# Rust on Strut Mounts ('05 SE-R)



## StygianMax (Jan 2, 2010)

Hi All. This is a great forum you guys have. I'm an owner of a '97 Maxima SE (5MT) and looking out for an SE-R to buy. I checked on out last week which drove pretty nicely. Looking under the hood, things looked pretty clean but there was a fair bit of rust which I didn't expect to see on a '05 car.

Where the struts attach to the body, there is a noticeable amount of rust. In your opinion, does this look like a deal-killer? Is this typical of '05/'06 SE-Rs? BTW, where this car is from, salt is used on roads in the winter. OR, is this just surface rust that can be curbed by using oil?

Here are pics. Thanks in advance for any advice/suggestions you can offer!


Front Left Strut









Front Right Strut


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## ILSER25 (Apr 16, 2010)

If there is that much rust already on the car then I would say pass on the car. It would seem that the engine bay has a problem with drainage of water. It probably has something to do with bad weather stripping on the hood seal or the water paths are clogged. 

With that much rust trying to remove it could be a challenge as a couple of the spots look like they are rusted almost all the way through.

If your hunting for Alti SE-R for sale I would check in Illinois as there are a bunch for sale out here.


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## StygianMax (Jan 2, 2010)

Thanks for the reply ILSER25. I ended buying the car and have since been able to scrape away much of the rust. It was all surface rust (vs. coming from coming bottom up - which was my initial fear). So, I'm a pretty happy camper now! I plan on getting the car rust-proofed with oil treatment shortly and hope to get a good 8 years out of the car. 

Cheers!


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## ILSER25 (Apr 16, 2010)

Hi There,

There is a great product that is for rust prevention. I use it at the body shop that I work at all the time. It's called Por 15. You can get it in black or grey. It's rougly $35-40 a quart, but this stuff stops rust and prevents it from continuing ever.

Hope this helps.


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