I noticed a huge amount of rust on most of the 97+ eclipses that i looked at, im thinking about buying one, in the wheel wells, on the front controll arms and all over the exhaust manifold, i was wondering if this is a common occurence or if I was jsut unlucky. There were also some strange deposits in the spark plug terminals, again, unlucky or common?

A lot of that depends on where and what conditions the car has been driven in. Northern states are going to rust faster than southern states, because of all the god damn salt they put on the roads. My '99 has NO rust....and I live in Wisconsin. :sunglasse I feel accomplishment.

I bought both my cars from jersey (very salty area's) so they both had rust a 99 and a 97. But depending on your location that may be right.

I have you all beat, I live in Mn and my car is pushing 100k and there isnt any rust:)

oh yea? well im in NYS and my 92 talon has no rust.... that you can see!

The exhaust manifold will rust unless you paint it. Try finding one from a southern state. I have a 95 eclipse with no rust and i'm in northern IL.