As a first-time Hyundai owner, I'm just curious. I have a 2007 Sonata - no issues with mine yet, obviously. But on my way to work this morning, a Santa Fe drove past me - not sure what year it was but it could not have been more than 2 or 3 years old - the part of the car body directly above the rear left tire was completely rusted out horrible. The rest of the car was spotless. I find this very odd. Yes - Chicago winters are harsh on our cars because they over-salt the roads so bad. But that doesn't seem right. Any info or opinions on this?

 

The Santa Fe didn't happen to have Minnesota plates...the land of 10 million rusting cars?

 

The tin worm doesn't rest, especially when you feed it salt and water.

Actually, all cars (especially in the rust belt) have rusting issues but Hyundai is no worse than any other company. Todays cars have MUCH betterrust protection but it can never be prevented. You don't know the history of the other car. Maybe it was damaged in that area in the past causing the paint to be removed and that's why it rusted. Whatever, I've not heard of any body rust issues with the Santa Fe but I have heard of rusting subframes of the last generation Santa Fe.

 

Ken - No Minnesota plates, these were Illinois. Probably not much of a difference, although I don't know if Minnesota salts their roads as bad as we do.

Speaking of - any advice for protecting the chrome dual exhaust pipes on my Sonata?

 

I can only tell you what I did for my Tiburon and Tucson. First, keep them clean. Actually wash them when you wash your car. Use polish on them occasionallyand keep them waxed.

 

The use of tire chains in the snow belt can accelerate this problem as well. A broken cross link or tightener beating around the inside of the fender can chip away paint and any anti-rust coating, particularly around the lip of the fender.

There have been threads on this forum discussing excessive rust on the "EF" Sonatas (99 thru 05) due to poorly designed drainage holes in the front end K member that supports the engine and tranmission. I understand that problem was addresses with the totally redesigned "NF" variant (06 thru 09), which is what you and I drive.

 

Follow NovaResource's advice about washing, polishing and waxing. If the rust starts to get away from you, Bon-Ami cleanser works well to remove those tough spots that normal polish has trouble removing. Do not use any other cleanser, they will scratch. I also have a similar problem with the stainless steel door guards the 08 Limited has instead of painted guards.

 

Cool, thanks for the advice. I'll be sure to take care of them.

I actually did notice a tiny rust spot (very small) just above the windshield at the beginning of the roof of my car. More than likely caused by a rock that came up and hit it or something. But you would think on a 2007 that tiny spot would be silver steel from underneath the paint and not already rust - that's weird. Then again, this winter was particularly harsh around here. Touch-up paint should take care of that, no big deal.

 

Yes, keep up with any paint chips you see. Cars today resist rust better than years ago but they can't prevent rust yet. Clean the chip and add touchup paint.

 

I've actually known people who have bought a used car and had a new polyurethane clear coat put on it. But I would assume that is not a cheap thing to have done?