Driveshaft rust normal?

[Idle0024]

So was recently underneath the car and saw that the driveshaft is rusted really bad. I’ve read and this seems to be normal, but just concerned with longevity and was wondering if others have seen the same and/or have done something about it. To note, I ordered the car new and only has 4k miles on it.

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[robvas]

It's bare metal. You could have put clearcoat or something on it when it was new

 

[MAT1955]

Yes, normal. Not great looking but common. Don't try to paint is as you could unbalance it. I had an ocd friend who wiped it with machine oil. It did look better and may retard the rust. If your differential isn't painted it too will rust. Many leave the factory or more likely the staging lots like that.

 

[robvas]

Good reason to buy an aftermarket one

 

[Idle0024]

Good reason to buy an aftermarket one

I’m thinking of that now. Just afraid of potential vibration issues after.

 

[TheACN]

Steering knuckle, tie rods, and some other odds and ends will look just like that if they haven’t already. Mine has patches of surface rust with no winter driving.

 

[MAT1955]

@Idle0024 ..... regarding an aftermarket drive shaft. IMO NO. The rust won't hurt anything, painting or coating it won't improve anything and might unbalance it. A friend bought a very expensive aftermarket drive shaft. After three replacements due to vibration he went back to the original. I had a 2014. The drive shaft rusted. I sanded, primed and painted the differential to make it look better BUT left the driveshaft as it was. In 2024 I sold the 2014 to a friend when I bought my 2024 GT. The 2014's drive shaft, with the surface rust, is still just fine. Respectfully, don't go looking for problems. The 2014, now 12 years old and still drives awesome with no driveshaft problems.

 

[LouG]

I'd treat the rust and paint it. I very much doubt a coating or two of paint will cause an imbalance in rotational forces on such a small radius. If it did, just strip the paint off.

 

[John S]

Cost cutting at it's finest. Ford changes what "non-visible" components they paint, and on what vehicle lines, on a regular basis and it's purely cost driven; balancing concerns are insignificant. Unpainted drive shafts and axle assemblies are especially noticeable on trucks and Ford has yearly cost savings targets for each division and budgeted program. My 2022 Mach 1 and my son's 2022 GT PP1 both have painted drive shafts and differential housings from the manufacturing plants. Those same plants would skip the paint operations on these same components depending on the vehicle applications/part numbers.

 

[rustedrotors]

Pretty much any automobile you'll buy will be doing that. Even a bently. Evenly painting it won't bother the balance, however you got to remove it to do that.

Take a rag and wipe down all those lightly rusted spots when doing an oil change. WD40 is an option as well as any type of wax. I oil the underneath of my daily driver cars annually. My 2019 ram looks much better than pretty much anybody's except for the ear bumper. Plastic top of it digs into paint.

 

[cbrtrx]

Yeah painting it will definitely not cause an imbalance, if that was the case then so would all the rust all over it. Ford use to paint them and they looked new for years it's just a way for them to save another 25 cents.

 

[DHGOOD]

I cleaned the rust off with a scotch brute and fine emery cloth then light prime and light paint. Did that on my Fark Horse and my GT. No issues on either with vibration. Im the only one who sees it but it looks a lot better.

 

[DHGOOD]

I cleaned the rust off with a scotch brute and fine emery cloth then light prime and light paint. Did that on my Fark Horse and my GT. No issues on either with vibration. Im the only one who sees it but it looks a lot better.

And I don’t know if it’s just a Dark Horse thing or what but my DH driveshaft has a factory black paint on it. It had a rough texture and was dull like asphalt paint or something but I sanded that paint smooth and removed the labels before I painted it with a light coat of gloss black rustoleum. The DH driveshaft is marked from Ford with a white paint marker to indicate timing, I assume.

But my GT driveshaft was bare steel, no paint at all, and very lightly rusted.

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