2006 Nissan Frontier 25k miles. My driveshaft and u joint have rust on them already because they were not painted. How long until they fail? or will they in 100k miles? Is it normal not to paint them? Thanks.
It’s normal. Those parts are painted when new. But the paint used isn’t designed to protect these components under normal operational conditions. They’re painted to protect them from rusting during shipping and storage.
The only way to protect these components from rusting on your vehicle would be to powder-coat them. And that’s not cheap!
You’re worrying about nothing.
Tester
Relax, it is normal. Those are big hunky parts and the rust in 10 years will still only involve a tiny part of the whole. It may look bad, but it is not hurting the structural strength.
Those parts are several inches thick. It’ll take 20+ years for them to rust to the point of it being a problem.
They’re not painted. They have a slight machine oil film on them. The rust is cosmetic, but if you want, you can spray with Eastwood Rust Encapsulator, and it will both paint and protect against further rust.
Several inches thick? Every driveshaft I’ve encountered is hollow!
But the driveshaft should easily outlast the rest of the vehicle. U-joints wear out, but not from external rust.
If you measure from cap to cap they are.