I wanted to give everyone an update on my rust problem. It may impact about everyone here. The dealer took a look at it.
It was definately rust. I cleaned it so I have no pics to post to the forum. The dealer removed the threshold on the passenger side to investigate. There is a metal clip that connects the joint of the weather stripping. That connector has surface rust on it at the front driver side and front passenger side. It is leaving a rust trail on the painted part of the threshold and down to the rocker. It shows up when I go through the car wash. If that rust trail is left alone, especialy underneath the plastic threshold, and out of visibiliy, it will cause the body to rust. You wont know it until it is too late.
They said they would order new weather stripping for the driver and passenger sides. If I dont hear from them soon, I will tear it appart and paint the part. Then grease it. I suspect a new one will behave the same way. It looked very easy to get to. Pop the plastic threshold off and pull the weather stripping appart.
I should point out to everyone this occured before my truck was exposed to the winter weather here. My truck is white. Any other color would probably conceal it.
---------- Post added at 05:58 AM ---------- Previous post was at 05:41 AM ----------
Oh, and Pawnbroker asked what the dealer said. I keep my vehicles for a very long time. The dealership is under new ownership and they have adopted a policy in the service dept where every vehicle needs to generate $200 in services ( at least that is the local rumor). So I wasnt really expecting much action and even if they fixed it, I couldnt count on it being done right. I got lucky since it wasnt really the body of the truck.
My plan was to take it to a body shop and pay to have it done right. My wife got a little hot over it. She called them. Initially, they told her "surface rust wasnt covered under warranty". Then they told her "stop by for an estimate". Then they claimed it was a misunderstanding and that it would all be covered under warranty. But if surface rust isnt covered and they use the term estimate, I see no room for a misunderstanding. She called them ******.
When I do the math, I think they were expecting to get paid something from me to fix it. Since it is now a simple part swap, I dont think they are.
