RUSTY Rear Axle on the New Mustang GAG!

I bought my GT used and the origingal owner had the undercoating that dealers are always trying to sell you istalled. After three years, it looks as good as new underneath. The good thing, is that I didn't have to pay for it!
 
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I care what my car looks like, and I'm anal about stuff like that (as it sounds like some of us here are). Its a personal preference to have our vehicals in perfect visual condition, but I also understand Ford's side on this too (esp. if it doesn't hurt the integrity or performance of the axle).
There are a lot of good points made here but in the end we all have to agree that Ford has made some great business decisions and currently makes a quality vehical... even with rust on the cast iron axle.
 
I agree adidas. I'm very anal about how my vehicles look. And, I agree, that for the money, the axle should be painted or coated, or something other than rust colored. Although, I'd just be happy to have a new one. I just bought a used GT with very low miles and it is already in the shop with problems after one month. Not happy about that.
 
I got under my 2008 (newly purchased used a few weeks ago) when I did a muffler swap and was horrified at the amount of rust I saw. Obviously not a "functional" issue but damn it looks like complete a$$, and for those of us who are anal about our cars it's a disappointment. This car came from the south too, so I'm guessing it hasn't seen a snowy winter. What made it worse, was I then looked under our 2006 GMC Denali (which has seen many a winter) and found barely a speck of rust. Pissed me off!

I guess for some it doesn't matter, but for those of us that don't like it shouldn't be chastised. :) So pass the cost on to the consumer, I'd rather pay up front than now have to deal with it and pay to have it done after the fact.

No matter what, in the long run, rust can NEVER be considered a good thing.
 
I agree with not liking the rusty axle, to me anyone can wax their car and make it look good on the outside. Its the attention to detail that makes a car stand out. Ask Chip Foose.
When I bought my 07 new the first thing I did was paint the axle and still no rust, helps that it has only seen rain once.
We all have seen in some magazine where a sweet stang gets some suspension mods and under the car looks like it sat in a field for a year. To me that takes away from the "sweetness" of the car.
 
Truth of the matter is your average consumer is not going to care if their axle has rust on it, so Ford is not going to spend money coating these parts to make a small minority happy. If you don't like it, do what some of y'all have already done, put it up on stands, and take a weekend to coat and paint it. If you don't want to do that, shut up and go buy a Camaro. :shrug:
 
I am 60 years old and still like & have a few fast cars and definitely like quality also, a friend of mine who is a service director over a large 12 brand new car dealership here in Florida, none of which are Ford looked at a GT 500 with 500 miles on it and swore it had to have set in the ocean with all the rust on axle -front a arms, etc.. I told him it was delivered that way from Ford, he laughed and said that was not possible as he had never seen a new car look like that. Those that think it would cost Ford money to coat parts, etc I really doubt it would cost that much, I even know how they could pay for it = stop giving cars away on Extreme Home Makeover.
One thing I think is funny is that when you see a GT500 or almost new Mustang on Ebay they never show pics of car underneath even when asked to post them, I guess they must be embarrassed or bashful LOL
 
I am going to look at an 2011 Mustang Gt as I like the new engine, I just hope they had the common sense to properly paint coat axle, etc at least as good as Kia does their cars. The reason I care is that I keep my car on a lift and do look at the bottom everyday, get tired of friends making fun calling car a rust-tang while they are driving a car that costs 1/2 of mine..lol
 
For those that thinks it doesn't have any effect on resale you might be right as long as your trading car in as most dealerships give you low wholesale value on your car, but if a private buyer has car inspected by a mechanic that puts car up on a lift which is more common than you might think that rust just might kill the sale.
Another story here...I have a friend with a new Taurus SHO that got rear ended, when he went to pick up car from body shop he had the insight to look under car and found 2 large dents where someone had used a fork lift to move car around, cost to fix another $5000, if he hadn't looked he would of been stuck with car, the culprit was the towing company, you would have thought the Ford dealer's body shop would have caught this before telling him car was ready. He ended up trading car in for another 2010 SHO as he did not want to keep a wrecked car

I will never buy a new car without looking underneath for damage as once you drive off it's yours.
 
Looked under an 2011 yesterday and guess what the axle, etc is still nice & rusty, you would think Ford after all the complaints would have addressed this, it really makes me wonder where their head is.. SUTA I guess
 
I bought me a powder coating gun and wondered if any one knows of any problems with powder coating a complete rear-end? I too hate the rusty axle on my 2010 and I want it fixed. Do certain powders make for better/more durable finishes? I was thinking of getting my powder from these folks but not exactly sure of color, flake, additives and how they affect durability. Guess anything would be better than rust! Any help from experienced coaters out there would be great!
 
Its a musclecar. Its meant to be cheap and fast. I can't even remember how many times I've looked under the car other than for work. How many friends of mine ever asked, "Hey can I look under the trunk??!" :)

Suck it up. Quit whining about some unimportant rust that does nothing from taking away from the driving experience.

Sit down, Shut up and Drive!
 
I have to agree with the OP. First thing I did when I looked under the car while picking up my new '10 is wonder WTF with the rusty axle on a car with 69 miles showing on the odo (in northern CA mind you). And you CAN see parts of the rear axle, especially on lowered cars that have additional rake added into them, from behind. Bottom line, I don't want to see a speck of rust on a new car. Anyone who has ever been in a cruise line with other mustangs knows you can see axles, control arms, exhaust setups, fuel tanks or cells, sway bars, etc, and it all should look good! And honestly, it wouldn't cost much of anything to coat the thousands of rear axle units they produced when you break it down to a per-unit cost. We're not talking chrome here, we're talking some nice black paint just to keep the rust away. RUSTY REAR AXLES ARE AN EPIC FAIL!
 
Its a musclecar. Its meant to be cheap and fast. I can't even remember how many times I've looked under the car other than for work. How many friends of mine ever asked, "Hey can I look under the trunk??!" :)

Suck it up. Quit whining about some unimportant rust that does nothing from taking away from the driving experience.

Sit down, Shut up and Drive!

I did suck it up, i sucked it up when i bought it! :D Because I DID look under it before buying. I agree, it doesn't take from the driving experience BUT I don't consider $40,000 cheap. :shrug:

No one has ever asked me to look under the car but I know it's there. When it comes to MY cars, I like perfection. That's why I will take my approach and try to powder coat it. That way if some one does happen to look under it, it will be just as beautiful as the outside.
 
I got lucky,I bought my bullitt off the showroom floor after being built 2 weeks before hand.I'm pretty anal and run a shop so my cars get alot of hoist time.I sanded,masked off and painted the axle and every few months I detail the complete undercarriage.Its what keeps me happy.