Hey Everyone! Vote for the Site Favourite HOTM winner for the year of 2022 HERE!

Rust already?!?

2146 Views 11 Replies 11 Participants Last post by Slowpoke387, Oct 2, 2021

snobrdrdan

Discussion Starter · Oct 1, 2021

So my car is just about 2 months old and just hit 500 miles on it...a 2021 Charger (392 Daytona).
It lives in the garage all of the time.

I have an appointment on Monday with my local dealer for some other little issues (sunroof needs to be adjusted & the passenger door needs to be aligned better & the hood vinyl is starting to peel up a little), but my original main issue was the transmission is acting weird as it's slipping/clunking into gear--this is my 5th Charger and I've never had any transmission issues like this before.

Anyways....so I gave my car it's first bath the other day and discovered a spot of rust on the driver rear door.
I know nothing has hit it, and I went back to pics I took of it when I bought the car & it was still on the dealer's lot and sure enough....there was a little silver spot (paint missing) on the door that I didn't see at the time and now it's rusting already.

(you have to zoom in on that pic btw, but it's definitely there)

I already have a case open with FCA/Stellantis for the transmission & other little stuff and added this to the "case" as well, but I have a feeling that I'm going to get the run around from the dealer or FCA/Stellantis.

I don't think this is acceptable though for a $52k brand new car and it's really disheartening to me, because even if they do "fix it"....that'll require paint work which I don't like being done on a new car.

My selling dealer is about 45 minutes away and were worthless when I had some issues with the car right off the bat, so I'm just going to my local dealer (about 10 minutes away) instead.

I understand they have to look at it (first), but any tips/advice how to handle this?

PICS:

E62EA2BA-AB6B-47B6-A16F-9FAD8E9325A4 by snobrdrdan, on Flickr

5F3ECA3D-E1C0-4763-A5DE-A3B039B706BE by snobrdrdan, on Flickr

A1550700-CE62-4CF1-BEB1-9E4DF3A2740A by snobrdrdan, on Flickr

D92172F4-FEC3-418D-B272-303D71031ADC by snobrdrdan, on Flickr

FF2FAAAF-2763-4340-9DC9-FF413D8D1D4F by snobrdrdan, on Flickr

The day I bought it/on the dealer lot still:

AB8444EE-9971-4483-9567-CFA996D577D7 by snobrdrdan, on Flickr

See less See more

Save

1 - 1 of 12 Posts

Xylander

· #11 · Oct 2, 2021

I would clean the spot with CLR or some other type of rust remover. Apply a thin coat of touch up paint normally to the spot. Let it dry for a half hour. Then, come back and put a heavy coat to build it up. It doesn't matter how it looks at this point. You just need a buildup. Let dry another half hour. Put some water in a spray bottle and mist the spot on the car, then soak a 1000 grit sand paper with the water. Gently, very gently massage the spot and just lightly skate across the paint buildup until it looks perfect. Apply a clearcoat. Done.

Alternatively, you can get something like the Quixx scratch remover system from most auto parts stores. Instead of wet sanding, you can do the buildup as described above, but then use the Quixx buffer pads on a drill with their provided rubbing and polishing compounds to do the blend. The sandpaper method is quicker and easier though, as buffing can beat off the paint you put on if not careful.

See less See more

Save

1 - 1 of 12 Posts

This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.

Top Contributors this Month