C4 Rust? Common problem?
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2nd Gear
Joined: Nov 2006
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C4 Rust? Common problem?
Do C4 Corvettes suffer from rust problems like the C2-C3? I have owned a C3 with bird cage issues and have seen a lot of bad frames. I am looking into buying a C4 and would like some tips as to the problem areas with these cars.
Thanks
Thanks
Race Director
Joined: Aug 2000
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Yeah they have rust problems,depends on where the car lived its life.
Fuel lines rusted in the rear,the gas tank,rear sway bars,and some other hardware in the rear where rust can form are the norm with earlier C4's in the rust belts.
Fuel lines rusted in the rear,the gas tank,rear sway bars,and some other hardware in the rear where rust can form are the norm with earlier C4's in the rust belts.
Melting Slicks
Joined: Mar 1999
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From: Las Vegas Nevada
as mentiond above they can have rust problems but I've yet to see one that is anywhere near as bad as some of the C3's I've seen. I've never seen a C4 with a rusty frame or a badly rusted windshield frame (like the problems that plague C3's).
I had a guy bring me his 1980 for a paint job a few years ago. Car looked to be in pretty good shape. He asked if I could take a look at his leaking T-tops. Turned out his entire windshield frame was rotted away
that alone added $2500 to the cost of the paint job.
I had a guy bring me his 1980 for a paint job a few years ago. Car looked to be in pretty good shape. He asked if I could take a look at his leaking T-tops. Turned out his entire windshield frame was rotted away
that alone added $2500 to the cost of the paint job.
Safety Car
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From: VA
From what I've seen there aren't significant concerns with rust on cars that have been taken care of. If it's been driven in salt or spent it's life at the ocean, well that's another mess entirely as with any car.
There are a lot of minor components that are steel with no paint or other protection, but nothing too critical.
There are a lot of minor components that are steel with no paint or other protection, but nothing too critical.
Elite Torch Red Member
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From: Exit 89 GSP,Lakewood,NJ The Land Of Mojo
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St. Jude Donor '03-'04-'05-'06-'07
The only rust I have is on the exhaust manifolds(as all cars do), the cats and the bar that holds the center spoiler on.
My car is driven daily even in the winter with salt on the roads. No problems at all. The rust I do have is from where paint came off and left bare metal, and it was like that when I bought it and the car was originally sold in Texas.
Little bit of rust on the brake caliper brackets.
My car is driven daily even in the winter with salt on the roads. No problems at all. The rust I do have is from where paint came off and left bare metal, and it was like that when I bought it and the car was originally sold in Texas.
Little bit of rust on the brake caliper brackets.
Race Director
Joined: Dec 2000
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From: El Paso Texas
My car originally came from Cocoa Beach Florida, and had rust issues around the windshield frame. Had everything repaired when I had it painted, but I was actually quite surprised to find out it was there.
It concerned me enough that I went over the whole frame with the car on stands and looked for any other issues, but didn't find anything. There was some surface rust on fuel lines, etc, but nothing structural. And since it's very dry here, there shouldn't be any more that come up.
But to answer the question, yes....C4's DO rust.
It concerned me enough that I went over the whole frame with the car on stands and looked for any other issues, but didn't find anything. There was some surface rust on fuel lines, etc, but nothing structural. And since it's very dry here, there shouldn't be any more that come up.
But to answer the question, yes....C4's DO rust.
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The hood holders tend to collect rain and car wash water, too, if the drain holes get clogged with debris.
You can take a leaf blower or air compressor hose and force the debris out or you can buy one of those hood drain kits from Eckler's or MAM (Mid-America Motorworks).
You can take a leaf blower or air compressor hose and force the debris out or you can buy one of those hood drain kits from Eckler's or MAM (Mid-America Motorworks).
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From: Fort Knox, KY
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Originally Posted by Tom Piper
I think the C4 frame is actually galvanized before it was painted.
Tom Piper
Tom Piper
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From: Boston, Dallas, Detroit, SoCal, back to Boston MA
Originally Posted by Tom Piper
I've seen some problems with corrosion from Delco battery leakage.
It drips on the frame.
Tom Piper
It drips on the frame.
Tom Piper
I had that 
took a brush to the rust and repainted the area.
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That aluminized exhaust is stout, too. I'm still running the O.E.M. unit and there's not a lick of rust on my exhaust system.
Safety Car
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From: Mt Laurel NJ
St. Jude Donor '06-'07
Before I bought the car I have now, I looked at a 85 w/56k on it. When you looked at the vin thur the windsheild, there was so much rust, you could not read it. I don't know what happen to that car, but it had a clean car fax.
BTW, the car ran great. I was going to buy it until I saw the rust.
BTW, the car ran great. I was going to buy it until I saw the rust.
Burning Brakes
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From: MidOhio
I think an overlooked area of corrosion in the C4 will be the aluminum parts that are in contact with steel. The design team had to develop an epoxy coating for the steel to prevent galvanic corrosion of the alum. This coating won't last forever since it's basically like good, heavy paint and, especially if the car is driven "normally" on salted roads and in generally wet weather, will fail eventually. The aluminum corrosion will be much harder to fix, perhaps only by replacement with another alum part or an aftermarket steel part. Steel "rust" can be fixed by weld replacing the bad section but the forged and heat-treated alum parts are not good candidates for weld repair unless reheatreated. I'm not even sure that is at all advisable for critical, highly loaded members like struts, driveshafts, knuckles, etc. I suspect by the time C4s are as old and scarce as C2s are, most of them will have many steel replacement suspension parts.
Burning Brakes
Joined: Jan 2002
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From: Dallas Texas
Originally Posted by onedef92
That aluminized exhaust is stout, too. I'm still running the O.E.M. unit and there's not a lick of rust on my exhaust system.
Safety Car
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From: Mexico Beach FL
Originally Posted by ninetyfivevette
You never should-- it's stainless steel. Many, if not most car manufacturers went to stainless to meet the longer emissions equipment warantee requirements that started somewhere in the early 90's.
OEM is Stainless.Tom Piper