The Toyota Landcruiser Owners Club

[Dafydd Wynn Williams]

Hi All,

Is there a generally accepted reason why TLc's corrode so appallingly underneath?   Is it because:-

a) the paint protection underneath where normally unseen is so poor.

b) the metal is low quality and abnormally thin gauge.

c) the aerodynamics are such that front wheel spray is directed so widely underneath.

or there something else peculiar to the TLc which results in such widespread terminal rust.  It is puzzling to me that a vehicle which is otherwise so well engineered should have been produced for so many years with this widely recognised reputation.

Any thoughts or references?

Dafydd  WW

[Google]

[TR]

Maybe because Japan do not use Road a salt and therefore do not protect against its effect.
I believe it is common to most JPN mahufacturers

[andy]

I wouldn't say they are any worse than other makes, most cars and 4x4's over 20 years old suffer.
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[Juddian]

The bodies of our 120's are as rustproof as almost anything else out there, apart from the inner sills at each end where water and dirt abrasion can remove all applied paints, if you coated the inner sills every year with grease or similar the bodywork would be as sound as any vehicle made.

Chassis corrosion is the killer, and like almost all vehicles of a similar design Toyota chassis are not galvanised when new,  standard chassis paint isn't up to the job of stopping salt corrosion, this applies to almost all vehicles of the body on chassis design wherever they might be made...though i'd be interested to see if Amarok or Gelanderwagen suffer as badly as Japanese and LR chassis.

The biggest problem though is owner neglect.
Most new buyers are too rich to worry about losing their vehicle through corrosion and they may care less about this issue anyway, even some used buyers can't be bothered to give the vehicle a good wash down underneath after winter is over, and if that's too much trouble the chances of them applying some decent anti corrosion oil based product are slim to non existant.

Reliability of these vehicles maybe is a part of the problem, generally they'll go on ten or more years before anything other than routine servicing is needed and the chances are its a paid mechanic going underneath not the owner, it's the bloke buying it at 10 to 15 years old who may be the first owner of the vehicle remotely interested in rust prevention, too often the damage is well established by then.

How many people can even be bothered to look under their potential purchase before signing up...underneath is the very first place i look.