Ok, I'm looking at buying another truck and have found an 09 from Michigan. I live in the south and am worried that it will rust out quickly. I have family in Michigan and they are telling me that they still rust out showing signs around wheel wells and door crest areas after 4-5 years and rusting underneath after just a couple. The dealer that has the truck says its made of galvanized metal and wont rust out like that... Any input would be Great although I think I know what my answer is... Thanks in advance.

 

Just had Dodge fix my 06, paint was bubbled in about 5 places above the r/r tire. They sid it was a hole yet I told them in several months it would be. Truck will be 5 years old on March of 2011. They will rust, I have hd the truck oiled every other year also.

 

I have an '05 I bought new and just had a rust bubble pop up on the passenger rear fender. I keep my truck clean, and stop at the car wash everyday after the roads are salted. I will most likely take care of it and add some flares.

 

05HDRAM, where are you from? I bought my '05 new in VA. No signs of rust yet but they don't use salt there either.

 

A little west of Philadelphia. Like I said, I keep her clean and always spray it down after driving on salted roads. When I say salted roads, I mean some of them are so white it is hard to tell if it's snow or salt. Granted my wife does not drive as much as I do, but her '01 Tahoe has zero rust on the body.

 

Thanks again for the input. I figured that was the case. They can do some things to retard the rusting process but nothing works as well as staying away from salt... lol Thanks once again

 

Umm... I live in south west VA and they salt the roads like crazy around here, sometimes so much you think the road has snow on it from the white color. My 2006 is not showing anything as of yet though..... knock on sheet metal...

 

Just keep an eye around the edge of the rear fenders. I swear it just popped up out of nowhere.

 

My 04 and three other guys at work have rust in the same spot (right rear wheel well), all three of these trucks are pavement queens... We salt here in the mid west but I rinse the truck mutiple times a week in the winter but it didn't seem to help... This is definately a factory defect issue because all the trucks I have seen have the rust in the same area...

 

My tailgate is rusting pretty bad at the very bottom but I haven't seen any rust anywhere else. The previous owner of my truck put a few dents in the gate so I'm just planning on replacing it once I find the right deal on one....

 

I just brought home an '05 with 41K miles. Do you have pics of where the rust starts? I would like to be pro-active if possible. Anyone know of a remedy to stop the rust before it starts?