Found a truck, Thoughts on rust?

Exactly. It's nuts right now.
I knew exactly what I wanted and searched all over the country. I found no more than 4 trucks that had the specs and price range I wanted. And did I mention that was the whole country? 4 trucks. One was a bust, one I didn't really want and 2 were sold during the 5 minutes that I was thinking about it. If you're not willing to travel and put a deposit on a truck with no more than pics and a Carfax report, then you'll be stuck paying for whatever is available locally.
I'm glad I found one and the deal is done and that whole circus is over now.

 

I live in southen utah actually bought my 21 at Findlay Toyota Prescott was bought there serviced there ever 5k miles like clock work super clean.

 

Very valid points, I was in the car industry for a few years. Usually found leased vehicles to be relatively well taken care of since maintaining them is a requirement under the lease agreement. But we had people who abused the crap out of them. I called the company listed as the previous owner.

Almost exactly where I’ve been. I’ve got no definite timeline, but been looking for 3 months nation wide and this is the first truck that checks every single box. Even the “Limited options with the SR5 grill”. Wild it turned up 30 minutes from the house.

 

Another thing to watch out for is sometimes manufactures wont cover a vehicle for warranty if it has been imported from another country. I ran into this with my Kia Stinger, told me I would have to take it to Canada for any warranty claims or service.

 

Check the interior carpet very well and seat tracks and hardware. I’d be more worried about was it in hurricane flood waters. Lots of flooded out vehicles in FL.

 

this right here...I just had to do exactly this. The transmission went in my Jeep Liberty at 185k, so I needed a new vehicle in a timely manner and decided Tundra. After looking COUNTRYWIDE for a few weeks, I was seeing more Tundras sold than coming up for sale and they were not lasting long at all before selling. Another thing I noticed, some dealers were leaving sold trucks listed for a week or more after being off the lot. I found a good deal in Florida, Carfax looked really good, called had a chat, sent a few more pictures my way, and I left a deposit over the phone. I flew to Florida a few days later and drove it back to NY. I did buy Used Certified from a dealer and got the extended bumper to bumper warranty, so I feel more protected in case I missed something, which is extremely possible given the way I purchased because of the current used market. I second that I'm glad the circus is over. It's a bitch out there boys...

 

Buy it, treat the surface rust with a rest treatment, then fluid film. Good to go. I’m lucky enough to be able to keep my 21 parked in the heated garage and avoid driving it on the salted roads in MN during the winter. It keeps the mileage way down too. I am sitting at 2,015 miles.

 

Thats awesome! At this rate you’ll have her broken in around year 2050.

 

Looks like it hit the streets September if 2020. 2 + years in the elements. Tough decision. Not a ton of options out there unfortunately.

 

Relentlessly for the last three months. A few options in Dallas area, would be settling for each and paying more. I have a friend at a dealership in Frisco, he sent me some pictures of the undercarriage of some of their 2020’s available and they look very similar to this one I’m looking at closer to home.

He also sent me pictures of some of the brand new Fords on the lot and holy crap, they look worse already.

 

As others have stated - light surface rust developing - nothing penetrating nor concerning to me.

Wire brush it off - have a coating re-applied and you will likely never see it reappear in the next 4-5 years of truck is kept in Fla (if that fast).

It’s funny - everyone acts as if vehicles from anywhere north where they see snow more than 5 days a year are salt coated rust buckets and anything from the South will be perfectly fine for the next 4 decades. It’s not that simple. I had a Chevy that spent its entire 24 year life in Ohio - sold without a speck of rust in 2021. My s10 had similar life and was just beginning to show some light rust on the lip of the rear wheel well. The key - upkeep and use. The one I sold in 2021 really never saw snow (2wd - wasn’t great in low traction) and I kept it washed underneath when it was dirty and the s10 I just kept up and prior owners kept it “coated” in used motor oil before every winter. No fancy coatings needed - just old farmer upkeep.

I’ll be moving back to Ohio next month with my 2021. I’m not going to lie - it’s a concern for me. In a way I think I should just sell and buy something older versus trying to maintain a newer truck next winter - but I’ll probably just invest in a 3rd car for us for winter and drive it conservatively and keep it clean the first year and see how it goes. Toyotas historically haven’t been great in salty environments - but a little preventative maintenance goes a long way.

 

I almost pulled the trigger on a Nevada truck. It was more than I wanted to spend and it was burgundy but absolutely spotless underneath.

 

Shamrock - I've lived in Ohio my entire life. The Ohio winters are getting more mild each year. I could count on one hand the number of days that we had salt covered roads. On those days, just stay home - if that is an option. Fluid Film is your best friend and I cover the bottoms of my cars each Fall. No worries.

 

I agree with those who say that amount of rust is nothing to be concerned about. If you are going to be driving it in FL from here on, I’m not sure you need to do anything since there is no snow there, unless you are going to launch a boat in the ocean.

 

If it's going to be used for saltwater launching it doesn't matter whether it's clean or not, it'll be fairly grim under there in short time either way!

OP - did you buy it, is it still for sale?

 

It's not just salt, or snow, or winter. The only thing iron needs to rust/oxidize is oxygen. Chlorides will also burn the metal. The oxygen in water/moisture will burn the iron faster than the oxygen in dry air.
Add a wet environment to chlorides and the iron burns much faster.
The humid conditions in Florida will rust the iron faster than dry conditions in say, AZ. Live near the ocean with wet, salty air and you might as well live up north and be driving on wet, salty roads.
The key is to seal the iron and have a barrier between the oxygen and anything else that's corrosive, like chlorides.
I agree that truck isn't in "bad" shape, but I wouldn't trust that driving it in FLA will stop it from continuing to rust. At minimum, a quick wire brushing to remove whatever loose material you can reach and then a film of paint or oil to seal the metal.
Exposed bolt threads, some bolt heads, welds that seem to not like holding on to factory frame paint, in between leaf springs where the paints wears off, etc.
It would take a lifetime for the thicker components to burn all the way through, even in a harsh environment (picture a hunk of hardwood slowly burning and turning to coal, only waaaay slower and with no smoke), but it feels good to have everything kept as nice as possible and sometimes makes future maint easier. And wherever you see rust now, means the metal is exposed and will continue to rust, no matter where you drive it.
I'm more concerned about it being a lease and having 40k put on it in less than 2 yrs.
I'd feel better if they were willing to certify it.

 

I would buy it if it was me. But I’m from a salt state. You most likely won’t run into rust issues since it’s not that old. With that said, if you buy it, you’re always going to worry about it and be paranoid forever. Is it worth it to you to save a couple $k’s? There will always be more to find and buy if you’re not 100% sold on this one.

 

You make a good point about salt air and moisture, but my parents live in FL and I visit there often, and I don’t observe rusted vehicles there like I do up north.

 

Was out of town on reserve for a while. Going to see it tomorrow. I’ll keep everyone posted. I’ve done all my own auto maintenance for years. After seeing it in person, will get a good idea what kind of condition she’s in. I definitely don’t mind putting in some sweat equity and replacing nuts and bolts/small parts here and there. It’s therapeutic making things looks new again.

 

Yeah man, Florida air is pretty brutal. Especially within the first 5 miles of the beach. It typically doesn’t rust vehicles out, but instead kills the paint.

 

Once rust starts it only grows unless cleaned and a rust preventer is applied. Cleaning and or just covering with some form of undercoat will not stop it from getting worse over time.

 

Definitely a bigger issue up here in the salt belt. I guess my bigger point is that if rust is something you want to keep at bay, you gotta seal up that metal.
Speaking of which, I got my '21 from VA a few weeks ago and it still looks like a new truck underneath. I need to get under there and treat all the trouble spots as soon as I get a decent weekend.

 

Mine had four years with me in the Sarasota/Bradenton area, and had spent most of it's life in the area, I rarely washed it, it's in Radiant Red, and there is no noticeable paint fade or rust, never had problems swinging a wrench on it as nothing is seized up. My old place in the UK would have trashed it for rust, the sea air was a real vehicle killer, perhaps the Atlantic air on FL's east coast is more brutal than that of the Gulf?

And I've just remembered that the first 'owner' had it for nearly a year on lease terms, the second owner was some kind of contractor with a penchant for Hispanic food judging by the state and smell of the interior when I first had it, fortunately I have gotten shot of the food smell. The missus preferred the food smell over the sweaty/farty Brit stink and semi-permanent layer of wood/building site dust that it now carries.

 

, that is hilarious. Bradenton is where I live now, I’ve been here since 2015. Originally from the Florida panhandle. Yeah the East Coast is a little worse since they get a lot more wave action over there. When the waves break it aerosolizes A lot of the salt. at that point it just depends which ever direction the wind is going.

 

Oof, I hear that the traffic is even worse now than it was two years ago, have you considered a motorized bicycle?

I was north of the river on what was the outskirts of Palmetto and Parrish and luckily sold up just as the contractors were turning Mocassin Wallow road into an end to end building site, stupidly I relocated to an area of SC which is also a perpetual building site but for those that can't afford Florida.

 

Did that to mine, used and worked great

 

Maybe NH oil is a regional product. I’ve used both fluid film and NH oil and given the availability of NH oil, I wouldn’t use fluid film again even if it was given to me for free.

 

I’ve heard great things about NH Oil. I think that’s the option I’d go if it works out.

 

Update: Went and checked it out today, I passed. The truck itself was in good shape. Rust was minimal, wasn't concerned. The dealership was janky. A few red flags. Opened the door and got nailed with smoker smell. Melt in the armrest and a burned hole in the headrest. Very disappointed.

 

That sucks.
A great truck will come along. Just be ready to pounce. Like a Puma.