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My truck is rotting!!!

GnatGoSplat

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GnatGoSplat Enthusiast

GnatGoSplat

Posted
Posted

I washed the truck today, and I also decided to give it a good waxing. Everything was fine till I got to the passenger side rocker panel below the extended cab door. I noticed some lumpy, bubbly paint. I knew immediately this was rust. A rust bubble is the worst kind of rust, it's better to bust open a rust bubble and leave the metal exposed than to leave it be. So I took a knife and cut/scraped all the little rust bubbles. Most were full of trapped water.

 

This is what I found.

nastyrust.jpg

 

It's very upsetting. :thumbs: The truck has over 100,000 miles so any warranty it has is long expired.

I guess it was partly caused by tiny rock chips, but then there are tiny rock chips on both sides and also on the bed. yet no bubbles or rust have formed there. It almost seems as if the paint/primer on this rocker panel wasn't so good. I don't even live in the North, road salt usage here isn't that bad. I can't believe there is already a hole and the truck is only a 99 (my car is an '89 and is completely rust free). Since I'm not going to have time to get this fixed right away, I just coated the area with some grease which should slow down the rusting.

 

I guess I can look at the bright side... I've always wanted to learn how to weld and do body work. Now I have reason to do it!

 

Oh well, just thought I'd share my misfortune. Keep an eye on those rockers!

99silveradoz71 Senior Enthusiast

99silveradoz71

Posted
Posted

That sucks. As I said a while back in another thread...the bottom edges of the doors where the sheetmetal is folded is someplace I'd keep an eye on. I had to get the inside edges of my doors repainted as moisture was being trapped there and causing the paint in that area to bubble. I've since coated it with some POR15, but another application is probably due.

gnutruk Enthusiast

gnutruk

Posted
Posted
I washed the truck today, and I also decided to give it a good waxing.  Everything was fine till I got to the passenger side rocker panel below the extended cab door.  I noticed some lumpy, bubbly paint.  I knew immediately this was rust.  A rust bubble is the worst kind of rust, it's better to bust open a rust bubble and leave the metal exposed than to leave it be.  So I took a knife and cut/scraped all the little rust bubbles.  Most were full of trapped water.

 

This is what I found.

nastyrust.jpg

 

It's very upsetting.  :flag: The truck has over 100,000 miles so any warranty it has is long expired.

I guess it was partly caused by tiny rock chips, but then there are tiny rock chips on both sides and also on the bed. yet no bubbles or rust have formed there.  It almost seems as if the paint/primer on this rocker panel wasn't so good.  I don't even live in the North, road salt usage here isn't that bad.  I can't believe there is already a hole and the truck is only a 99 (my car is an '89 and is completely rust free).  Since I'm not going to have time to get this fixed right away, I just coated the area with some grease which should slow down the rusting.

 

I guess I can look at the bright side... I've always wanted to learn how to weld and do body work.  Now I have reason to do it!

 

Oh well, just thought I'd share my misfortune.  Keep an eye on those rockers!

 

 

 

 

 

Mine has some of those too, but not as bad as yours. I guess that's why they call them "rocker" panels.

 

I think this is a problem everybody is going to have sooner or later. The worse (saltier) the climate, the sooner the paint will start to bubble. This isn't exclusively a GM problem either. Ford, Dodge, Toy, etc. etc. will all start doing it before too long.

 

Since I plan on keeping my truck a long time, my eventual solution will be to

go down and make real good friends with the local Line-X guy. Someday he will have a bed spray job to do in a color I like, and I will ask him to save some of the overflow to do a 'partial' on my rocker panels; maybe inside the wheel wells, too. Since the Line-X system calls for real good preparation of the area to be sprayed (patching holes, removal of all rust, etc.), I think that will hold up well for as least as long as the bed sprays do.

 

The other brands that do bed sprays would also be good for this, I suppose.

 

gnutruk

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