Well, this sounds really bad. I put POR-15 in the doors of both of my cars last year. If the rust is actually behind the track inside the door, I don't know how that can be fixed. I also wonder if the dealer will tell me to pound sand after seeing the POR-15 in the doors.

 

listen, i've already tried to have the dealor fix my rust! after months of gigving me the runaround, i finally got to speak to the district manager, he took a whole 30 seconds to dismiss my problem as an environmental cause, which meant Chrysler wouldn't foot the bill to fix the rust!

So use the por15, I did, and it seems to work great.

As for the rust being behind the track that holds to weather stripping on, I don't know what to tell you. I would probably leave to tracks on, and remove as much of the rust as possible any way you can, then i'd por 15 the entire area from the top and the bottom. be sure to put on as many coats as possible. an allow them to dry inbetween. and also put on the metal ready, and the marine clean before you coat the area!

Remember rust will only occur if the area is left dirty, and moist. if in doubt take the damn weather stripping off, and let the doors dry out for good. you can probably even keep the stripping off the car for good! just make sure you keep the undersides of the doors clean, and dry.

keep us poasted!

 

Now I don't know what to think. Is there some way to look inside the doors? Maybe with a fiber optic cable?

 

There are rubber / plastic caps that push into the underside of your doors, you can remove them and get a glimpse in there with a flashlight. But remember the insides of car doors do get wet, and its normal, but with the drain holes and ventilation the water dries out, and no rust will occur. so don't worry if water is getting in there.

Also after speaking to the dealer, they 1st said there was an upgraded version of the weatherstripping they were going to put on my cars, to stop the water from getting inside, then after I checked the part #'s, its the same exact stripping that's on there now, which won't help my problem. I'll keep you guys posted.

 

Hi--
I have read and studied all the posts in this thread with some dismay, since it seems a shame to have to deal with this problem on a brand new car. Ours is a 2008 Coupe which had only 6 miles on it when we bought it on September 4. We haven't checked our car for rust yet, however, I'm assuming there might be a problem based upon your posts and the fact that the car was sitting outside at the dealership for a while. I was encouraged by Antonio's post in which he got the attention of the Chrysler Chief of Customer Service. Then, I was discouraged by his latest post, in which he describes the dealership offering him weatherstripping that's already on his car. Should we go to our nearby dealership for help with this (you're all saying fat chance) or deal with it ourselves with one of the products recommended by all of you? This is an issue we need to address now, before winter and storing our car. Since Steve in the UK figured out the root cause, what is everyone thinking about the best way to deal with and/or prevent a rust problem? Thanks very much for your help with this. As I said when I posted "New Owner Here", are there any other issues that we need to focus on?
Regards,
Dale

 

Yes, Address the problem ASAP. If there's no rust, remove the weatherstripping and apply a quality car wax in the track area, and do not rub it off, it will repel the water if it does get in there. Do not put a rust inhibitor like por 15 on unless there is rust there. Also keep the area clean and dry, and try to put your car under shelter when in rains.

I'll keep you posted when i hear from Chrysler.

 

https://www.crossfireforum.org/forum...&postcount=232

I have an update from my recent post 232 on this thread. I was in process to do the POR-15 fix and had taken off the gasket and was just starting to put on the blue masking tape when I realized I really don't think I should be the one doing this on a 2005 car with less than 3,000 miles that is still under warranty.

I ended up going to the local 5-Star Chrysler dealer to at least plead my case. I'm a new owner but had a few warranty repairs and they treated me well and have two certified mechanics. I went direct to the body shop and I think they just took mercy on me. They had the car for over a week. They first sand blasted and then put two coats of POR-15 followed by painting the door to match the car color. I provided the POR15 & prep chemicals and requested they use it. Dealer did not charge me anything and I assume put it all under warranty.

I'm hopeful they also addressed the root cause based on information I provided from this thread.If I understand forum member (Steve-UK) experiment correctly, the problem area of seal is that area that is actually over the vertical channel (back side of mirror closer to front of car). To me it even looks like it has a gap that water could flow in. The dealer used some type of black sealer that matched the gasket quite nicely.

Next step is to wash the car this weekend and then inspect the Dealers work. Hope and pray there is no water down in the gasket and the Dealer work looks good. I'll update as I know more.

 

Good luck with this repair - we should not have to worry about this sort of fault on a car this new, but you have obviously handled it well with your dealer. Lets hope he has sorted it for you. Let us know how it goes!
All the best
Steve - uk

 

If only my dealer had taken care of my problem. Do not go to Grand Prix Chrysler in Bethpage NY. They are the absolute WORST chrysler dealer i've ever had to deal with! I purchased 3 vehicles from them, and every service they've tried to rip me off! Avoid them.

 

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.

 

When you look for rust, look for spots where rust starts easily. I was washing the undersides of my fenders and I found dried mud in the lip. It is 'U' shaped and well designed to catch all the mud. Even after a good soaking the mud stayed there. It was dry and it was hard to make it wet enough to wash out. The best time to wash it out is after a few days of driving in the rain. The rear lip has underseal in it but not enough. The front lip has the fender liner to limit the gap, but at the top there is a perfect pocket to catch the mud. Keep that mud damp and the rust will start and when it starts it never rests. Add a little salt and it is accelerated. I think I will fill these gaps flush with black silicone after a good cleaning. It will stay flexible and hopefully stick to the underseal, if it goes behind the silcone it will be worse than not having it. No mud - no rust.
Hose out all the pockets where silt can get thrown by the wheel spray, on some cars you are amazed at the weight of mud you can carry without knowing about it.
I tried to clean the fender liner but it was too much like hard work, but some bug and tar spray got on it by accident, wiped it of and it was liken new, problem solved.

 

This thread made me look at the seal area on my car to find out if it had got any rust. I pulled out the seal on both sides and along the bottom a few inches at a time. I also removed the trim covering the start of the seal at the back end of the door. I was quite amazed to find that it was made from steel, these cars are quite strongly built.
See Photos 1 and 1a (trim removed)





Behind this trim there was some evidence of water having been there at some time, I had washed the car a few days before but it was dry by this time even if it had been wet. I was relieved to find no rust behind the seal. When I purchased this car it was nearly two years since its manufacture date, so I thought that as it had sat around in the rain and snow a lot with no rust evident maybe there was another cause or I was just lucky. If the rain had not run into the seal then maybe most of the rain gets in when it is driven, I did find that film that water leaves when it has dried, the film that is like painted on dust.

I had read Steve-UK's answer to the water getting behind the seal and I thought that although water could get in as he said, water was under more pressure to get in at the front of the door. The front being the leading edge of the door in motion and it is from the front of the door that the air comes to dry out the inside of the door.

As Steve-UK says water is channeled to the front vertical seal of the quarter glass from the side and quarter windows and then drops into a drain that is molded into the seal on the door that the rear end of the door seal slips into. This drain can be seen in Photos 1, 1a and 3. The door seal can be seen fitting into the seal with the drain in Photo-1

The relationship of the quarter glass seal and the drain can be seen in Photos 2 and 3




The seal with the drain in it covers the hole that is in the whole length of the door seal, this hole allows the door seal to crush when the door is shut. There is a similar cover, without the drain, on the other end of the door seal. Small holes in the seal let the air out and also helps any water to escape that does get in. The drain leads to the interior of the door, water flows down the interior of the door and escapes out of the drain at its bottom rear edge. It is vital that this hole is kept open for obvious reasons. The upper drain is visible in Photos 1, 1a. and 3


Continued in next message, max of four photos has been reached.

 

Continued from previous message.

I found signs that water had been between the seal and the door. See Photo-4
This is not my best picture, the reflection of my thumb is better than the actual thumb.



Before water gets to the channel that holds the door seal along the bottom of the door there is a gap that the water must cross and I think the water can get in the channel at this point. There is a similar gap at the front edge of the door. See Photos 5 (front) and 7 (rear)



Photo 7a shows the amount of dirt and water that gets on the inside leading edge of the door.


I think that I will cover these two gaps with silicone. There are notches in the channel along the bottom and these are for drainage so they are best left open. Sealing the edges of this channel along its length would be a good idea, especially for those who have found rust. Make sure that water is not sealed in though. I pulled all the plugs in the bottom of the door, visible in Photo 5, and felt inside and found dust. I am not too sure this had come in with water. I could see no water stains when I shone a light inside. As this is an area away from the drainage water I was not too surprised.

Another post mentions water being inside the seal itself, like a sponge. This seal is a foamed material of the closed cell type. A sponge is an open cell material. He could be squeezing water from inside the hole, that runs the length of the seal, out through the small holes along its length. Using an open cell seal would be like holding a wet sponge against the area all the time, an error that I think no one would make. The foaming process saves material, makes it lighter, more flexible and enables the rubber to be compressed into the channel easier.


We have found this area to have a rust problem, what areas are yet to be found? I do not think Chrysler will be willing to foot the bill for a small bit of rust, as they are in a life and death struggle to stay afloat. If there is no perforation the warranty, for what thats worth these days, does not cover a little rust anyway.

 

I thought that portion of the wheel well was plastic.

 

The splash shield (around the front wheel) is plastic, the fender is steel. The fender lip directly above the wheel is a 'U' shape, going forward and aft it slowly transitions to a 'L' shape lip. The lip has become an 'L' shape just before it reaches the front bumper cover and just before it gets to the most rearward of the three splash shield mounting screws.

There is a definite trap forward of the first screw and aft of the second screw. There is a gap between the rocker panel (plastic) and the splash shield and this will allow silt particles to enter. I think that after a while a considerable amount of silt will have built up on the rocker panel and block up any exit for water and possibly lead to rust on the car body.

The rear fender lip has an 'L' shape at the rocker molding, transitioning to a 'U' shape after a few inches until it ends at the rear bumper cover.

I think that silt can build up in the 'U' shapes, hold moisture and start the steel rusting. The wheelhouse at the rear is steel, and welded to the fender lip, water between these items will lead to rusting through slowly. This is a week spot on most cars. I think that sealing some of these areas to prevent the build up of silt, that you may or may not be able to see, is worth it.

But we must not seal up a gap that is meant to allow air through to dry out inner areas of the body that get wet. When rust starts it is terribly hard to stop, I suspect that many of us has fought a running battle in the past with rust and lost. The secret is to stop rust as long as we can, sadly, it will win in the end even if we are not around to see it. Dust to dust .....

If you are going to keep the car just for a short time and do not care about rust, don't worry ... be happy.

 

I noticed the buildup there, too, and cleaned it out as best I could. I plan on keeping my cars as long as I can so I will be watching that spot.

Do you have any suggestions for cleaning that mud? It tends to cake really hard.

 

Dried mud is hard to get out of crevices, as water is repelled by it. If it has been raining and the car has been out in it for some time, the mud and silt will be wet through, you can then hose it of. The areas I mentioned in my post could be sealed with silicone when the car has dried to close up these gaps. The gaps I mention that are around the wheel arches will collect dirt and lead to rust, this is much more of a concern where we have lots of rain, snow and salt. Arid regions are laughing.

 

Thanks for the heads up on the rust alert.
I just inspected and repaired my 2004 Coupe and found the seal rail to be rusted. Too my surprise the pass door seal rail was the worst of the two. I removed the one door panel to verify the problem is only external. I found no rust or corrosion in the inner door, this is good news as you can address the problem without removing the door panel.
I removed all the loose rust with an abrasive wheel dried and cleaned the seal rail and applied 2 coats of Locktite Extend Rust Neutralizer. I used a clear lacquer for a top seal. Sprayed the rubber seals with a silicone spray and reinstalled the seals.
I live in Indy and the car is a daily driver which means the car has been introduced to plenty of rain, snow and road salt.

 

I'm curious if the warranty covers cars that were transferred?

 

Generally speaking, I don't think your warranty will come into play for this problem even if you're the original owner. Just my opinion based on others comments; you would be better to address the problem yourself rather than have someone else screw around with it.