I was reading someone else's post about door cracks, and someone mentioned rust, and I checked, and sure enough, I have it. It's not like a little bit, either, it's quite a bit of rust, like way more than I would ever expect from a truck that's only 4 model years old. On mine, it is on the bottom of the 3rd door, on the inside, where the door skin is crimped onto the frame. I have read that other people have some rust on their front doors, too, but neither one of mine has any, just the 3rd door. The best that I can guess is that anything (dirt or small rocks) that comes off of people's shoes or anything that gets on the floor, kind of gets down to where the door closes, and makes very small pits in the paint, and then moisture collects there, and that's what is causing it. It's directly above where the door seals when closed, so that's my theory, anyway, but I am open to suggestions. Please check out your trucks, and reply to this and let us know whether or not you have any rust, I'd just like to know how many trucks have rust on them already. I mean, I know that there's nothing that we can do about it, but still, I'm just curious as to how many already have rust on them. Thanks, y'all, and keep on truckin`!

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1997 F150 Lariat Three Door Extended Cab Flareside 4x4, Two tone Pacific Green w/ Harvest Gold, Tan Leather Interior, Ford Premium Sound w/ CD Changer, Lund Solar Visor, Leather Tonneau Bedcover, K&N Air Filter, VentVisors
Wish List: Lund Racer Back Cab Spolier, Lund Shadow Winshield Wiper Cover, Lund Steps, RhinoLiner Spray-In Bedliner, Vortech Super Charger, Brush Guard, Hidden Winch, Lighted Ford Logo, I'll list more when I think of it...

 

For a long term prevention of this problem I'd suggest the following. First, fix the rust, sand/brush down, prime, and since it's on the inside bottom of the door, you can brush on some paint (no one will see and you can get it on plenty heavy and force it down into the cracks). I'd let this cure for a week or so. When I lived in Nebraska and Michigan, rust was a constant battle. What I would do once a year was take some regular old motor oil, like 10w40, and with an oil can and long plastic hose on it, squirt some in all the places I'd seen cars rust. Rocker panels, hood and trunk edges, door bottoms, fender bottoms. I'd then park the vehicle off the drive for a few days as the excess would drip off. Then wash it down good. I never had any rust problems after that. You might get some areas on your doors that will look a little dirty because of the oil once in a while but it will clean off easy and won't rust. I kept an old Pinto rust free in northern Michigan this way, must work pretty good.

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- 2001 F150 Harley Davidson Special
- 1993 Mazda Miata, wifes car
- 1994 Harley Davidson Heritage
- 1976 Honda CB750K, Original
- 1965 Honda 305 Dream, Original
- 1971 Triumph Trophy 650, Original
- 1971 Norton Commando
- 1970 Honda Trail 90, Original
- Yamaha 500 Short Tracker, racing #69
- 1984 Yamaha Virago 1000, wifes bike
- 1981 Honda Passport 70, wifes bike

 

Further to the cause, i think that the 97+ fseries has a tendency to rust there becuase of the shape of the doors.
If you look at the prior model, the door seam was facing, say the house, while the new truck door has the bottom seam facing the ground. On my truck, when i go wheeling, there is a large amount of dirt and rocks that collect on the kick panels where the carpet in the interior ends.

On the old truck this stuff would stay out of the inner door area.
My suggestion is to make sure that you keep that clean for as long as you can, especially if you don't have the rust yet.

I do have some paint chipping on mine, and attribute it to not knowing about this until about 5 mos ago.

I'm going to sand and prime and paint mine, not too worried about the appearence because of it's location, more that it doesn't spread.


Bambino

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Bambino Online
Owners Gallery Truck #179
1999 reg cab/short box/ORP/Silver on Dk Graphite - 3.55; 4.6l 5sp; factory snapless tonneau; kicker amp'd sub tubes; rockford fosgate components up front; Custom Exhaust; Mobil 1 5w30/Motorcraft FL820-S; Amsoil Series 2k in the diffs.