Rust scare

[foghorn23]

Yesterday as I was helping my son into his car seat in the back of my 01 Silverado I noticed some rust stains on the rubber weatherstrip where it joins together at the bottom where the two passenger side doors meet. I also noticed some flakes of rust around the molding. To say the least I was ill, I could just hear my dad (A big FORD guy) but I didn't have time to investigate further at that time. When I finally got around to it I inspected the molding and found that there is a metal center to the rubber molding and that this had begin to rust. Thankfully the rust wasn't behind the molding. I gave it a good spray of WD-40. Does anybody know what this metal center's function is? I looked on the driver's side but didn't see the metal in the weatherstrip; I might have missed it. Anyway I'm relieved there wasn't any rust on a 2 year old vehicle.....

 

Vroten

[HillHound]

The metal strip is to help the molding hold it's shape around corners etc.

 

GM doesn't seem to have any widespread rust problems with their 99+ pickups. Even the frame and undercarriage parts on the ones around here have minimal rust.

[99silveradoz71]

One area I would keep an eye on is at the bottom of the doors where the sheet metal is folded and the drain holes are. Water will like to sit near the folds causing the paint to bubble. The dealer sent her out to the bodyshop and they repainted the edges of the doors. I also put some por15 clear on it. It looks slightly bubbled again, and from my conversation with the bodyshop folks, it will keep happening due to the design. Just a heads up.