dochalladay32

I have a 99 Mustang with great mileage so I'm hoping I can keep it going for another hundred thousand miles or so. The problem is that after spending 5 years in Ohio for college, the salt and snow looks to be getting the best of part of it.

Lately, I've noticed it bottoms out in places it never did before. Shocks are only a couple years old and still feel fine. Air pressures are fine. So I start looking under the car and I see this (see picture).

Now, I'm not sure if that's what is hitting the ground (the car makes a loud thunk anytime I go over a small dip leaving my apartment and occasional places around town, something it never did a few weeks ago). But that rust looks horrible. It just flakes off; I can run my hand over it and have a pile in no time. The metal still feels solid beneath, but I'm not an expert on how much rust is too much either. I'm currently in Delaware now but when I get back home in December, I plan on getting it on jack stands and grinding/sanding all that rust off.

My 3-part question: is grinding the rust off enough now that I'm out of salt/snow hell that is NE Ohio, and/or should I use some rustoleum or another rust-proofing paint on it to prevent further damage, and/or should I reenforce it with another piece of metal as I don't want my radiator suddenly being in danger of falling out of my car?

TomKat

looks like just lil bit of surface rust

dawson1112

I can tell you that is not hitting the ground , something in the suspension is causing your noise, be it a control arm bushing or a broken swaybar end link. Hard to say you would have to get the car up and remove wheels to see every thing.

That surface rust on the radiator support in pretty normal especially in ohio. If you want to prevent it from rusting further use a sanding wheel and clean it up to shiny metal then primer it and use some kind of rust inhibitor such as rustoleum

dochalladay32

I hope it is just surface rust. I plan on getting the whole radiator out and getting a look at it on the other side. Get it cleaned off and hopefully it is still serviceable underneath. I don't remember noticing it when changing the oil last winter so I'm hoping I caught it early enough. No where else under the car looks anywhere close to that bad.

Thanks for the advice on the noise. If not for hearing it, I wouldn't have discovered the ridiculous rust. It won't be until December when I get a chance to really look at it, but I rarely drive during the semester so it'll get a break until then. I did the brakes in early July, but this just started in the past couple of weeks. But at 14 years old, I expect things to start failing. As long as the engine keeps running well and the transmission stays together, the rest is small time.

warthogdriver

wire wheel it to get all the loose stuff. then use loctite rust converter. after that use a spray on or roll on bedliner. that will stop it dead in its tracks. i did those things to my whole underside while doing the rebuild. i have been rust free for two years...now granted mine is a summer ride now since i bought it, but previous owner used it year round. hope that helps.