Hi, my very first message. I love this website, glad to be a part of the Ford community.

My question: Just bought my dad's 1997 F150 4X4 Reg. Cab. I have noticed an area on each side of the front bumper, on the corner at the top where the bumper ends and it meets the top plastic cap, near the tires, where it has started rusting. Not horrible, but slight bubbling and I hate to see it get worse. We have salty roads up here in the winters, and dad didn't always make sure that it got washed off. What can I do to stop this?

Thanks for any help.


Jon

 

First you must remove all the rust! Rust is the cancer of the auto world. second you need to put somthing over the cancer spot. You can probably buy some type of chrome paint. This will not look the best but you have to weigh what looks better rust or touch up. The only other way to take care of the look is to get the lighting bumper cover for about $300...I think it will fit your year or new/used bumper. The lighting bumper looks REALLY cool. Paint to match of course. How much $ do you really want to spend is the question and how nice do you want it..Hope this helps

 

That's the bad part of having chrome bumpers with trim. Wherever something rests on the bumper, it will hold the salt in place and allow it to eat away at the finish. Under the cap is probably pretty scary, if you haven't looked yet. From my experience, you can only slow rust down once it starts. You could pull the bumper off, remove the cap, and paint one of those rust convertors onto it. If you don't want to go that far, you can use an SOS pad to remove the visible rust, and treat just that area. Good luck with the battle, rust sucks!!,,,,98

 

Where are my manners???? WELCOME TO F150ONLINE!!!,,,,,98

 

Hey, thanks for the help guys. My goal is just to slow it down, it is quite depressing to have this mostly nice pickup and already have cancer on it. Whose idea was it to have a cap on the chrome bumper, anyway?!?! It's the ONLY fault I have with the truck.

Thanks for the welcome! I don't want anybody getting mad at me, but it happens every day- I am a state trooper and drive daily the 4.6 in my Crown Vic. So, I hope to add my 2 cents worth occasionally when I can. This site has already helped me a lot, and I hope to return the favor.

Thanks again guys, the kids are crying. Best go.

 

Do you need to pay close attention to the underside rust? Doesn’t Ford have a 5 year unlimited mileage warranty on corrosion? I thought I read that in my manual.

 

That only applies to the body panels, and only those that rust through COMPLETELY from the INSIDE OUT! It's such a pain... Surface rust is in no way covered.

Plus, if it was an early model '97, it could already be outside that 5 year warranty anyhow... Mine would've been if I had kept it ([sigh]: of course, it would also be paid off right about now!)

As for your problem, I remember there being a TSB out about the bumpers on the '97s and '98s... mine did the same thing after the first winter, and they replaced it under that TSB... turned out they had a batch of bad bumpers that the chrome plating wasn't up the the speecified thickness. Rather than replacing them all, they only replaced the ones that were rusting. My buddy and his dad both had theirs replaced too... might be worth looking into.

-Joe

 

Chrome is really quite pourous -- and needs to be sealed (wax works).

First try to clean the rust -- a rag soaked in WD40 is the first start, then a waxy rag, and if still no good, then on to the other stuff that ends up scratching the chrome.

 

I'll have to check on the front bumper bulletin. I have a good friend that is part owner of a Ford garage around here, I will check with him. Would be nice if Ford could admit this mistake and take care of it. I might wait until I do that before cleaning the bumper up and taking care of the rust spots.

Someone said to check in to a lighting Bumper- What would that take to fit mine? Might be an option....

Also-has anyone use the Turtle Wax Chrome polish? Looked at it the other day at the parts store, but I feel it is the same as any other auto wax. Any thoughts?

 

First. Welcome. regards to your car, I would start to clean up those area of concern using sand or strip down to bare metal and see what you really have. That will determine which kind of repair you need to do.

 

8 year old thread, dude!