Current State of Rust: 10 years above the salt belt

[ex-x-fire]

You needed to pop out the plugs and spray into the rockers.

[06YarisRS]

Originally Posted by ex-x-fire

You needed to pop out the plugs and spray into the rockers.

+++1

Rocker panels, doors, hood, liftgate, wheelhouses and dogleg areas (very important), unibody rails to add to your list. I drill in the rear door jamb, so I can spray thin fluid into the wheelhouse area. Also, get a set of floor liners if you don't have them already. Minimal amounts of water seep through the carpet, sits there like a wet sponge, and rust from inside out where unibody panels are glued together.

There are two oblong rubber plugs underneath just forward of the rear wheel well. I remove those plugs and pump about a L of ATF into there a couple times a year. So far my '06 and '08 have no perforation and almost no surface rust. I have taken the philosophy that rust occurs where water settles and stays - normally the lowest location that holds water. These are the areas that I concentrate on when rust-proofing. At least the Yaris isn't packed full of expanding foam like my Dodge Grand Caravan was. It trapped and held water. I had to remove it manually with steel rods and high pressure water. Then I could adequately rust-proof it. Fortunately, I got to it in time.