My paint started to peel on the top of my drivers side wheel well. The paint is peeling and bubbling on my passangers side well. I brought it to a local paint shop and they said this is a common problems on the rams. The sheet metal come to a V at the top of the well. Sand and salt get trapped inside and cause rusting from the inside-out. He had two options and both cost around $550.

1. Cut out the portion of metal where the paint is bubbled and patch. Sand and repaint both wheel wells. He said that you may get a bubble in the unpatched area at any time.

2. Sand and etch boths sides, spray with undercoating and apply fender flares.

So has anyone else had this type of rust and how did you fix it.

 

$550 to fix it? That's a steal. It cost me $1500 to get both sides done. The metal will have to be removed and new stuff put in and make sure they get it all. Otherwise you'll be going back in 2, 3 years tops.

In my case once they started cutting into it they found the problem was much larger than originally thought and had to remove/replace more metal. Although the paint hadn't started bubbling higher up, it would have soon. After replacing it they coated anything that wasn't getting painted. When they cut it out, I had a look and on the top of the lip that goes into the wheel well, there was a bead of something that ran along it that made for a perfect water trap. I've had this truck since it rolled off the factory lines so that was something from the factory.

 

Has anyone taken this problem to Dodge/Dealership? I went to three local dealerships and all three have told me this is a known problem in which came from the factory but yet they do not have a recall or TSB for. The only fix is anywhere from 1300 for new panels glued in or up to 3500 to 4000 for a bed. Cant get the same year bed unless you want to have the same problem come back. Anyone have solutions or ideas on how to make Dodge responsible for poor craftsmanship on an otherwise great truck?

 

I cannot describe how angry I am that dodge will not back the rust problem on my otherwise fantastic truck. I have had the truck for one year and last August received $18,000.00 worth of hail damage to the vehicle. While in the body shop for repairs the bubbling paint on my drivers side wheel well was noted. The bodyshop owner figured this should be covered by warranty with Dodge and advised me to contact them. This is the ONLY piece of metal that was NOT being replaced due to the hail damage. After contacting Dodge I was indeed told that if the metal was perforated by the rust they would cover it. Pictures were taken, we could not drive the vehicle into Dodge for inspection becasue it was literlly in pieces with the other repair work. They would have preferred to see the vehicle but would NOT come to our body shop to inspect. Becasue they could not see what was under the paint bubbles the body shop repairman used an air compressor on the bubble which exposed the rust problem underneath. The metal was indeed perforated, and other rust and bubbles had started in other areas. After waiting for 2 weeks and paying for a rental during this time, they simply decide they will NOT cover it.
I have just ordered lettering for my truck box saying, "See how Dodge warranties their products."
Childish?? Maybe, but when will these big corporations start backing the product that they literally charge thousands for? I travel hundreds of miles yearly to rodeos, many of which Dodge sponsors, and I'll be more than happy to leave my vehicle parked where this signage can be read.There is NO reason why a truck of 4 years old should be rusted through.

 

Fender flares my friend...what you cant see wont hurt!!!!!!!!! Touch them up so they will not get worse and voila....like new! Check ebay

 

Are you guys talking the rear wheel wells? Why not just add full liners?

 

Where exactly is the area where talking about? I wanna go check mine out and make sure mines not rusting out. Thanks

 

one side of mine is... and my truck only has 50,000 on it...****ty

 

Yes, fender flares are an option, but the point of the matter is, why is this occurring and why should I make an investment like that to make Dodge look good? The body shop has still recommended having all of the rust cut out and then flares put over top. That isn't done for free, and this is something that Dodge said would be covered if it fit the criteria (of which it did) then simply just decided not to do it. My truck looked alot better before they asked me to remove the bubbles to check out the rust, and now it looks like crap with bare 'ol rusty metal.

 

I've had full liners on my 04 since 4 months after i got it new. It just started blistering on the passenger side rear wheel well about 2 months ago and today when i looked at it, it went from 1 small blister to 5 from the front to the back of the wheel well. Flares might hide it for a little while but it's just gonna rot like hell under them until you can no longer hide it. Really buns my A$$ because the truck has been awesome since I got it new in 04. Only thing I've had to do to is was put front rotors on about a year after I got it. Been flawless ever since with the exception of the typical lifter tap.