All of a sudden, what do I find? Bottom of each door is showing rust. Paint is bubbled and flaking.

Oh well, guess I need the practice with the sanders and spayer. Think I'll just prep and prime, then give it a good coat of Rhino or the like up to the moulding line. Credit for that goes to another member here, sorry, just can't place who tho.

 

I love mine, I didn't have rust though (Montana truck, no humidity and they use sand not salt on the roads).

 

You're probably out of warranty as I think by 98 they reduced the corrosion warranty to 5 years & 70K. My 95 has 7/100 and my drivers door was replaced and passenger door repaired under warranty in 2001. Saved me mucho $$.

Check the back of your owners manual to be sure.

 

The warranty is 5yr/100,000 miles for rust through.....which sucks because I'm out of it as well. (~150,000miles)

What I plan to do on mine is pretty much the same game plan as you have---prep & prime then have spray on liner applied. A really good product to use pre-prime is Eastwood's Rust Encapsulator. Used it on a couple old cars with excellent results. The lower part of the door is hard to get completely cleaned up on the inside and the Eastwood stuff really helps in that area.

Either way it really bites that trucks this new are starting to rust out.

 

my 95 was wrecked, just took it to the shop to start parting it out, it had new door skins last year, i can check them to see if they are good for you if you want.

 

Slowerthanu, yours is the truck I was thinking of. Yea, I remember Montana. Thats were I am from. When I was a kid I bought a 65 chevy. Two years ago when I was visiting the folks, the guy I sold it to brought it by. Rear bumper was rusted gone and frame looked ??, but the truck still had the same paint on it as when I sold it. Worn, but no rust thru.

 

Mine is popping on the drivers door at the bottom and the sides.
Body shop at the dealer said 300 bucks to fix it. Out of warranty

Not my fault they did not treat the inside of the door to keep the rust from jamming the drain holes. Still need to check and see if the holes were in the right spots. Still working on them.

Dave

 

my 98 is doing that im under 100,000 miles but it is older than 5 years does that take it out of warranty

 

Technically, yes, but all depending on the relationship you have with your dealer, you might catch a break. Maybe not a 100% covered repair, but perhaps something...

 

SPRAY SOME DIESEL FUEL INSDE YOU DOORS AND YOU WILL HAVE NO MORE PROBLEMS WITH DOORS RUSTING FROM THE INSIDE,I DO MINE 2 OR 3 TIMES A YEAR. ART

 

When a local dealer repaired mine under warranty, the body shop manager told me to do the same with oil.

So while you're waiting to top off your tank, put your windows down and run the nozzle across the top of each window. You shouldn't see too much of a mess when you put your windows back up.

 

"oil in the door"

Sounds like paint quaility is the issue here as in primer. My 96 does not have this problem, nor does a friends 92 have this problem.

The internal primer is the problem, it failed some time ago to allow that much rust to form, fall and stop up the drain holes in the bottom of the door. The water is being held in the bottom of the door.

I waiting for the "big wheel of paint" for this area to show up at the dealer. He or She and I are going to have a talk about rust and how it forms. Mine rust problem had to start years ago.

May post some pics of my problem. The paint is bubbled up on the outside of the door at the bottom.

Dave

 

Soon after I bought my ram (1/95) a friend of mine, who does detailing, looked down my bed's stake holes and noticed either little or no primer, similar to another ram he just did. I've seen alot of trucks similar in age to mine with the same problem.

Another early rust problem I had was my rear chrome bumper. On the top near the center. Both sides. It started bubbling through within 3 or 4 years, I'd say and of course that isn't covered by the corrosion warranty. A friend of mine put a roll pan on his 00, so I bought his bumper and swapped them. It's been fine, although it's only 4 years old, but there are no signs of the same problem. I figured DC got a bad bunch of bumpers from a supplier. I wonder if other trucks I've seen with this issue were built on St. Louis, like mine.

 

The real problem with the door rust is the outer door panel is crimped on to the door itself. Since there is a seam there, water works itself down there and the door rusts from the inside of that seam out. If you look at the seam, you can see the rust expanding the metal. Mine was perfect when I bought the truck, 1 year later I have a hole in the rocker panel and rust in the door Can't wait till October to get it fixed...

 

I found the beginnings of this soon after I purchased my 99 in 2001. I sprayed some corrosion inhibitor into the door drain holes and along the bottom seam. Problem is I won't know how good it worked for a while. I know the truck came from Mass., but does not have rust on most of the underside.
I do not drive this truck in anything worse than rain.
I refuse to let it be taken away by rust, as my 82 F150 is. This is now my snow truck, for obvious reasons.

Chris