Today, while I was cleaning the inside bottom of both doors, I noticed small bumps in the paint running along the seam of the door. It appears these paint bubbles may be the early stages of rust forming within the lower door,
how can this be happening? My truck is just 2 years old and is properly washed once a week. I have to wonder if Ford used any door/seam sealer when fabricating the doors. This is really p**sing me off, never have I owned a vehicle that started to rust in only 2 years. Has anyone else noticed any paint bubbles/rust along the lower inside door? What can I do about this and will Ford cover this under their paint/rust warranty?
Any advice would be appreciated.

 

I think Ford has a 5 or 7 year rust warranty it would be in your manual and warranty info.

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99 F250 XLT LD 4X4 S/C,5.4,3.73 Limited slip,Bright red clearcoat ,4whl abs,remote start w/keyless entry and alarm,chrome rims,tinted,westin nerf bars,factory tonneau,superchip,K&NGen II fipk,pioneer in dash cd,pioneer amp,infinity kappas all around,Lund front runner bug sheild.Gibson split rear,stull SS grilles.

 

That news really blows! Have you by chance opened one of the bubbles to see if it is indeed rust? I have also never owned a vehicle that has had this problem in such a short period of time.

I have not noticed anything like this on either the 98 I had or my 2000.

Best of luck!



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2000 F-150 XLT, 4x2, Superchipped 5.4L Supercab, Styleside, Black with silver two-tone, 3.55 rear, class III towing package with heavy duty cooling package, 4 wheel disk ABS, overhead console, sliding rear window, keyless entry, dark graphite interior, in dash CD, factory leather wrapped steering wheel, Pendaliner bedliner, K&N air filter, rubberized undercoating, cabin filtration system, Bugflector II, 5W-30 Mobil 1, engine build 10/4/99

 

Well one of my buddies that owns a body shop does all my dealers body work and he said that he has seen many new Fords with the rust on the bottom inside of the door, and the dealer had him put new doors on a bunch of them for that and the cracks. He also said that he has replaced many chrome bumpers on them too because of rust.

Just something else to look for!



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99 F-150 XLT Sport, Black 4x4 4.6L , 3.55 LS,Manual Tranny, 3" Body Lift, 35x12.50x16.5 BFG AT's on 16.5x9.75 AR 172(BAJA'S) K&N air filter, No Muff Exaust system,.999 tuned TPS,Pioneer CD Player,Pioneer GM-X332 Amp,8" Rockford Fosgate Punch XLC's, Custom(self done)pinstriping,Wrap around bugdeflecter,

 

My '97's third door had the paint bubble up on the bottom seam. Then I was washing it and the paint peeled off of it and sure enough there was rust underneath it. Is this covered by the warranty? I thought that the rust warranty was not for surface rust (rust caused by salt,etc). I thought that i read that it only covers rust that caused the metal to get holes all of the through it? If it does cover it then I will have the dealer look at it.

 

Nitro, do you also have the door crack? I would say go ahead and let them give you new doors for the crack and that will take care of the rust problem, too.

 

I have the door rust too. It is on the third door and the drivers door. I have used rust inhibitor and paint afterwards but it continues to come back. I also understood the Ford warranty to be rust through. Does anyone know for sure?

 

I also have rust bubles starting on the bottoms of my doors. I spray WD-40 in the drain holes once every month. The tailgate is rusting worse. The seam is starting to split on the drivers side.
We bought a GMC Safari van new late in 97, and it starting to get rust bubbles also. It's really depressing to me that such new vehicles this ne are starting to rust. It's especially bad since the last three winters have been very mild.

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97 XLT S/C Long Bed 2wd, 4.6 Romeo, 4R70W Trans., 3.55 LS, 181,000 miles

 

This is one reason I am glad I no longer live in Wisconsin..the winter salt mixes eat the metal too fast! I remember my old 75 Toronado and shuvy Cavalier with the bottoms of the doors rusted out.

 

This afternoon me and a few friends looked into this issue with the rusting doors. We all can't belive something like this can occur so early in a trucks life - 26 months to be exact. It appears that water/moisture/salt is finding it's way into the "pinch off" area of the the two metal walls folded at the bottom of the door. Along this seam line there are two openings at each end (to drain water and allow air into the door) however, the mid section of the door has no drain hole and this is where the rust is starting. I should also note that Ford did a crappy job sealing these seam lines with a protective sealer, the water/moisture simply sits in this area corroding at the seam - how long has Ford been building Trucks??
Next week I'll be spraying protective oil into the doors and seams to help prevent any further corrosion, if this does'nt help, then it's off to Ford for warranty work.

Kenster - No I don't have the door crack, thats the trade off, you either get the door crack or lower rust
Although I still love my truck it sucks to have rust forming this early, it's like being married to a beautiful girl who has hemorhoids.

 

Nitro says:

Although I still love my truck it sucks to have rust forming this early, it's like being married to a beautiful girl who has hemorhoids.
____________________________________________

Lovely ****-ogy! When I knew your wife she did not have hemorhoids!

 

I can't believe that sooo many late model f150's seem to be rusting at the bottom of the doors. I just bought a 97 XLT, (OUT OF WARRANTY). Paid a lot of money just to buy the beginning of a pile of rust. I had the truck oil sprayed yesterday. I will get this truck oiled every spring & fall, hopefully that'l stop her!!

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97 F150, XLT, Flare-side, ext. cab, Pacific Green, 4.6L Triton V8.

 

How about a show of hands here......

If you have rust on the doors, do you have mud flaps and/or running boards?

I have both, and no rust on my '98. I did, however have lots of rust on my rear bumper after less than 1 year.


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1998 F-150 XLT 4x4 SC/SB 4.6L, Auto., 3.55LS, TTP, blah, blah, blah
All the info is at http://www.fordf150.net
Now with How-To Articles!


[This message has been edited by Kelly (edited 04-26-2000).]

 

My 97 Expedition has rust under the drivers door and a little starting under the other doors as well. My 92 F150 with 120k has no rust at all under the doors. The bottom of the doors has seam sealer unlike the 97. The paint under the doors on the 97 looks real thin.

 

I am getting all 3 doors and tailgate replaced because of rust. It is in the shop now!

If you want a fix you need to file with the dispute resoultion board and then get a dealership that will help you. i got the dispute settlement to have them fix it. then the dealership that i took it to worked with ford to get them to replace the doors.

Gerry in MN.