Originally Posted by Davis
My 2004 has rust on both doors. I ordered the POR and decided to repair myself. I took a Dremel tool to the rust. It worked well removing it, but I discovered the rust is behind the weather stripping mounting track. The rust area is between the track and the door. If I look under the door, I can see rust spots. I have determined the proper fix would be to remove the weather stripping track, which is welded. Grind the rust off the door and replace the track. Now this repair depends on if I can get another track to replace the one I remove, and if Chrysler can get the weather stripping to keep out the water. The POR-15 is not going to stop the rust because it can not get between the weather stripping track and door. Does anyone have any suggestions?
I have just revisited this thread after more than a year and it reminded me that this could be a serious problem with our Xfires.
At the time Andrew first brought this to our attention, I checked the condition of my '04 Coupe doors and they were not as bad as shown in his pictures but some rust spots were appearing; I would consider it mild but still disturbing.
In June 2007, I pulled the rubber away from along the bottom of the doors and using a rust remover/inhibitor removed all the rust spots I could see...there was no rust below the track but only spotty above where it is welded to the door. I did three additional things to prevent future rust.
I completely sprayed the area between the track and the door with WD40 and secondly, which I think is important, I ran a thin bead of clear silicone along the line where the track meets the door (not too thick or this will impede rubber from going back into place). Now if water gets behind the rubberstripping, it will not get between the track and door.
The last thing I did was completely spray inside the doors (taking the plastic seals out) with WD40...I found that you cannot get total coverage along the inside bottom of the door because the way the inside of door is structured. I did this spray only because of the possibility that moisture may be seeping from the inside of door but I honestly don't think that is the case causing this problem.
My Xfire is now stored away for the winter but next spring, I will try to remember to check this area again and provide an update as to condition of my doors.
I would not recommend taking off the track that is welded to the door unless the rust is soo severe that you don't have any alternative for repair.