is the rust a serious concern? How long will you keep the vehicle, how many miles do you get in how many years? For me the rust isnt an issue, ill hit enough miles to sell it long before the rust becomes something serious. or ill get crashed into, seems to be how i get into new vehicles lately.
if the rust will take 15 years to become serious and you get to 250k in the next 9, thats different than if you put little miles and plan on a 25 year run.

 

Very true, but the counter point here is that, these things command a nice premium over anything else on the market. If I have to pay the market premium either way, take the vehicle without the rust. Good buddy of mine wanted to ****** up a GX470, not precisely a GX460 but suffers from the same market premium these type of vehicles command. The vehicle had quite a rusty undercarriage, but the seller only wanted to take 500 off, saying that even with the rust, these things are tank and someone will eventually pick it up, and they did.

 

sure, seems obvious, if theres 2 identical vehicles, take the one without the rust. we all would do that.
based on this being one that seems really good in all other aspects, im not sure the rust should be a big deal. if a rust free is wanted, then it can be found, but usually a trip and a higher price is the result.
i would not discount even 10$ for the rust if mine was for sale. i would say that the rust is less than normal for the area's salt conditions.

 

To me, rust is always a big deal, especially if buying a used rig, because you or the mechanics you hire will be working on it more than a new car and you will be fighting rust constantly.

If you buy a rig from the South or West that isn't rusted at all, you can spray and protect the underside of the car and keep it protected yearly and likely have a very long life for it.

If you spot one somewhere, do a shout-out for someone on club Lexus to go look at it for you.

 

Haha thats why dealerships sales managers always say "theres an *** for ever seat"

While thats excellent selling behavior, its probably not the best buyers advice. They didnt make one GX, so no reason to rush on through.

 

Looks like surface rust, unless you plan to keep the car for next 15 years this should not be an issue. But if it bothers you look for a different car. I

 

As someone from the upper midwest, I think the concerns over rust can be overblown by people who live in areas where road salt is less common. Yes, it can be odd to find a vehicle with rust in the south or west and yes the old Tacomas are notorious for rusty frames but if you live anywhere that uses salt in the winters then you're going to have a tough time finding any local car that doesn't have surface rust underneath. It's a fact of life and quality cars are not falling apart after 10-20 years here, at least not from rust issues.

Unless you really want to travel to another state to buy a car, I wouldn't pass on that vehicle based on the pictures.

 

exactly my take on it. if theres flakes or holes, thats bad. surface isnt. when youre from areas that use plenty of salt, you dont really worry as much about the surface stuff, because every single vehicle will have it within a couple of years.

 

My 2011 has rust, not as much as the pictures in this thread but certainly from driving around in the Boston winters with liquid salt used everywhere. Surface rust is to be expected, corrosion and rot would be a deal breaker for me though. Almost every car or truck I’ve owned had the dust covers on the wheels corroded from the winter salt but they are made of a tin like material. I recently had an issue with my ABS harness corroded from the inside. I’m sure air and moisture mixed with road salt was the culprit.

 

After following up on the great suggestions in this forum it seems that the most common solution is to remove as much rust as possible and then use a rust converter + paint. I asked a lexus dealer near me and they can sand the rust + paint the undercarriage for ~$1K.
I would've preferred if they treated it with a converter before painting but the representative I spoke with didn't know more about the actual process.
I'll ask around in body shops to compare prices and treatments.
Would you prefer to have the car treated in a lexus dealer, regardless of the process followed?

 

i would prefer a reputable auto body shop. My guess is Lexus probably would send it out to one as well, might as well eliminate the middle man.

 

I agree, and you will probably pay less as Lexus would upcharge you.

 

I did my brakes yesterday / just the fronts rotors pads/rotors, I got the car last year and its sitting at 30k miles now, its a 2015. Well when I took the wheels out I realized there were some rust spots that are just forming under the car at some areas. The brakes were a PIA because seems like the nuts and pins were sort of stuck (not rusted).

Anyways I was looking for maybe a spray or something that I can just put on and it does not get worse. Its not at a point where anything needs to be sanded and sprayed over.

Back in the old days I have seen people put used oil in the areas, not sure if that's recommended. I cam across Griot's Garage 11221 Rust Remover Gel ; as an option but wanted to check here on what you guys have done to address it.

thanks!

 

Well that's how you season a cast iron pan to keep it from rusting. With fresh oil of course.

 

I would not do anything. Small rust spots under car are normal, esp at your location.