Wish I didnt look underneath the car..

[mek]

Had a chance to do my first oil and wow where do I begin?? The oil change itself was super easy but looking around i notice a lot of...questionable things. Not sure if its normal but random rust spots every where! For a car with only 1k miles? Calcium build ups? Is the transmission casing supposed to look like that??

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[Hakmamba]

Mine is close to yours and I'm around 20K miles. in Califnoria. But if you live closer to the water or coastline i think its fine.

 

[optronix]

Eh. Looks like dirt to me.

 

[SeanIsElsewhere]

Had a chance to do my first oil and wow where do I begin?? The oil change itself was super easy but looking around i notice a lot of...questionable things. Not sure if its normal but random rust spots every where! For a car with only 1k miles? Calcium build ups? Is the transmission casing supposed to look like that??

Live near the ocean?

 

[crepr12]

non issue OP enjoy your ITS

 

[mek]

Live near the ocean?

Nope. Maybe the dealership i got it from?

 

[whtciv2k]

My endlinks bolts were already rusted to shit at 18k miles.

 

[mek]

I guess my main issue is the way the transmission looks. I know its aluminum but is it suppose to have those hair line..I dont want to say cracks? Ive own plenty of cars Kia, Honda, Chevrolet, even Mitsubishi but ive never seen that before.

 

[Gremlin85]

What I've noticed is that any water and debris that drains through the hood vent runs down and blows back against the engine, dripping all that rain water with whatever else is mixed in the environment, causing that build-up and corrosion. The end links and ends of steel bolts are not treated, so they oxidized quickly. You can clean all that junk off the oil pan and transmission with an all purpose cleaner or the like with a scrub brush and it'll come off. Protect it with something like AmsOil Metal Protector or similar.

I climbed under mine while it was new and added my own coat of AmsOil Metal Protector all over the rear suspension and exposed front suspension components. I noticed the bolts for my front pipe to down pipe are already rusted to hell, so its just the quality of hardware the manufacturer used.

Its all really a non-issue right now, but oxidation builds up and could corrode the bolts more than anything.

 

[SeanIsElsewhere]

Nope. Maybe the dealership i got it from?

Didn’t even think of that; that would make sense! Looks like salt and barring driving through salted winters roads, I’d think it spent some time by the shoreside. Definately worrying if it were the norm I.e you lived by the shore but if that’s not the case, you could spend a day scrubbing and then get an undercarriage protectant applied to prevent and possible future build-up

 

[Victorofhavoc]

Those cracks are normal from casting.

Looks like typical American build quality. Look under an f150 with 5k miles on it if you want to see scary rust levels. Don't go under a 2yr old Chevy suv vehicle without goggles and a mask to protect from the rust dust.

They just don't use proper bolts with aluminum parts. They should be galvanized steel or aluminum, but they're not. So what you end up seeing is mixed metal oxidation resulting from the chassis and bolts acting like the anode and cathode in a battery.

... Just another "build quality" thing for us to gripe over where the cost of materials doesn't equate to the cost of the vehicle. I've got a ten year old q7 with over 80k miles on it that has nearly zero rust underneath and that's my tow pig/beater. It sees a lot of snow through the salt belt and 20k+ of those miles are towing 6k+ lbs so it hasn't lived an easy life. With the acura, I will never reuse a bolt. Rusty bolts are a great way to get torque way wrong.

Truthfully, it's largely surface rust, but by 50k it will start having a more real impact when you work on the car.

 

[manhole17]

My car looks similar and I also think it’s concerning. Mine is a 2024 model and I had it shipped to California from Maryland, so I assumed it was just due to road salt. I’m now beginning to think this is a byproduct of US manufacturing… going to be such a pain to turn wrenches on the car in a few years. Even my 05 RSX had less rust when I got rid of it in 2024.

 

[Victorofhavoc]

My car looks similar and I also think it’s concerning. Mine is a 2024 model and I had it shipped to California from Maryland, so I assumed it was just due to road salt. I’m now beginning to think this is a byproduct of US manufacturing… going to be such a pain to turn wrenches on the car in a few years. Even my 05 RSX had less rust when I got rid of it in 2024.

It's not specific to US manufacturing. It's a byproduct of mixed metals and cost cutting.

A few weeks ago I helped a guy jack up a '25 type r with 6k mi on it, and it had even more rust than my '24. Japan specifically doesn't use salt for snow and their engineers therefore ignore any salt protection. You can basically treat the underside of a Japanese vehicle as "bare metal". A lot of this is surface rust, but it just makes working on the car very hard. There's also the concern that by 100k something more critical like a subframe or trailing arm would rust through. In fact for the element and pilot a few gens back had a forced recall in Canada because the cars were deemed unsafe, while the nhtsa here let it slide.

Here's some fun info,
https://static.nhtsa.gov/odi/tsbs/2022/MC-10209071-0001.pdf
https://www.rust.co.uk/why-should-you-rustproof-your-newly-imported-vehicle/


Meanwhile German cars (because they used to have rust issues in the 70s and 80s and were spending too much on warranty claims) moved to more rust protection and often have 12yr no rust warranties. I've cashed in on one of these before on my gti and a rusty subframe. No one even put up a fight... They jacked it up, saw some rust, and said "we'll have a part come in 2-3 days".

I wouldn't be "concerned" right now. In fact I intentionally drive mine in snow because on winters it's fun to toss around at lower/safer limits. It will start becoming a concern when the cars are pushing 7+ yrs old, but at that point most of the owners will have moved on and it's somebody else's problem.

Rust, CPO process, and quality of electronics/data are the reasons I personally don't trust a used Japanese or American car; I only buy them new. I have far fewer concerns buying used German cars. The trade off is that one strut assembly for my X7 probably costs as much as the entire suspension on an mdx. That's why their prices drop so much as they age. It's a pick your tradeoff thing...

 

[manhole17]

It's not specific to US manufacturing. It's a byproduct of mixed metals and cost cutting.

A few weeks ago I helped a guy jack up a '25 type r with 6k mi on it, and it had even more rust than my '24. Japan specifically doesn't use salt for snow and their engineers therefore ignore any salt protection. You can basically treat the underside of a Japanese vehicle as "bare metal". A lot of this is surface rust, but it just makes working on the car very hard. There's also the concern that by 100k something more critical like a subframe or trailing arm would rust through. In fact for the element and pilot a few gens back had a forced recall in Canada because the cars were deemed unsafe, while the nhtsa here let it slide.

Here's some fun info,
https://static.nhtsa.gov/odi/tsbs/2022/MC-10209071-0001.pdf
https://www.rust.co.uk/why-should-you-rustproof-your-newly-imported-vehicle/


Meanwhile German cars (because they used to have rust issues in the 70s and 80s and were spending too much on warranty claims) moved to more rust protection and often have 12yr no rust warranties. I've cashed in on one of these before on my gti and a rusty subframe. No one even put up a fight... They jacked it up, saw some rust, and said "we'll have a part come in 2-3 days".

I wouldn't be "concerned" right now. In fact I intentionally drive mine in snow because on winters it's fun to toss around at lower/safer limits. It will start becoming a concern when the cars are pushing 7+ yrs old, but at that point most of the owners will have moved on and it's somebody else's problem.

Rust, CPO process, and quality of electronics/data are the reasons I personally don't trust a used Japanese or American car; I only buy them new. I have far fewer concerns buying used German cars. The trade off is that one strut assembly for my X7 probably costs as much as the entire suspension on an mdx. That's why their prices drop so much as they age. It's a pick your tradeoff thing...

Do you think it would be worth the cost to have a coating professionally applied to the bottom of the car? I do intend on keeping this car for as long as possible, assuming there isn’t a parts availability issue in the future.

 

[Victorofhavoc]

Do you think it would be worth the cost to have a coating professionally applied to the bottom of the car? I do intend on keeping this car for as long as possible, assuming there isn’t a parts availability issue in the future.

Worth the cost? Probably about as much as paying 6k for premium PPF. It's worth it to you and your peace of mind, but certainly won't add any value to your car. It won't change the fact when you remove a bolt the coating will be removed there too.

If you legitimately think you'll keep the car 7+ yrs, then yeah I'd put money into it. But also consider the cost of the coating compared to how cheap Honda parts are... Is it more cost effective to prevent the rust or just replace parts when they get rusty? (I don't know...)

That said, the rust doesn't stop on the underside. I've pulled part of my dash and the crash support on the INSIDE of the firewall had spots of rust all over. I sanded it, oiled it, and then reassembled. Good enough for me for now. I know I've seen one or two other photos from people on this forum who have taken apart the dash and I've seen rust in the same places.

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