mizike- yah, it helps to spray the undercarriage but you'll need to remove the lower shroud to really get in there to wash it. every spring i remove that cover and place a lawn sprinkler under the car and run it for like 10min.

and watch out for the exterior paint. my passenger side door started flaking. there is no prior damage to the door (no bird crap etching or chips).. it just started flaking off.

it really saddens me how quality has degraded at honda. my GE looked nearly new when i sold it 5yrs in. i sold it to carmax and the tech even came out to tell me to say he was extremely impressed how clean the engine bay and undercarriage was on a car that was driven daily.

 

I just bought my first Fit about two weeks ago, but I have been a car enthusiast for a while. My first task was to paint the calipers, for the +5kW :P.

In looking at the undercarriage, I was actually very disappointed at how poorly the welds were painted and overall the frame was coated. As a result, I took a wire brush to knock off any paint that was remotely loose. Once I had wiped everything off and rinsed the surface with alcohol, I spray coated it with 3M's undercoat spray. It isn't perfect, but a yearly re-touch with that held my Mazda at bay for two years - literally no rust, with yearly effort. Rust is all about prevention, so just keep it clean and pre-coat any "at-risk" surface before fall ends.

 

i can tell you that i hate dirty subframes so i do the touch ups too every year. you might have better luck, but my GK particularly is not nice. none of my other cars rust like this..

 

I fully agree with your earlier statements, build quality has dropped... I am restoring two Preludes (1991 & 1997), both of which are significantly superior; the Prelude was designed to be a higher end car, so it is just a matter of understanding that the Fit is a Kei car and designed to be disposable. It is not a car to fall in love with, just drive it and be reasonably attentive. I bought mine strictly to get me around, so it was born to die - my attention and love is only for Preludes .

 

Even my (2012) Fit is getting rust in places I wouldn't expect. For example, rust spots on the door jamb (driver's). This part is not even exposed to the outside most of the time!

Preludes are the best. Always wanted one, the last generation. Since I have a 96 del Sol already I am not likely to buy another contemporaneous Honda .. so I will just have to live with my choices.

 

Appreciate the support, the 5th gen was the best (IMO)... but the 3rd gen has endless charm and was the foundation for the NSX, so will always be special.

In terms of the rust at the inner door welds, I am actually pulling off the weather stripping this weekend to coat the surface tomorrow; the inside of the door is an insidious risky area.

 

this is true.. it is an american market kei car for certain.

especially under the seal there is a lot of water that can collect there. if you are those that wash cars and let it sit inside a garage to dry, that can accelerate rust exponentially. wat i do is if im forced to wash my car and park inside due to weather, i keep the doors open (battery plugged into a battery manager) and run a dehumidifier in the garage with 2 fans running. that usually gets the job done to dry the car in about 7-8hours. but dehumidifers tend to freeze if below 50F, so in those case i just run the fans 10-12hours.

best is to just drive the car as that will get the water out of the door and under seals..

 

another reason why opt waterless wash as much as possible when i cant drive the car after the wash.

 

Water + salts = metal destruction. I applaud the effort, but I think it is a tough thing to be passionate about these cars - knowing their intent. That said, why waste anything? Honda knew its consumer well when it installed an mpg gauge . I aim for 40 mpg every tank... while I am only two deep, I have hit it both times. At some point, the car will rust... I will never love the Fit, but I do struggle with decay/ poor upkeep... so I will probably head towards your approach. I mean, I already have painted the calipers/ lug nuts and repainted all the welds on the rear axle