Buying Trucks Up North

[ratso]

I am supposed to leave out in the morning to purchase an 03 Dodge 4X4 Diesel in Ohio. They have sent me numerous pics. People have told me to be careful buying up north because of rust. The body all seems good except for rock chips behind the front tires, which is no big deal. There is also some surface rust on the frame and especially on the tie rods etc under the front end. Most of it should be no big I suppose but are there going to be any concerns down the road? They are undercoating it for me now, which I presume is to cover up some of whatever rust was already there...

[h2oski2fast]

Undercoating over the rust won't stop it from rusting.

[Wild Horses]

Undercoating is a bad idea, if there is rust you are just encapsulating it and it will rust worse.
We salt our roads here in Utah and I've have a 98 Dodge Diesel with no rust problems.

[OGShocker]

Here is some light reading. (http://www.saltinstitute.org/th2020s.html)
NACE International has members from the auto industry. One of the pioneers on "rust proofing" for General Motors products is a friend of ours. He would be the first to tell you NOT to undercoat.

[whited44]

I live in Ohio and a truck that is only 3 years old is not going to have any significant amout of rust on it. The last Dodge truck that I had was a 1998, lived in ohio it's whole life and had no rust. Ended up selling it to a guy in New Mexico and he loves it! Dodge makes a good truck. I would be worried about rust if it was like 10 years old. You should be ok

[ratso]

Thanks... I am going to go ahead and buy it I suppose. Most of the issues I saw in the pics will probably be minor... guess I'm too much of a perfectionist.

[lawbreaker2]

I live in ohio to, near cleveland and they salt our road hard here, But if it come from the southern ohio, it would be ok, Our 00 and 99 have no rust but on the frames, but no undercoat, I would not want that truck to be undercoated if I was you, Cuz it will trap in the moisture and any little salt that may be in the joints, I mean do you need a truck that is undercoaded in TX, and why are you buying a truck from here, We are looking at buying on from TX.