06 Ram 2500 5.7
washing my truck today and thought I would maybe clean up a little rust I noticed on the where wells. I have stainless flares on the truck so I dont know if this helped cause the rust but it looks like it would have rusted anyways.
worst area is the dender by the headlights I poked my finger through the metal on both of them. ahhh bad day.
the rear is not bad. those I can clean up to nice metal and touch up.
bought my 06 on 3/22/07 so I'm guessing it would be a waste of time asking for any sort of warranty coverage isnt it? that and my fender flares probablly voided it?
is this common on these trucks? sucks I only have like 40k on it.

 

Yea,

Its kinda common. Mine is doing the same thing, I stopped by a body shop recently to get some idea of repair, and basically it has to be cut out and patched in on the bed. It also starting to happen on the door ower door seal area of the drivers door too. I live in the rust belt so I expected it sooner or later

 

You need to keep in mind, wherever you have disimilar metals in contact, they will react, they will rust. My 06 doesn't have a spot of rust on it. Granted, I don't live in a salty region, but still.

 

Mine has 174,000 miles of Michigan salted highways. Getting the drive train stuff apart for repairs can be a real challenge

 

Mine just started to do it as also. On the bed, just over the wheel wells. It looks like the pre-puched holes they have for the well liners allow water to get in there and sit. Those well liners should be standard equipment in my opinion.

 

my bad rust is on the front fenders like up near the headlight there is an actual 2"x1" hole that I pushed in with my finger. THought I had just a little surface rust but it seems like it rusted from the inside of the fender out. The rust on the back fenderwells is pretty easy to fix with some por-15 and the flares cover it. the fronts either need new fenders or something. cant belive how bad it is. trying to decide if I should get new fenders and have them painted but it may end up pricy. found a couple places online that will paint them and send them to you for halfway decent money, but who knows if there mix would match up right. could cut out the rust on them, por-15 and then get some Bushwacker style flares that will go up high enough to cover it. or I found some places selling fiberglass fenders online but thous would need paint also. Wonder if anyone makes a carbon fiber fender I could stick on there that would look cool. hmm could buy new fenders and paint them flat black and flat black hood may be different. what to do what to do.

 

chassis saver and bushwacker pocket flares are the solution of you dont want to pay a body shop to do panels, i have to do my cab corners and rockers soon too, 279 for rockers and 79 for cab corners each

 

decided to do thison the cheap for now. going to use the por-15 system and got some inexpensive flares on e-bay coming. hopefully I can clean up the rear fenders enough and save them with the por-15. Think I may paint the whole truck after another 4 to 5 years and get new fenders at that point.
I'm thinking I may keep this truck for the long haul and go through it completely after a while and repaint/restore it. I restored my 78 Trans Am that required a lot of welding and stuff so this should be easy in comparison when the time comes. Maybe someday I can make use of my lifetime powertrain warranty if I keep it long enough.

 

these look like the bushwackers for cheaper
http://www.mopardodge.com/accessorie...heelflares.htm

and its easy to paint match em for about 300 ish in paint from automotivetouchup .com
thats what i did, still need to post dem pics lol

 

I have my Ram sprayed annually at Krown rustproofing every late April, early May. Rust is dormant in the winter (below zero.) People tend to think the best time to oil spray is in late fall, early winter. But in the northern regions, rust starts to become active in the spring and summer months. Looks as good as the day I got it. (Hand Wax it 3 times a year as well. Mothers Carnuba). http://www.krown.com/process.php.