I've never owned a car from new before so I'm not sure if I am being picky or not but would you expect to see so much rust on the exhaust after 1500 miles and 2 months? I have cleaned the car every three weeks and at every clean I always sluice the underside the car with fresh water to get rid of any salt and grunge.

Click image to enlarge

Click image to enlarge

The rusting on the exhaust looks pretty normal to me against previous experience with a number of new cars. You've got to remember that it's in a pretty aggressive environment with road spray and high temperatures. I haven't checked my 6 month old FL2 but a couple of Volvos owned from new over the past 6 years have exhibited similar signs with no detriment. D3 GS Java Black TDV6 Manual

Thanks Steve.

There are a few posts on the forum about after market treatments. I was thinking of something cheap and cheerful like waxoyl.

Is it worth the time and effort? Cost isnt a big consideration for Waxoyl as it is under £20... '57 GS TD4 in Stornoway. Privacy, Leather, Tred Cills. From ebay etc.. 18" 12 spoke HSE alloys, rear spoiler, clear side repeaters with clear leds, led interior light to replace bulbs, sports exhaust trim, TomTom 720.
Favourite Off road vehicle, still my Santa Cruz Mountain Bike! http://www.team-banana-racing.com

I'd be a bit sceptical about a Waxoyl type treatment given the possible temperatures that some parts of the system can reach. Maybe someone else has some better info. D3 GS Java Black TDV6 Manual

Hi Scotster, mines the same especially on the rear drive shafts. My next door neighbour works for gkn who supply the shafts to LR says this is perfectly normal, only surface rust. He should know he is on the design team!

Hope he is right. I am not going to treat it for all the reasons given on this and other posts.

Don't put waxoyl on the exhaust it will fry off and stink. Exhausts rust full stop, the only way out of this is a pricey stainless steel pipe. Generally most exhaust corrosion is on the inside of the pipe due to the chemicals/water vapour in there so protecting the outside wont make your pipe last any longer.
The exhaust on a diesel vehicle tends to last longer due to less corrosive chemicals in the exhaust gases.

The silencer box on mine went like that very quickly. I guess thst this is the norm with ordinary steel systems.
Also,my wife had a Corsa and the exhaust on that started to rust very quickly but we still managed to get 6 years out of the back box. Even then it wasn't actually blowing, I just guessed it wouldnt see another MOT.
Suppose it is luck of the draw really how long they last.

Same here - hope its only cosmetic rust on the surface. The last car I owned (a BMW318iT) I had for almost 8 years and never changed the exhaust system and most of it didnt show much "cosmetic" rust either. Lets hope our Freelander 2's exhaust systems last that long  2007 Freelander 2 HSE TD4 Manual with Premium Pack & Moonroof.
Stornoway Grey with Ebony Black Pleather, Clear Indicators, Body Side Mouldings etc.

Thanks for all the feedback, very much appreciated.

Looks like I should expect it then!

If it is correct and most of the corrosion is internal I guess its not worth doing diddly squat on the exhaust.

Makes me wonder why YamahaFan is so keen on his treatment..

Don't get me started on the locking nuts.

S. '57 GS TD4 in Stornoway. Privacy, Leather, Tred Cills. From ebay etc.. 18" 12 spoke HSE alloys, rear spoiler, clear side repeaters with clear leds, led interior light to replace bulbs, sports exhaust trim, TomTom 720.
Favourite Off road vehicle, still my Santa Cruz Mountain Bike! http://www.team-banana-racing.com

Well, I am indeed surprised to learn that the outer exhaust pipe shows that much rust already. Most premium cars today have the exhaust system made from stainless steel. I wonder where else Landrover saves money (= less quality) what we will not see at the first glance.

Scotster, I am curious to protect the underbody of my Freely 2 with a suitable wax and oil containing medium, such as Perma Film and/or Liquid Film. I have also sprayed a generous portion of Liquid Film in the lower parts of the 4 doors and the hatch-door. This will for sure prevent rusting for many years at less than 10 Euro.
But as some Forum members have already said, do NOT spray or paint your exhaust pipes with anything containing wax or oil. Much better and lasting much longer is painting your exhaust system with zink-paint which must be heat resistant. With both, Perma- and Liquid Film and Zink Paint you have protected the underbody in the best possible way.

YF

Before buying, I asked, and was told the syatem was stainless.
I did not get that in writing, but if you ask a straight question you should get a straight answer.

The really good thing about your pictures scotster is that there is no sign of corrosion on the painted components or the fixings. I might worry about underbody treatments there is a lot of plastic and synthetic rubber down there. still pining for my 3dr, no removeable hardtop, no drop glass tailgate, no roof rack, no pockets everywhere to stow all that man kit

Hi YF.

I read your post about perma-film. I may well do that when I get a spare Sunday.

Do you have any names for the commercial products of the zinc paint and does anyone have any knowledge of such?

If it is true that it corrodes faster from the inside is there any point??

I'm not too worried but If I can spend £50 quid to save £500.. '57 GS TD4 in Stornoway. Privacy, Leather, Tred Cills. From ebay etc.. 18" 12 spoke HSE alloys, rear spoiler, clear side repeaters with clear leds, led interior light to replace bulbs, sports exhaust trim, TomTom 720.
Favourite Off road vehicle, still my Santa Cruz Mountain Bike! http://www.team-banana-racing.com

The zinc-paint may be bought at any car-parts shop (usually spray bottle) or from a car paint shop (usually 1 litre container). Important is that the zinc-portion of the paint is more than 80%.
It is correct that the exhaust system corrodes usually more from the inside than from the outside due to the condensed humidity produced with any cold start of the engine. But this is more so with petrol engines and much less with diesel engines, so I would not worry too much .

YF

Zinc is a sacrificial alloy in that the electrolyctic action which creates most forms of corrosion will attack first and then when its all gone will attack the steel next hence y-f comment about high% zinc content. Galvanised sheet used to build barns etc is zinc plated.
If there are any breaks in the steels protective surface this form of galvanic corrosion will concentrate at this point giving accelerated corrosion. Its this concentrated attack that leads to paint blistering and finally perforation. Something similar happens in seams but a different explanation of that is needed and given I have just sunk a stiff G&T it can wait till another day.
So having bored you all senseless, repair all breakages in the paint film and fill all panel joints on the B surface and be particularly vigilant for paint damage at the base of panel joints on the A surface. still pining for my 3dr, no removeable hardtop, no drop glass tailgate, no roof rack, no pockets everywhere to stow all that man kit