How worried do I need to be about my dad’s rusty Ford Ranger? It’s about 10 years old (sorry, I have never owned a car, but I have heard rust can be bad and spreads).
He briefly fooled me until I saw the wavy edges of his bumper – turned out he’s been spray-painting it and it clearly looks like lace in some places along the bottom trim. I asked if he checks underneath and he swears he does, but how much of an issue can this be?
Thanks.
If you can see red rust, there is rust. If the paint is bubbling from below, rust is forming and you’ll see it soon. Neither of these two is a big deal. Now when you SEE THROUGH red rusty areas (holes) or you can push a small screwdriver through the red rust, that is bad.
That said, a Ranger has a separate body and frame, not a one piece unit-body. The body rusting a bit isn’t a very big problem, structurally. Rust through (not just surface rust) on the frame, however is a bad thing. The safety of the truck becomes in question if the holes get bigger than a nickel. Because If you can see a hole that big, the damage is far larger!
how about posting some pictures?
Better yet, crawl underneath the truck with a creeper and take some pictures of the frame, suspension, axle, etc.