So the weather seals come off the bottom side of my passenger's door periodically when opening it, however last Friday it happened during the day for the first time. When I was pushing it back into place, I noticed rust along a 1-2 foot segment of the rail that the weather seal would gets pushed into. How should I go about getting my dealer to fix this issue. I can't believe that it is from salt or snow since I picked it up in Phoenix with 8,300 miles on it and it hasn't left the state yet...

 

My weather seal on the passenger side door came off as well...but I didn't see any rust, i'll check again though...

 

I though I would post this for everyone to see what I'm talking about. I happened to find the rust since my passenger's side weather stripping came loose. After inspecting the right side, I have rust there as well. I can't stress this enough, this is a very, very low mi car and I live in a desert and we've been in a drought for years and my car is rusting... You might want to check your car out as well, just pull back on the weather stripping and take a look, could save you a lot of misery before your warranty runs out.

Note: There is absolutely no indication of rust on the outside of the car, or when the stripping is in place. My car still *looks* brand new.

 

wow... that is scary...

i would guess a possible flood car... or a poor job of a new door skin replacement.

it just doesn't make sense for rust to form in that area... naturally in such a short period of time.

 

I haven't seen rust anywhere else on the car. I found another member that posted a while back about having the same issue. As it turns out some drainage holes were clogged on his doors. I'm guessing it could be from washing the car and having trapped water sitting inside the door. The only way to know for sure would be to open it up, but I'm afraid of what I might see.

 

i guess that could be another possibility ... i would be heading straight to the nearest dealer for an assessment.

 

I just had my driver's side door weather seal replaced because is was drooping so badly and it wouldn't stay on when I tried to fix it. I noticed some rust too. I figure it's from the car wash since I don't live in a real rainy area. My warranty covered the part and repair of course. I guess the part is $150.

 

Jeff, I used to do a lot of rust busting on airplanes & missiles for the US Air Force. From what I can tell from your pictures, this rust is just a surface blemish and nothing to really worry about. You caught it early so you should be able to easily knock it off there by buffing it lightly with a bit of steel wool or some 400 - 600 grit sandpaper. After that you could touch it up with a covering of your choice: touch-up paint, clear lacquer, or maybe some green zinc chromate. Either way, make sure the metal can't interact with oxygen, re apply the weather strip and you should be better than new. Don't forget to check your driver's door too.

It might be a good thing to poke a few holes in the bottom of the weather strip to allow some place for water to drain as well.
Water + metal + oxygen = corrosion.