Had it for 16 years and, after I bought it I was underneath every couple of years with the waxoil keeping the rust at bay - successfully I might add, for the most part aided in no small part by the use of decent mudflaps.
maybe - or maybe not - an ND looks tempting but at 75 my days of crawling under cars are pretty well past!
So my question is - if I get an ND, maybe 5 or 6 years old, am I going to need to do the same, or do they have proper rustproofing as all modern cars should?
PS it lives out-of-doors and is used all year round, salty roads and all.
Bought my ND a month ago and by coincidence I’ve just been pricing up mud flaps for it. It will get the wax and underseal treatment soon but in the meantime I’ve been lying underneath with a pressure washer to get the salt off.
It does have a cursory underseal and I can see the wax runoff from the drain holes on the doors but mine is also kept outdoors and a daily driver so I will pay someone else to do the treatment probably every couple of years.
An ND will need underseal too, again much like the NC it needs extra treatment, the factory stuff mainly on the floor pan is ok it’s just the rest, sub frames etc rust away. Basically it all wants covering again and if needed the rust treated.
Very lucky with my ND, last and only previous owner treated it (looks like wax oil) from new and topped it up regularly. Found a couple of spots that need attention, miniscule really, about the size of a 5p on the rear subframe, that’s it the rest very good for 11 years old this year.
Definitely check any age MX-5 for rust underneath, it’s my first look see when viewing one
Thanks TJP - what mudflaps did you find? My items of choice are the old Cannon Bodyguards but they’ve vanished from the market! Manufacturer ones are normally decorative but otherwise useless.
And - if you are in Brum or the West Mids - where will you have the underside treated? The ones I’ve found seem, from theier “after” pictures, to put on something that looks like the old underseal, which franly gives me the horrors!!
Glad you found some. The back wheel tub on my ND4 is solid enough to hold the screws but the front tub is much thinner. I used two of the existing push clips that also go through the metal arch and a two inch wood screw into the end of the more solid side trim. The fourth one that has to hold itself into the thin plastic tub is one of these.
