Hey guys, first off wanted to say thanks for all the great post! I recently picked up a stock 04 z06 with 25k on it and this website has helped me a ton, I already know who bill is😂. I've ben going through the car and I have white oxidation/pitting over most of the frame and the welds it looks like the paint has failed and there is surface rust starting to form. I was wondering is this common this for c5s? Im starting to feel mabey i made a mistake buying it? Is all the white pitting going to turn into rust? I am worried about how fast it will get worse, being a full frame vehicle I will never beable to paint parts of it without complete separation. Was wondering if some of you guys could post some pics of your undercarriages to compare. Im from the north east, i imagen the car saw acouple winters or was improperly stored?











I've ben through the hole car and cross bars are the worst of it. The car looks super clean and original besides this issue it's starting to kinda bum me out. Its about to be winter and I want to do something to keep it from getting worse, I won't have time to paint it before the weather gets to cold. Has anyone ever used fluidfilm on there vette or have any recommendations on how to keep it from getting worse as I am going to have to store the car outside this winter. I was thinking of storing up on the ramps, covered and coating it with something on the underside.

 

Car is fine. Next spring if you want something to do get it high enough and go under there with a nylon wire brush and some gun cleaner (not oil) and clean it up, recoat those parts with some fresh paint but nothing rubberized and be done with it.

 

Let's say that IMHO you are over-reacting . This is completely normal when you just bought it. Been there done that, despite my 20years experience in automotive product development. Undercarriage always get "sanded" by gravels, dust and sand. What you see is extremely limited and before the parts are to suffer, you'll need bath your car in salty water and wash it with acid, and repeat...
technically, it is a car which was driven, and it is designed for it.
now, if you want you can brush and repaint anything you feel like, clean it as mentioned above and use a metal paint which protects from rust and enjoy your car.
that the most important.
my 2 cents
TCFS

 

I tend to get pretty invested in my cars, and I am wondering how common/uncommon this is on c5s before I get to invested in it, are most of them going to be like this in the north east? Its not salt and most of it doesn't wipe off looks like pitting its not just on the underside its on most of the frame the pictures looks better than it does in person. My concern is how fast this is going to turn into rust left un treated. I dont have time to do much before it snows it already has here and the car will be sitting and to cold to paint. What if i just wipe the frame down with wd40 every so often? Will that help to slow it or just make things worse? I am thinking about fluid film but I am worried about the resido it may leave attracting dirt ect

 

Dude you are waaaaayy overeating, that is nothing to be concerned about. I bet a Dremel wire brush would clean that up.

 

It looks like what happens from road salt to me
My '95 C4 looked pretty much exactly like that underneath after I mistakenly drove it on salted roads a few times.

 

thanks for the reply. How long did it take for the areas that looked like that to get worse? Did it turn into a major head ache?

 

If the underside has since been cleaned and you keep it off of salted roads it shouldn't get much if any worse unless you park it in a field.