust are where there's body damage that goes through the galvanizing, and parts underneath that aren't stainless or are poor quality stainless.

The "myth" of modern cars from the East Coast or other salty areas somehow being a rust bucket is ridiculous. Since you're looking at a current car, just find the one you want and don't worry where it comes from.

 

Typically, an "east coaster" drives his or her car about 6 months a year... The seasonal car is babied and stored in a heated facility for the remainder of the year... Low mileage is a by-product of stored cars... Great care is taken to stabilize fuel, cover, detail and for the most part given more care and feeding than most other Porsches...
I'd do some serious research before eliminating ,for purchase, half of the Porsches in the country.

I spend the winter pulling the wheels off the car and clean and wax the wheels and take a toothbrush to the calipers to get every speck of dirt off.. I get as much enjoyment out of the car by cleaning it as I do driving it... and I consider myself a typical "east coaster".

 

Ever look under a 997? There's also a lot plastic coverage on the underside. That's got to help some.

 

Completely disagree.

I grew up in Vermont and upstate/central New York and each and every car that i've had was rusting from the bottom up after just 3-4 years. I've witnessed it first hand over and over again.

If the car was driven in the inclement weather repeatedly, I'd personally stay away from it. There are just too many cars out there that haven't seen this.

 

Please reread my post. I specifically called out several times that I'm not talking about cars from when you grew up, though I don't exactly know your age of course. Of course those rusted and nobody can argue that fact. That's the specific reason the Delorean used stainless construction.

So how long ago did you grow up there? And what model years were these cars you're referencing that were becoming rust buckets after only 3-4 years?

For anyone that can, I'd like to see evidence of late-model vehicles with significant rust on non-mild steel parts (exhaust, brake rotors, etc), or parts where body damage has gotten through the galvanizing.

Most car manufacturers today now offer not only warranties for mechanical parts, but 5 year paint warranties. If rust really was an issue you had to worry about, this very expensive warranty for the manufacturers to fulfill would not be the standard in the industry now.

I need to take some pictures of my 2004 STi that I've parted out, but still have the shell from. There isn't a speck of rust anywhere on the unibody other than a couple of tiny spots where the paint was chipped so badly it went right through the galvanizing too. This car spent the first 3 years of its life on Martha's Vineyard in about the best rust-promoting conditions possible, yet it had zero rust anywhere other than on mild steel parts. It spent the next 3 years very close to the coast as well wracking up over 20k miles per year and showed no appreciable increase in rust.

 

Teflon Jones is on the money..
As a kid buying my first car in 1960 I was looking at 58 Chevys with rusted through headlight frames... That's a thing of the past...

Take a look at the Nat. Geo. piece on factories. It's a whole new ballgame out there regarding rust... Most mfgs have a ten year rust through guarantee....

If the car was used in a commercial while driving through the surf on the Pacific side of the country then I would suggest staying away...

In fact this is a ....... thread... Should be plenty of cars on the left coast....

 

I grew up in Vermont and upstate/central NY in the late 90's. I had a brand new 1994 VW Jetta GLX and a brand new 1997 VW Passat GLX that after just 3-4 years of solid winter driving (with A LOT of salt) showed significant rust on the under side of the cars. Did I go through a car wash after each and every snow storm? No I didn't. I was honestly shocked of this and I'm not entirely sure that the rust prevention in the last 10-15 years has changed all that much.

When I asked the dealer on these cars about the rust warranties, I was told that it covered rust perforation. As in there literally had to be a hole somewhere for them to cover it.

Here in Colorado where salt isn't used on the roads, I haven't seen a singe bit of rust in 10 years on any of my cars.

Just my data point. Cheers!
Anyone else from something like Syracuse (the Salt City) want to chime in?

 

As said before it really depends on the particular car. I am in NJ and my car lives in the garage when there is even the hint of snow/salt/ice etc. I can tell you that most of the porsches (excluding cayenne and prob panamera) are probably treated the same way. The ones you worry about are the daily drivers, those see the elements most frequently. I see far fewer 911s out and about during the winter months.

So if you are planning to use the car as a DD, the chance of rust should be a non issue. If you are buying a weekend toy etc, look for a car that has been treated as such prior to you purchasing it. I would not exclude an "east coast" car strictly because of the location. A PPI should also give you insight as to how the car was cared for.

History is most important, and a PPI of course. Good luck

Ken

 

Actually most of the cars built today are built with electro galvanized not hot dipped. Initially the hot dipped product was prone to a surface finish called spangle. If you have an old bucket you may be able to see the star like finish. If a car was produced with that finish every body panel would have to be hand sanded to get an acceptable surface for paint.

Armco Steel came up with a process for hot dipped galvanized and produced a product called Ultra Smooth. The zinc surface produced from that process was acceptable for an automotive finish. Armco held the patent rights to the process and as demand grew people started looking for ways around the patents. In walked electro galvanized in several variations. EG made it a lot easier to produce side to side differential coating weights along with a one side coated product.

All looked well until energy costs began to rise and people started looking back to hot dipped. Armco worked on another process to eliminate the spangle surface and found that zinc without lead would produce a smooth surface. So hot dipped got back into the game.

I'm not sure what the current mix is but I can tell you the automotive companies were looking for ways to reduce the amount of zinc for cost savings, not adding to the coating weight

As far as stainless under the body skin about the only thing under the body made with stainless is the exhaust system. It's not a good idea to couple stainless and carbon steel.

All of the above and $1 will get you a bad cup of coffee