How you can tell when a vehicle is from 'up north'...

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Dec 8, 2006
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Illinois
All you need to know, in one picture. It's a 2016. Only 41000 miles. Look at that frame...

CarFax says that this one is from Michigan. No surprise there.

I have a 2004 with 140,000 miles (an Illinois truck all its life) and its frame still looks better than that.

1669064561544.png
 
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And even within the state, conditions can vary. I used to live in Peoria IL and they weren't using salt there, at least not at the time. They used cinders.... And rust-free older cars were everywhere. Now I live in the Chicago suburbs and they salt the roads like crazy and everything rusts out quick.
 
Not sure from just a pic but it sure does not look good. I'd like to blame the manufacturer as I have a 15 F150 and 17 Subaru OB in the NY. I'm close to the Taconic and they salt that B heavy farther north and use a lot of the pre-storm spray. Seems to work well. Is this possible from neglect? Or bad metallurgy? Both?
 
Thats called "Michigan Loctite" its especially fun when servicing brake and suspension parts.
I see trucks regularly salting dry roads when its not snowing. This isnt a pre-treatment or any advance treatment, its just what the road commissions do. Its often that you will encounter a pile of salt the size of a speed bump at a stop sign or light because the spreader wasnt turned off. There is little to no modulating the amount of salt laid down, they drop the same for a dusting of snow as they do for 8 inches.
It gets worse every year since they hire "part time" and "on call" drivers and pay them next to nothing.
 
Not sure from just a pic but it sure does not look good. I'd like to blame the manufacturer as I have a 15 F150 and 17 Subaru OB in the NY. I'm close to the Taconic and they salt that B heavy farther north and use a lot of the pre-storm spray. Seems to work well. Is this possible from neglect? Or bad metallurgy? Both?
Thats from not being washed out underneath and nothing being done to treat the frame for rust. Running your car through a drive through car wash a few times a year gets you that up here. There are many 90's era trucksaround with broken frames due to rust.
 
I'm subscribed to SMA and Watch Wes Work, both situated 'up north' and I grew up in Western PA. I am so glad that I don't have to deal with salt cars. Watching either of those guys work on stuff just makes me cringe. Especially since it basically makes any routine maintenance a moot point. The car is going to die, and there's not a lot you can do to stop it. Sure, you can oil them, and it might make them last longer, but the salt is still going to kill things like electrical connections and the like, so at best you're just extending the life a little.

I've watched Eric (SMA) do a few Chevy Truck fuse boxes, and I'm not sure there is any kind of coating that you can do to prevent stuff like that. You could wash the area down, but then you're putting water where it doesn't really belong..sooo. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
 
Why people live in those [expletive]hole snow states is beyond me. anything more north of a line going from Denver to St Louis to Knoxville TN is unacceptable.
I wouldn’t really be interested in living below the line ya just drew ;) since I’m a huge four season fan. Winter is my favorite, except for fall! (Though I don’t love the rusting of cars, that’s one negative.) Good thing folks like all sorts of different things!
 
Why people live in those [expletive]hole snow states is beyond me. anything more north of a line going from Denver to St Louis to Knoxville TN is unacceptable.
That line is moving a little further north every year (this year's early cold notwithstanding). When I was young in the '70s & '80s it was a lot worse than it is now!
 
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