Focus MK4 muffler corrosion after 6 months

[WarhawkCZ]

Hello everyone, 
last week, I discovered that the muffler and pipes in my Focus MK4 are heavily corroded. This is a 6-months old car and the odometer reports only 10 thousand kilometers. 
I crosschecked with my previous BMW 420d, my friend's Toyota Auris, and another friend's Skoda Superb. Their mufflers are in way better condition than mine although their cars are 3 years old. 
Could anyone share his/her thoughts? I am happy with my Focus but this ruined my day.
Regards, Jiri

 

[TomsFocus]

Do you live in a salty area near the sea or park over damp grass?  Unpainted mild steel will always rust but that is a bit surprising for just 6 months. 

Fords are cheap and use cheap parts, can't really be compared to BMW, Toyota and VAG.

[StephenFord]

If you still have it whenever it needs replacing, pony up for stainless steel, it'll look gorgeous for the remainder of the life of your car. If the 'look'really bothers you, you could splash out on  can of satin black VHT paint, otherwise as Tom says, it's mild steel, they all do that!

[Milkman]

'The car is 6 months old'. Return it to where you bought it and complain, the car should be covered by warrantee and should be put right under that warrantee. The car is only 6 months old by it's first registration date, that does not mean that it was manufactured 6 months ago, it could in reality be 2 or 3 years old and been in the manufacturers stock yard with hundreds of others for that amount of time before going out the the dealership.

[Comares2001]

Looks normal to me for a mild steel exhaust especially if its been subjected to salted roads. If you take it back what are you going to complain about ?Unless its corroded right through somewhere they'll probably laugh at you behind your back.

[WarhawkCZ]

1 hour ago, Milkman said:

'The car is 6 months old'. Return it to where you bought it and complain, the car should be covered by warrantee and should be put right under that warrantee. The car is only 6 months old by it's first registration date, that does not mean that it was manufactured 6 months ago, it could in reality be 2 or 3 years old and been in the manufacturers stock yard with hundreds of others for that amount of time before going out the the dealership.

Unfortunately this is not the case. It is a custom config. I got the car brand new within a week after the production. I will forward pictures to the dealership. I am wondering what they say.

[WarhawkCZ]

1 hour ago, Comares2001 said:

Looks normal to me for a mild steel exhaust especially if its been subjected to salted roads. If you take it back what are you going to complain about ?Unless its corroded right through somewhere they'll probably laugh at you behind your back.

I still think that this is more on the extreme side. For this reason, I wanted to know someone else's opinion.

[StephenFord]

2 minutes ago, WarhawkCZ said:

... I am wondering what they say.

Yes, we all are!

[WarhawkCZ]

2 hours ago, TomsFocus said:

Do you live in a salty area near the sea or park over damp grass?  Unpainted mild steel will always rust but that is a bit surprising for just 6 months. 

Fords are cheap and use cheap parts, can't really be compared to BMW, Toyota and VAG.

I live few kilometers north of Munich, Germany. The Germans salt roads but this winter was extremely mild. The car have not seen much salt yet. 

I know that comparing Ford against more premium brands is unfair. On the other hand the cost of Škoda or Toyota Auris is in the same price range. 

[WarhawkCZ]

2 minutes ago, StephenFord said:

Yes, we all are!

I promise I'll report back next week.

[Eric Bloodaxe]

2 hours ago, TomsFocus said:

Do you live in a salty area near the sea or park over damp grass?  Unpainted mild steel will always rust but that is a bit surprising for just 6 months. 

Fords are cheap and use cheap parts, can't really be compared to BMW, Toyota and VAG.

I can't say I've noticed a lot of difference in makes tbh. My Audi exhaust looked pretty rusty quite quickly, though was still passing MOT after 5 years/35,000 miles. My Mrs's Mk 1 Ka was still original when we sold it after 7 years, as was her Citroen ZX which she had 9 years then the brother in law got another 4 out of it.

That said, the last 2 or 3 pics above do look quite bad particularly on the bends - my Fiesta doesn't look that bad after 2 years +.

 

[Guy Heaton]

Mine's a year old but still looks almost new, 6300 miles so similar distance.  That's not right.

[TomsFocus]

1 hour ago, Eric Bloodaxe said:

I can't say I've noticed a lot of difference in makes tbh. My Audi exhaust looked pretty rusty quite quickly, though was still passing MOT after 5 years/35,000 miles. My Mrs's Mk 1 Ka was still original when we sold it after 7 years, as was her Citroen ZX which she had 9 years then the brother in law got another 4 out of it.

That said, the last 2 or 3 pics above do look quite bad particularly on the bends - my Fiesta doesn't look that bad after 2 years +.

 

My Golf backbox still looks new at 7 years old, they must make them out of a more expensive alloy than Ford do.  I'm not sure they're actually stainless, but it's definitely not just mild steel.  It's also noticeable that the pipes are a slightly lower grade than the boxes as they get a few rust spots but nothing like the OP's.

I used to live near the sea and park on damp mud/grass...went through plenty of cheap backboxes!  Even managed to rust a Stainless system pretty quickly there though, didn't realise lower grade stainless would still rust until then! :o 

[Tizer]

My one is 1 year old and it does have rust, but not as bad as your one. 

We also had a mild winter so the roads were not salted as much as they usually are.

[Milkman]

2 hours ago, WarhawkCZ said:

Unfortunately this is not the case. It is a custom config. I got the car brand new within a week after the production. I will forward pictures to the dealership. I am wondering what they say.

It's still not right, the exhaust should not have any corrosion  at that short age, sending pictures to the dealership is all very well but you need them to physically look at it to see the exact extent of the problem. Perhaps Ford manufactured that exhaust system from the rejected cans from the Heinz baked bean factory.

[StephenFord]

12 minutes ago, Milkman said:

...Perhaps Ford manufactured that exhaust system from the rejected cans from the Heinz baked bean factory.

Unlikely, Mercedes used that all up when building their C class LOL

[Wino]

Will check ours tomorrow as its just over a year old now and fingers crossed it doesnt look like the above pictures. 

It probably wont help the exhaust system if you do continually park on the grass (as in the pics) due to the added moisture content will only accelerate the issue. 

[WarhawkCZ]

20 minutes ago, Wino said:

It probably wont help the exhaust system if you do continually park on the grass (as in the pics) due to the added moisture content will only accelerate the issue. 

I am visiting in-laws this weekend and this is an exception. We have underground parking at our house and a tarmac park lot at work. Honestly, I can't think of better conditions for the car. I treat it nicely because it is my first "really mine" car. Others were leased company vehicles.

Nevertheless, your comment on parking on the grass is a valid point.

PS: it would be great if you could share pics of your vehicle tomorrow. Fingers crossed it's in better shape.

[StephenFord]

LOL, I get the feeling you'll be devastated if something actually went wrong with your car 😄

[WarhawkCZ]

2 hours ago, StephenFord said:

LOL, I get the feeling you'll be devastated if something actually went wrong with your car 😄

I am sorry I don't get it. 

[Guy Heaton]

This is mine, one year old, bit of surface discolouration that's all.  6300 miles around 10000km

[Comares2001]

Maybe the OP has a point. This is mine after 18 months and 10K miles (some of its dirt!)

[WarhawkCZ]

I've been quite busy recently and have not had a chance to talk to the dealer. It is on my to-do list. Stay tuned.

[WarhawkCZ]

Just in case google brings you here. The dealer claims this is perfectly fine corrosion and nothing to worry about.

... 

[south_bound]

For comparison here are my 2 Focus exhausts - you can tell from the shape but not by the amount of rust which is the Mk4 at less than 1 year old and which is the Mk 2 at 13 years old with original parts!  At this rate I don't expect the Mk 4 exhaust to last as long.