Rusty front axle on 2025 Silverado 2500 4WD.

[superdave160]

I have a 2025 Silverado 2500 4WD that I purchased near the end of December.  I got under the truck today and noted that the metal parts of the front axle are covered with surface rust.  Shouldn't those portions of the axle be powder coated or painted to protect the steel?  The truck had less than 20 miles on it when I bought it, and less than 2,000 miles now.  The truck was bought in Ft. Paine, AL and I live in Huntsville, AL, so no driving up north.

 

Does anyone else have this issue? 

[superdave160]

Another picture...

[superdave160]

Last picture, I promise.

[Z45]

Pretty normal surface rust, those parts are not painted and mostly likely sit outside at the assembly plant waiting to be used on the line.. That's heavy gauge steel. The body will rust away long before those parts.

Edited March 8, 2025 by Z45

[Chuck FB]

Unfortunately that is how GM leaves those parts, all unpainted and same here with my truck that came from the factory as a special order so not like it had sat around after the build or was being used as a demo vehicle on our salty winter roads. An interesting item this brings up though is that are all four of your upper/lower A arms painted, mine are but I noticed in the show room at the dealer that at least one side of the upper A arm of a HD trail boss was not painted and was all rusty just like your axle tube and that surprised me, somehow it must have gotten missed in the painting process unless there was another story to that particular truck.

[Capt Bob]

My 2024 looks somewhat similar. There was a thread or two about this some time ago.

[No F-bdy Bs]

They all look like that. Aside from aesthetical reasons, there's no concern here. 

[newdude]

On 3/8/2025 at 3:38 PM, superdave160 said:

I have a 2025 Silverado 2500 4WD that I purchased near the end of December.  I got under the truck today and noted that the metal parts of the front axle are covered with surface rust.  Shouldn't those portions of the axle be powder coated or painted to protect the steel?  The truck had less than 20 miles on it when I bought it, and less than 2,000 miles now.  The truck was bought in Ft. Paine, AL and I live in Huntsville, AL, so no driving up north.

 

Does anyone else have this issue? 

 

 

 

Every truck does from GM and its normal.  

 

Here's the PI from GM on underbody component corrosion and with pictures - PI0281I_en_US.xml

 

"Note: During transit between the plant and the dealer, some of the exhaust system components may corrode as a result of salt exposure. These exhaust parts are made of a bare mild-grade stainless steel that will oxidize, or appear rusty. Over time, these components will have a uniform rust-like discoloration, which should be considered a normal condition.

 

Recommendation

 

No repair or consideration should be given for this condition. Surface corrosion on unprotected components will vary with age and exposure. Corrosion on these components has no detrimental impacts, either in short or long term durability."

Edited March 13, 2025 by newdude

[Pryme]

2 hours ago, No F-bdy Bs said:

They all look like that. Aside from aesthetical reasons, there's no concern here. 

Not really. 
 

I bought my truck in Aug of 22 so it’s already been in a few winters and here is mine right now underneath. I have been using fluid film though. 

[Pryme]

Size limit exceeded for pics in a post. 
 

 

[Chuck FB]

4 hours ago, Pryme said:

Not really. 
 

I bought my truck in Aug of 22 so it’s already been in a few winters and here is mine right now underneath. I have been using fluid film though. 

Just the topic I have been thinking of myself for quite a while before I even ordered my pickup and my plan still at this point ( its winter time so can't do it with what I have to work with, will have to be during the summer months ) is to attempt to coat what I can of the truck and not just the lipstick aspect ( which is highly beneficial as well ) but trying to get the product into the rocker panels, bottom inside of all the doors as they are steel after all, inside of the boxed frame and inside the rear fenders if its possible to access due to the fender liners or may have to be accessed by taking out the rear tail lights to get between the double wall of the box to the top side of the fender wells where they attach to the outer skin of the truck at the wheel wells. So my question to you is as I have heard this different times and that is the claim fluid film will strip the lovely wax coating off of the GM frame. Had you found that to be the case and if so did it work out ok anyway due to the fluid film protecting the frame instead ?. If you have a chance go through explaining how and where all on the truck it was done and with what type of spraying equipment, and who did the work on your truck and how often its been done.

 

I had bought a spray unit with a couple of hose/nozzle attachments at Napa here in Alberta and some gallon cans of fluid film in preparation to do it, I can not source any shop in the area that does any sort of rust protection anymore and certainly don't want the tar crap sprayed on as all that does is cause rust under it in a big way ( dealers always loved to push that crap as an upsale on a new vehicle ). Its the yellowish type I bought, not the black product.

[OS RR]

Hell I've already got some on low hanging parts of the frame cause my dog thought it was a great back scratcher. Gotta clean it up and put some more coating on it, you can buy spray cans of it.

[Pryme]

54 minutes ago, Chuck FB said:

Just the topic I have been thinking of myself for quite a while before I even ordered my pickup and my plan still at this point ( its winter time so can't do it with what I have to work with, will have to be during the summer months ) is to attempt to coat what I can of the truck and not just the lipstick aspect ( which is highly beneficial as well ) but trying to get the product into the rocker panels, bottom inside of all the doors as they are steel after all, inside of the boxed frame and inside the rear fenders if its possible to access due to the fender liners or may have to be accessed by taking out the rear tail lights to get between the double wall of the box to the top side of the fender wells where they attach to the outer skin of the truck at the wheel wells. So my question to you is as I have heard this different times and that is the claim fluid film will strip the lovely wax coating off of the GM frame. Had you found that to be the case and if so did it work out ok anyway due to the fluid film protecting the frame instead ?. If you have a chance go through explaining how and where all on the truck it was done and with what type of spraying equipment, and who did the work on your truck and how often its been done.

 

I had bought a spray unit with a couple of hose/nozzle attachments at Napa here in Alberta and some gallon cans of fluid film in preparation to do it, I can not source any shop in the area that does any sort of rust protection anymore and certainly don't want the tar crap sprayed on as all that does is cause rust under it in a big way ( dealers always loved to push that crap as an upsale on a new vehicle ). Its the yellowish type I bought, not the black product.

Hi,

I’ve been self applying fluid film for a bit over 10 years now, just to my own vehicles. 
 

I buy the original (not black that stuff is a mess I have one aerosol can of it) and use a generic undercoat gun I bought off Amazon and hook it to my compressor and shoot at around 90psi. 
 

I do them in the fall but before it gets too cold. I like it to be still warm out so it really creeps and smooths out when warm. 
 

these trucks have nice plugs in the rockers and they are easy to pry out and use a 360deg wand to spray all up in the rockers. 
 

my truck came without rear wheel well liners so before I put the huskys in I used a liberal amount of FF all around the rear wells and you also can access the inside of the bed/wells via the rubber plugs inside the bed sidewalls. 
 

As for the frame, I have read it takes the wax off but the be been testing that for a couple years now and I have seen no stripping of wax. 
 

I have never sprayed the frame yet but I tested a few areas to see what or if anything would happen and they are no different than the rest of the frame so in my experience, fluid film does not remove the gm wax. But with that said, this wax is coated inside and out so for now I’m just going with the wax on the frame. 
 

I did everything else though. 
 

hope that helps some. 

[Chuck FB]

13 minutes ago, Pryme said:

Hi,

I’ve been self applying fluid film for a bit over 10 years now, just to my own vehicles. 
 

I buy the original (not black that stuff is a mess I have one aerosol can of it) and use a generic undercoat gun I bought off Amazon and hook it to my compressor and shoot at around 90psi. 
 

I do them in the fall but before it gets too cold. I like it to be still warm out so it really creeps and smooths out when warm. 
 

these trucks have nice plugs in the rockers and they are easy to pry out and use a 360deg wand to spray all up in the rockers. 
 

my truck came without rear wheel well liners so before I put the huskys in I used a liberal amount of FF all around the rear wells and you also can access the inside of the bed/wells via the rubber plugs inside the bed sidewalls. 
 

As for the frame, I have read it takes the wax off but the be been testing that for a couple years now and I have seen no stripping of wax. 
 

I have never sprayed the frame yet but I tested a few areas to see what or if anything would happen and they are no different than the rest of the frame so in my experience, fluid film does not remove the gm wax. But with that said, this wax is coated inside and out so for now I’m just going with the wax on the frame. 
 

I did everything else though. 
 

hope that helps some. 

That most definitely helps and your right about the various plugs along the length of the rocker panels although and I may be mistaken but in my mind I sort of doubt they would have to be done every year once a good layer was spattered around within them. As to the rear fenders, I knew the plugs were there in the box for additional tie downs but just never happened to think of it that of course they would allow a hose to be dangled in there and while there would be no way of knowing where it landed, it certainly shouldn't hurt to at least give a good effort through those holes. I probably still would pull the rear tail lights to spray around in the rear internal box corners. I expect when I try to open up the outer edge of the factory wheel well liners that the plastic clips will fly apart, will have to probably have some of them on hand to refit after.

 

So what sort of surroundings are you doing the spraying in and are you putting it on a lift or jack stands and pulling the wheels and bagging the brake rotors. I am really leery of doing it in my garage as I don't want that mist plastered onto the walls as it would never come off. I have a large shed with a cement floor that I have thought of doing it on and again resigned to laying on my back crawling around under the truck and the idea of removing wheels in the beginning so the inner fenders can be done and as the years go by perhaps bag around the brakes with the wheels on if possible.

 

I can tell you that where I live your frame would not look like it does if your truck was pounding up and down our winter roads, not only the salt and sand but they mix calcium chloride into some of their secret blends. A GM truck just a few years old will have no black frame at all but deep rust setting in by that point and a Ford is looking quite rough as well but better due to its painted frame but give them both a few more years and they are a sight to be seen under them, as well as any of the steel boded trucks. A friend that has a 2015 HD, in about 9 years time the rust popped through above the rear fenders and he talked to a body shop and they said there really isn't any proper fix, once that happens it just comes through a typical body repair fix ... so he threw on those wide flairs that cover the area to hide the mess as the truck has lots of mechanical life left as I think he had 80000 miles on it. So that is what I get to face unless I can protect it and prolong the ticking clock.

[Pryme]

7 minutes ago, Chuck FB said:

That most definitely helps and your right about the various plugs along the length of the rocker panels although and I may be mistaken but in my mind I sort of doubt they would have to be done every year once a good layer was spattered around within them. As to the rear fenders, I knew the plugs were there in the box for additional tie downs but just never happened to think of it that of course they would allow a hose to be dangled in there and while there would be no way of knowing where it landed, it certainly shouldn't hurt to at least give a good effort through those holes. I probably still would pull the rear tail lights to spray around in the rear internal box corners. I expect when I try to open up the outer edge of the factory wheel well liners that the plastic clips will fly apart, will have to probably have some of them on hand to refit after.

 

So what sort of surroundings are you doing the spraying in and are you putting it on a lift or jack stands and pulling the wheels and bagging the brake rotors. I am really leery of doing it in my garage as I don't want that mist plastered onto the walls as it would never come off. I have a large shed with a cement floor that I have thought of doing it on and again resigned to laying on my back crawling around under the truck and the idea of removing wheels in the beginning so the inner fenders can be done and as the years go by perhaps bag around the brakes with the wheels on if possible.

 

I can tell you that where I live your frame would not look like it does if your truck was pounding up and down our winter roads, not only the salt and sand but they mix calcium chloride into some of their secret blends. A GM truck just a few years old will have no black frame at all but deep rust setting in by that point and a Ford is looking quite rough as well but better due to its painted frame but give them both a few more years and they are a sight to be seen under them, as well as any of the steel boded trucks. A friend that has a 2015 HD, in about 9 years time the rust popped through above the rear fenders and he talked to a body shop and they said there really isn't any proper fix, once that happens it just comes through a typical body repair fix ... so he threw on those wide flairs that cover the area to hide the mess as the truck has lots of mechanical life left as I think he had 80000 miles on it. So that is what I get to face unless I can protect it and prolong the ticking clock.

I like to just park mine out in the grass and run an extension cord out for my compressor. I’ve done it in the garage and it stinks it up for awhile and gets all over the floors. I keep it out in the grass and hopefully the sun for the day to dry up a bit. 
 

I don’t bag the brakes but I’m also careful not to spray them either. I use a aerosol can for hard to reach little spots that I just wanna keep concentrated on a small area.

 

i live in the upper Midwest so we get lots of snow and calcium chloride treatment here. 
 

I also go to the coin op pressure washer and wash my truck down at least once a month and after a big storm clears from the roads we need to. It’s only a few bucks each time. It doesn’t really remove the ff either because I don’t get super close and keep it moving to just get the salt off as much as possible.