Ok, be straight with me

Ok, be straight with me
How fucked am I? This is the undercarriage of my '99 XJ

Pretty fucked. Save money for new car. If you have inspections, it won't pass.

I mean, you MIGHT be able to get a welding shop to fix it. Maybe, depending on how bad it is.

Is that possible? Like a body shop can do this or specifically a welding shop?

That's what the tech said

OP here, I know some people who know some welders so I might be able to save this bitch yet

Shops won't touch it. It's a safety hazard their not willing to put their ass on the line. Better learn to weld

It's an XJ, just buy another one, it'll be cheaper than fixing it.

It's pristine.
T. Northerner

That's what's weird, same shop last year said there wasn't an issue with the undercarriage, we had maybe one snow here in VA and now it's this thing

>learn to weld
It's not really a hard welding job once all the mechanical stuff is moved out of the way.

they're not going to pass a car with welded rails. even in freedomland

Had an S10 with a hole big enough to put my hand through its frame rust gape
Rode with it for 3 years as it slowly grew
Traded it in because probably nobody would ever buy it

Hello $10,000 of debt

I don't think I ever want to live where the road salt monster lives.

You realize this is a unibody suv and not a body on frame suv, right?
This was primarily driven between the DMV and the northern Shenandoah Valley, I had this in the Richmond area for 2 winters and then this happened, not even in the rust belt

>virginia
Rip. I'm getting the fuck out of this state before my cars can rust any more

Head West, it's what I would do, besides those faggots are getting invaded by commies and could use some help

I want to head south but it's hot as fuck

>that damage
>2 winters
Nah man. You just never noticed it before.

You bought it used? Where was it from originally? I'm guessing one of the road salt states. No southern or western car gets that rusty. Ever.

Jesus fucking Christ I'm glad I don't live in those states. Road salt is just evil.

Nah, got it in the valley in VA, not rust belt but close enough, they use the brine on the roads

It is. There are coatings you can get put on the undercarriage that minimize the rust, but you have to keep up on it every year - or you get what OP is showing you.

I thought POR15 was rock solid?

Ive used it and wasnt super impressed with it

So then what's the best sealant/inhibitor in your opinion?

I havent used any other ones.

I followed the instructions exactly (after I took hours with a flap paddle cleaning rust off) and it lasted one winter before I saw rust coming through it. It has some really pain in the ass prep with some nasty chemicals too.

Soak undercarriage with used motor oil monthly. After a year you will develop a crust that can actually do some good.

>they're not going to pass a car with welded rails
(((they))) won't see the welds at all so long as you do a clean job and cover the area with oil and dirt.

I thought cars rusted badly here in Bongland until I started watching SMA's videos. Fucking hell, everything around there seems to be buggered after only about five or six years

Problem with motor oil is if you have anything rubber running along the undercarriage, like rubber bushings in your suspension. Motor oil will dissolve that rubber and your bushings will stop bushing.

Great point, but aren't most of the sealers oil-based?

salt should be illegal

Pretty sure most are either wax, or rubber based. Undercoating is mainly bitumen and/or rubber and rust inhibiting shit is usually wax based to seal off water and oxygen.

No it's fine m8

>RealFeel

>tfw 107°

tfw califag with rust free xj

feels good.

Lose weight. You'll find that heat doesn't bother you nearly as much. You really start to feel the cold though.

Took that screenshot when I was prepping my trucks frame for paint, you don't know fun until you're laying in the dirt covered in sweat, blood, and shit, while holding a 6 lb angle grinder over your head just so you can visually improve your shitbox

>salt should be illegal
Sand causes the road surfaces to be ground up, thus expensive road repair is needed. People keep voting "no taxes" so you basically opted out of sand and went to salt.

There is a better salt+chemical approach though. But it needs to be applied before it ices up. It's a spray they put onto the roadway with 5 (less severe areas) to 7 (more severe weather) nozzles. Because there is a lot less substance spread on the roadway, the cars therefore have less ionic chemicals (salt) on them. And this way it remains mostly in the wheel well.

lol I'm only 170 and 6'3"

Are you me?

uhh probably yeah

I thought salt causes erosion too, not to mention its polluting effects.

Salt combined with the mild winters we had the last few years in NH has caused massive amounts of frost heave damage to the roads so pick your poison.

I personally would opt for sand instead because the amount rust I've seen is just absurd. It makes me angry honestly.

Spoke to the guy who owns a shop down the street from me one day and he is failing cars on inspection that are less than 5 years old for rust nowadays.

Let me reiterate there.
>5 years old
Can you even imagine how many people end up buying cars driving them year round in the rust belt and are probably still making payments on them when they are failed and can no longer even operate them on the road?

Fuck salt. I'm going to start trying to get my town to stop using it. The slush is harder to drive in anyway.

Normalfaggots who can't handle a single snowflake are to blame. They ruin everything

Whats funny is even the normal folks I've talked to hear hate the salt. They hate the fact that their cars basically disintegrate beneath them.
Car guys up here basically view it is the devil himself. I can relate I just bought a 2012 Ford Escape as a just reliable vehicle to put around in and the fucking quarterpanels are already showing bubbling rust.

Most suburban soccer moms love it. That way they can drag their screaming kids to school in their minivans

>2012 Ford escape
Holy fuck I hate those pieces of shit. The battery is so unnecessarily goddamn tedious to change.

I noticed similar rust under the floor protection paint. Previous owner probably jewed me by just painting over the rust.

Fuck. Now I'm paranoid that I'll get screwed over like that

Salt not only ruins cats, but infrastructure too.

It also kills roadside trees.