The worst states for rust.

[F8-4life]

I am a younger guy who lives in Ohio and being around rust my whole life I was wondering, what are the most rusty states in the USA?
In your experience dealing in classics where did the most rotted cars come from? You western guys can laugh it up about now lol.
I have to believe Ohio is right at the top 5 at least.

[myk]

I'm pretty close to the water on the west coast.  My car is from Arizona but it still ended up rusting in the usual spots, it just took longer.  True, I don't have to deal with snow or road salt but rust will be our enemy no matter where in the world we are...

[F8-4life]

I'm pretty close to the water on the west coast.  My car is from Arizona but it still ended up rusting in the usual spots, it just took longer.  True, I don't have to deal with snow or road salt but rust will be our enemy no matter where in the world we are...

A good point, these chargers are so old now even AZ cars are eaten up.

[hemi-hampton]

Michigans gotta be in top 5 states.   LEON.

[charger1972]

I`m in NY and ..... yeah , we gotta be up towards the top of the list .

[Davtona]

Bought a Charger that lived its short 7 or 8 year life around the Pittsburg PA area. Was told by the locals at the time the steel mills contributed to its demise along with the usual winter stuff. Car was the worst car I had ever seen as of 1980. Made what we had in the northern midwest area look good.

[Old Moparz]

.

[70 sublime]

And you guys have nothing to complain about untill you see some of the rusty stuff north of the US boarder  

[toocheaptosmoke]

Another vote for PA, I swear it's something in the air.    I've brought junk home from places up north that already were rusted, but once they hit the weather down here it's like fresh rust just starts blooming. Makes me feel better though about my junk vehicles when I see trucks less than 8 years old with cab corners and bedsides completely wasted.  I swear the brine and salt they've been putting on the road the last few years is worse than it ever has been before!

[Ghoste]

Upper Midwest mostly.  Michigan, Ohio, NY anywhere they use salt.

[chargerman69]

And you guys have nothing to complain about untill you see some of the rusty stuff north of the US boarder  

True am in ont, ill post a picture of my rusted out 73

[stripedelete]

Michigan, Ohio, PA, New york?  They don't call it the "rust belt" for nothin'.

[hemi-hampton]

Hows Wisconsin & Minnesota for rust?

[MaximRecoil]

Maine.

My father bought a 1976 Chevrolet K10 pickup in 1982; he got a good deal on it because the rocker panels, cab corners, floorboards, and the tops of the rear wheel openings all were rusted through.

[MaximRecoil]

Michigan, Ohio, PA, New york?  They don't call it the "rust belt" for nothin'.

You may already know this, but it is just a coincidence that vehicles rust quickly in the "rust belt". The term has nothing to do with actual rust.

[stripedelete]

Michigan, Ohio, PA, New york?  They don't call it the "rust belt" for nothin'.

You may already know this, but it is just a coincidence that vehicles rust quickly in the "rust belt". The term has nothing to do with actual rust.

I had no idea there would be a quiz.
Yes, actually I do.  Late 70's ealy 80's reference to the economy/type of/lack of in the industrial midwest.
But, yet a double entendra.  The same situation in the Southwest would not have been "coined" the rust belt.

[MaximRecoil]

The same situation in the Southwest would not have been "coined" the rust belt.

One of the names the area was previously referred to was the "steel belt", due to the heavy usage of steel in the manufacturing industry. As the manufacturing industry decayed, rust, which decays steel, became an apt metaphor for the situation. The metaphor applies regardless of any given area's weather conditions, so if the Southwest had been part of the "steel belt", there is no reason that it wouldn't now be part of the "rust belt".

There are people who do think the term "rust belt" applies to literal rust, such as with cars. For example:

"Rust belt" meaning.

I've lived in New England all my life, and I've never had any notion that "Rust Belt" referred to some degrading of the economy of cities...I'd always taken it to mean the North, where it gets cold in the winter and we have to worry about our cars rusting away from the salt on the roads every winter. The Rust belt is northern states that use salt on the roads in the winter. Like the alternate to the "Corn Belt" or "Bible Belt". Thus I was surprised at the claim that it "has no specific geographical boundaries" and that it refers specifically to economical conditions. Maybe it refers to machines and tooling "rusting away" from disuse, but that's news to me. Road salt and a geographical area seems more logical to me..45Colt 17:51, 14 March 2014 (UTC)

[Bob]

PA

[JB400]

 

I see quite a bit of rust in my area, but it's due more because of lifestyle than just winter salt.  We have a lot of rural dirt roads, quite a few farmers that drive off road checking fields and equipment, and plus our additional off road recreational activities.  Quite a few good fishing holes aren't that easily accessible without a 4x4.

[MaximRecoil]

It probably corresponds fairly well with this "U.S. Average Snow State Rank" list:

http://www.usa.com/rank/us--average-snow--state-rank.htm

My state, Maine, is number 2 on the list, with about 6½ feet of snow per year.

In general, the more snow you get, the more road salt gets laid down. The more road salt that gets laid down, the more your car will be exposed to it. The more your car is exposed to road salt, the faster it will rust.

And it isn't just the road salt that accelerates rust, but also snow and cruddy slush kicked up from the tires accumulates and freezes into every opening and crevice in the lower parts of the car, and can stay there for a long time if not intentionally removed. This longterm exposure to moisture (which typically also contains road salt) = rust city.

Also, snowy states tend to have very muddy "mud seasons" in the spring because of all the snow melting, and mud is another thing that likes to find every possible place to hang out on your car and stay there holding moisture, and even when it finally dries into tight clumps of dirt, it is just waiting for rain to become mud again, like a dry sponge.

On top of that, Maine is very humid in the summer, and has 228 miles of coastline (i.e., humid and salty air). Given that, I doubt that any state in the country beats Maine for rust.

[Nwcharger]

I'm located in oregon and besides our coast which rots cars pretty bad, depending on where a car has sat can get fairly rusty but nothing like what I'm seeing on the east coast. I was at a junkyard outside Boston mass and was literally afraid to crawl under some of the cars out there. Never in my life have I seen such rust. Buckle frames, snapped leaf springs. These cars were not very old either, 10-15 years. I took a trip with nhcharger and our wife's downtown to sightsee and they have a large Pyle of salt in the town that nhcharger said was small right now. Looked to be 60 feet tall at least, and its fairly large pieces like gravel. I drove my 93 dodge cummins out here and have had a dozen people ask me how I keep my truck so clean and rust free. Salting roads should be a crime.

[MaximRecoil]

I was at a junkyard outside Boston mass and was literally afraid to crawl under some of the cars out there. Never in my life have I seen such rust. Buckle frames, snapped leaf springs. These cars were not very old either, 10-15 years.

Here in Maine, I've seen vehicles break when put on the lift before, ones that people were still driving on the road no less. I recently saw the rear section of the frame behind the rear wheels, along with the rear bumper, simply fall off a late '90s Ford Ranger as it went up on the lift.

There is an early 2000s Dodge Ram 4WD sitting up to my friend's garage/junkyard right now with about a 4 foot section of the passenger side frame under the cab area rusted completely through; it is owned by a cop who didn't even realize the frame was bad, or so he claims (I'd like to know how he got his last inspection sticker, or the one before that, for that matter). It shouldn't even be on the road.

[billssuperbird]

Pa

[73rallye440magnum]

Northern Wisconsin is absolutely terrible.

[Ghoste]

Never knew that about the rust belt nickname, I had thought it was because of our vehicles.

[Troy]

It has a lot to do with what they put on the roads - not necessarily how much snow falls. Colorado, Utah, Idaho, eastern Washington State, etc. all get a lot of snow but the air is so dry that the rust isn't terribly bad. I don't believe they use salt on the roads. Here we get a lot of ice storms (something I didn't miss AT ALL when I lived in Utah) and all the roads regularly get pretreated with some sort of caustic saline solution that goes airborne and saturates the car inside and out. Several years ago I looked at over 250 Chargers in about a 2 year span (even bought a few) and the worst ones for rust were Ohio, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and New York. One in West Virginia had nearly eroded back into the earth but I think it had more to do with where it was left sitting than road salt. Next door in Indiana they only use salt up by Chicago so most of the cars seem to survive fairly well. In wet/damp states with lots of trees, if the car sits in/under them for a really long time it will rust on top instead of on bottom. I bought a car from Texas that has a lot more rust than I expected. Mainly because most of the other cars I've seen come out of that area were relatively solid. You can tell a lot about where a car came from just by looking to see if the rust started from the bottom and crept up (salt) or started at the top (window recesses, trunk lips, etc.) and rusted from the inside out once a hole appeared and filled the trunk/floors with water.

Troy

[Ghoste]

Spills over into road conditions as well.  Its worse now than ever but I don't often see the trucks out with a blade down, they all just clear snow with salt instead.  And then in spring we have huge potholes everywhere.

[stripedelete]

I'm located in oregon and besides our coast which rots cars pretty bad,

That's where sister lives. If your not on that coast you dont get it.  She bought a nice little Arizona Hilux and took it up there. 
The combo of the light Arizona sandblasting and the coast was too much.  It dissolved.

[Nwcharger]

I'm located in oregon and besides our coast which rots cars pretty bad,

That's where sister lives. If your not on that coast you dont get it.  She bought a nice little Arizona Hilux and took it up there. 
The combo of the light Arizona sandblasting and the coast was too much.  It dissolved.

Yea the coastal air can be very unforgiving. I know of a 4 speed hemi Cuda that rotted away in Newport beach. The owner would toss the parts that started falling off on top remaining car. Looked like a mound of scrap with some slot mags. Sad end to a hemi Cuda with less than 5k miles on it.

[LaOtto70Charger]

Anyplace using Mag chloride to de-ice the roads like PA does or at least used to.

[Chad L. Magee]

I did notice a difference going from western Kansas over to central Missouri during grad school.  At the time, I had just purchased a rust-free, mint 1992 extended cab F-150 that had lived it's entire life with an elderly couple in either Kansas or New Mexico (vacations).  Within two years of moving it to Missouri, it was starting to rust out in the rear quarters and bottom rear of the cab.  By the time I left Missouri in 2008, it had rusted thru in the rear quarters, rear fender wells, and 1 inch strip at the bottom of the rear of the extended cab.  This is even with me cleaning it well at car washes (and hand drying) to remove salt right after driving it in snowy roads.  After moving it back to Kansas, it basically has not rusted anymore than it already had.  (My area of Kansas is an grassland desert, which prevents major rust issues most of the time.  Missouri is quite the opposite on humidity levels.)  There was also a pair of 1969 Chargers in Missouri that a friend looked at that had rust thru at the roof level.  They had been in a flood plain and never pulled out.  I wish I would have kept a picture of them as they were that bad.  At least the grilles were still good on them....

[Old Moparz]

I'm sure this crap doesn't help prevent rust.   

Good thing we don't know what the secret ingredient is or we might want to drink it.

Rural N.Y. Communities Use Fracking Waste to De-Ice Roads

Several rural communities and counties in New York have received permission from state regulators—despite a state fracking moratorium and a warning from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency—to spread fracking waste brine on roads as a de-icer.

[Tilar]

Tulsa Oklahoma. 

[Tilar]

I'm sure this crap doesn't help prevent rust.   

Good thing we don't know what the secret ingredient is or we might want to drink it.

Rural N.Y. Communities Use Fracking Waste to De-Ice Roads

Several rural communities and counties in New York have received permission from state regulators—despite a state fracking moratorium and a warning from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency—to spread fracking waste brine on roads as a de-icer.

No I didn't read the article, but there is nothing secret about it, it's a salt water brine mixed with sand or aluminum oxide.

[Old Moparz]

I'm sure this crap doesn't help prevent rust.  

Good thing we don't know what the secret ingredient is or we might want to drink it.

Rural N.Y. Communities Use Fracking Waste to De-Ice Roads

Several rural communities and counties in New York have received permission from state regulators—despite a state fracking moratorium and a warning from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency—to spread fracking waste brine on roads as a de-icer.

No I didn't read the article, but there is nothing secret about it, it's a salt water brine mixed with sand or aluminum oxide.

Not really.

http://fracfocus.org/chemical-use/what-chemicals-are-used

[Davtona]

Not really.

http://fracfocus.org/chemical-use/what-chemicals-are-used

  Are we nuts? 

[c00nhunterjoe]

Maryland beats Pa for salt use. They lay it on so thick that people pull over and shovel it up!

[Old Moparz]

Maryland beats Pa for salt use. They lay it on so thick that people pull over and shovel it up!

[TruckDriver]

Wisconsin 

[Chad L. Magee]

Not really.

http://fracfocus.org/chemical-use/what-chemicals-are-used

  Are we nuts? 

I don't see anything on that list that is exceedingly hazardous (ie. ratings of 4) in diluted quantities in the environment.  Remember, ratings for individual chemicals are in their relatively pure form on MSDS unless specified as such.  Example: Methanol and anti-freeze are poisonous to humans if in high concentration, not so much if properly diluted with enough water....

[Old Moparz]

Not really.

http://fracfocus.org/chemical-use/what-chemicals-are-used

 Are we nuts?  

I don't see anything on that list that is exceedingly hazardous (ie. ratings of 4) in diluted quantities in the environment.  Remember, ratings for individual chemicals are in their relatively pure form on MSDS unless specified as such.  Example: Methanol and anti-freeze are poisonous to humans if in high concentration, not so much if properly diluted with enough water....

I'll still take a pass on sipping it in small doses, it ain't bourbon.

[Chad L. Magee]

Not really.

http://fracfocus.org/chemical-use/what-chemicals-are-used

 Are we nuts?  

I don't see anything on that list that is exceedingly hazardous (ie. ratings of 4) in diluted quantities in the environment.  Remember, ratings for individual chemicals are in their relatively pure form on MSDS unless specified as such.  Example: Methanol and anti-freeze are poisonous to humans if in high concentration, not so much if properly diluted with enough water....

I'll still take a pass on sipping it in small doses, it ain't bourbon.

It was not meant for direct human consumption in the first place, so skipping that is a good idea.  You probably would not like the taste anyway (too much dissolved mineral salts, organic acids, as well as hydrochloric acid).  It was designed to be put into the ground for a reason....

[Davtona]

Not really.

http://fracfocus.org/chemical-use/what-chemicals-are-used

  Are we nuts? 

I don't see anything on that list that is exceedingly hazardous (ie. ratings of 4) in diluted quantities in the environment.  Remember, ratings for individual chemicals are in their relatively pure form on MSDS unless specified as such.  Example: Methanol and anti-freeze are poisonous to humans if in high concentration, not so much if properly diluted with enough water....

I'll still take a pass on sipping it in small doses, it ain't bourbon.

It was not meant for direct human consumption in the first place, so skipping that is a good idea.  You probably would not like the taste anyway (too much dissolved mineral salts, organic acids, as well as hydrochloric acid).  It was designed to be put into the ground for a reason....

Rationalize it however you want in your mind. History is full of what seemed like good ideas at the time that later turned out not to be such good ideas. Agent Orange, DDT, Asbestos, Carbon Tetrachloride, the list could go on for quite a while. By the time you do find it diluted in the water table its to late and the perpetrator's will be long gone.   

[Chad L. Magee]

Not really.

http://fracfocus.org/chemical-use/what-chemicals-are-used

  Are we nuts? 

I don't see anything on that list that is exceedingly hazardous (ie. ratings of 4) in diluted quantities in the environment.  Remember, ratings for individual chemicals are in their relatively pure form on MSDS unless specified as such.  Example: Methanol and anti-freeze are poisonous to humans if in high concentration, not so much if properly diluted with enough water....

I'll still take a pass on sipping it in small doses, it ain't bourbon.

It was not meant for direct human consumption in the first place, so skipping that is a good idea.  You probably would not like the taste anyway (too much dissolved mineral salts, organic acids, as well as hydrochloric acid).  It was designed to be put into the ground for a reason....

Rationalize it however you want in your mind. History is full of what seemed like good ideas at the time that later turned out not to be such good ideas. Agent Orange, DDT, Asbestos, Carbon Tetrachloride, the list could go on for quite a while. By the time you do find it diluted in the water table its to late and the perpetrator's will be long gone.   

I never said it was a good idea to use it in that manner, just that it was designed for that purpose (by the oil industry and not for direct human consumption).  Again, none of the chemicals I see on that list in that fracking solution has a MSDS rating of 4 in diluted quantities with water.  Whether or not fracking ends up being a good idea is yet to be seen yet.  Yes, I know all about the specific chemicals you mentioned above (Agent Orange, DDT, Asbestos, Carbon Tetrachloride) being bad for the environment/human health in one way or another if used incorrectly.  However, all chemicals are not evil as some would like you to believe.  It is all in how you use/misuse them.  Some of the most toxic poisons have medicinal uses BTW...

[westcoastdodge]

Tulsa Oklahoma. 

definatly tulsa

[lloyd3]

I grew up there. PA has all the right stuff to kill a car quickly. Long, cold winters, lots of moisture, poorly maintained roads (potholes that could swallow sub-compacts), lots of salt in the old days and mag-chloride now.  Anything older than 10-years there that isn't badly rusted came from out of state.  Before the advent of factory rust prevention techniques in the 80s, cars would last about 5-years.

[71ChallengeHer]

PA

[GPULLER]

Hows Wisconsin & Minnesota for rust?

Minnesota is bad.  Just had a guy stop today with a '10 F150 with rusted out cab corners.