We've only had our car for about 4 months and it was new when we bought it so it hasn't started rusting yet. However, it was drenched under the seal and I can see how this is a major area of concern. In order to prevent any future rust I am going to clean up the area very well, tape it off, and then undercoat the seam. That should sufficiently seal the seam so that the rust never starts. An extremely useful thread Andrew, thanks.

 

DAMN! I just saw this thread. I guess I better check mine as it came out of Michigan. Wouldn't this be covered under the corrosion part of the warranty???

 

All,

I am not convinced that this is a geography nor year manufactured based problem. Recently I have seen post from those that own 2004 without any rust, however, I own a 2004 that I bought it new in April 2004, live in one of the lowest humidity area in the country, store the car during winter, and have hardly ever driven it in the rain and still my car had rust. Unless the rust was caused by washing the car I tend to believe that the problem originated over in Germany during the build an I am hoping it is not a contaminate within the metal. I have since rust bulleted my doors and so far it hasn't reappeared.

 

OK, I just went out adn pulled the weatherstrips out and looked...

I'm clean...

Thank God. That would have ruined my day...

 

Checked it. Had a tiny bit of rust. Used some Permatex rust eliminator and some silicone moisture repellent. All good for now.

 

Hey everyone...Great informative forum! I have 2 chrysler crossfires. On my 2004 limited no rust what's so ever...! On my 2005 srt convertible I pulled the stripping down a bit and yep, rust! I will totally remove the strips tomorrow to get a better idea of how bad the problem is. What a shame on such a beautiful car. I just picked it up last week and it only had 200 miles on it! I still love this car, what a great automobile!


2004 crossfire limited 02000
2005 crossfire srt 6 convertible 054006

 

no rust for me... maybe it is cause I don't drive in snow/rain? even though my car has over 20k miles I am clean... but that area does seam to be an obvious rust possibility spot...

 

Ok the update on the srt. I totally removed the stripping and a bit of rust has begun the appear and started to raise the paint and bubble it a bit, but not too much. What i did was use an air compressor and blow the area and the bubbling paint flew off. Then i used a wooden paint mixer stick to remove more of the areas the rust was appearing on, then i washed the area with a brush and soap. Now my question...do i notify the dealer and tell him that the rust has been forming? Or do i just use the rust treatment and monitor it? What do you guys think? Also should i sand the area before i apply the rust treatment or just brush it on?
Thanks for the help!

 

i think the dealer would do more damage than good... therefore i would suggest fixing it yourself...

i personally wouldn't sand the area before applying por15 ... just follow the steps i have posted at the near beginning of the thread.

hope my 2 cents helps.

 

Maybe we should send an email to Chrysler & Karmann with pictures for their opinions.

 

Ok here's the scoop on my srt 6, one side has alot of rust, actually rusting through the door! I called Chrysler and told them about it, they said its covered under the warrenty, i think i'm going to take it to the dealer and tell them to fix it. I just wanna make sure its fixed for the long term. Any suggestions will be appreciated. Also the other door has little to no rust, kinda weird! I really wanna have this fixed properly any suggestions will be appreciated!

 

I haven't had time to repair mine yet, but I'm not gonna let the dealer fix it, I don't trust the quality of their work. I already cut out the weather stripping which seems to be holding the water in the flange, thus creating the damage. not a good design!

Next I will strip the paint and rust out of the groove, and then coat the bare metal with aluminized zinc coating, and then respray with etching primer.
After that I will be mixing a white pigment into West System epoxy and painting the area to completely seal off any stagnating water from condensation and to protect the overlapping metal from further corrosion.

It's an easy job, just time consuming, but it will look better than what the dealer thinks they can do with new parts.

 

Wow sounds like a project, let me know how it turns out...? I think when i bring it to the dealer i'm going to ask to speak with the body shop they use, and then i'll bring the car to the body shop and see when they plan to do with the rust. I don't want a patch job, i want the problem fixed for the long term. If they can't do it there, then i'll get an expert to fix it, and i'll have them bill Chrysler for the repair as its under warranty. And Chrysler is usually good about these kinds of problems.

 

I've checked under the rubber gasket of my doors several times since Andrew first made his post back in December. Each time I found the area to be damp, with alot of soap residue that had a orangish tint to it but I never noticed any actual rust. So I'd just wipe it as clean as I could, spray some silicone on it, and replace the rubber gasket.
Saturday was such a bright sunny day, I pulled my car out of the garage (facing north) and open the doors and pulled down the rubber gaskets. Since the bright autumn sun is sitting lower in the Southern sky now, it totally lit up the entire problem area like I've never seen it before.
After I cleaned off all the soap residue with a 1/2" wide nylon paint brush and some soap and water, I noticed what looked like very slight bubbles under the paint on the vertical section or back side of the trough that holds the rubber gasket. They almost looked like "spot welds" as they were lined up directly behind the 7 small "cut outs" on the outer lip of the trough.
I then took a very small flat edge screwdriver and pushed on one of the bubbles, and sure enough, the paint chipped right off. I proceeded to use the screwdriver like a paint scraper and broke open all seven bubbles. Fortunately I was able to scrape the surface rust off, and the metal still seemed to be smooth with no perforation anywhere.
I then cleaned it the best I could, and even used spray-on brake cleaner (hopefully to remove any silicone that was still on the surface) and I coated the bare metal with two coats of Rustoleum "Rust Reformulator". It's suppose to stop rust and make the area safe to paint over.
I haven't decided what kind of paint I'm going to use to seal the area, and I'm still thinking of drilling extra drain holes through the bottom of the entire length of the trough.

The reason I'm bringing this up, is because you may have to look very closely to actually see the bubbles, or any tell tale signs or the start of corrosion. Even on my white car, it was only the bright sun light that enabled me to see the bubbles, when I never saw them before.
Every one of these cars (if they are ever introduced to moister) are going to eventually have this problem. You can bank on it, it's a sure thing.
The very first thing I would do if I was buying a brand new one, or a used one, would be to take it home and address this problem area immediately.
The only way to prevent it from happening is to seal it with some sort of epoxy, or urethane paint (like Por 15, or the Rust Bullet) before it starts, or after you make the inevitable repair.
You can be sure that most serious car enthusiast (aka potential buyers) in the future are going to be well aware of this "Benz Cancer" curse that our cars inadvertently wound up with thanks to their "DNA". So waste no time preventing it from starting on the new cars, or returning on the used ones.

 

I would say this isn't an isolated problem. My friend has a 2004 Mercedes S55 AMG that was bought and used here locally in SE Virginia. It has 37,000 miles on it, still under warranty as well. Well, I feel REALLY bad for him, as the front fenders/quarter panels are COMPLETELY RUSTED OUT!!! There is actually a CHUNK missing at the bottom wear the 1/4 panel meets the door and the other side has bubbled the paint completely off showing the rust clear as day. Keep in mind, this is a PAMPERED, garage kept car that is professionally detailed monthly for a coast of $150 per visit. Needless to say, he IS PISSED! It too seemed to show up over night. Never noticed it until a piece of the fender flew off when a buffer was used in the area the last time it was at the detail shop. Is mercedes buying the same cheap steel that Datsun and Toyota used back in the 70s and 80s? He refuses to even drive that car now. He had the dealer tow it in, cause he couldn't drive it. Not what you expect to happen when you spend almost a $100,000 on a quality Q-ship.

 

'03's and '04's will go down in history as the worst MB's ever produced. Now in '07 they are just slowly reversing course.

 

Well then I guess us Crossfire's are out of luck.

Or all Crossfire owners that don't know about the rust problem will be out of luck... which is a lot.

 

Don't forget to check under your wing on your SRT. When I removed my daughter's to paint it, the black paint where it bolts into the truck had rubbed off and there was brown moisture and the beginnings of rust. I cleaned it thoroughly and sprayed a rust protectant and silicone in the area. Hopefully that will do the trick.

 

This rust issue bothers me.
If most of the Crossfire owners are fixing the issue themselves, Chrysler will not have a record of the issue.
I'm wondering if those affected shouldn't draft a petition of some sort to Chrysler demanding a fix or compensation for it being fixed. Anyone who has or had the issue would sign it.
I just think it is utterly ridiculous that these cars are having this issue. Many of them are very low mileage and have not been driven in the winters (i.e. salt, etc.) and so on.

My '97 Prelude was 9 years old and had 130,000+ miles on it when I got rid of it. It had been driven in many different states and every winter. It had no issues such as this.
My '01 Accord has 90,000 miles on it with the same driving habits as above, and there are no such issues with it either.

My neighbor has an '04 or '05 Limited Coupe (not on the forum) that they drive in almost all weather. I am going to go over there this week and inform them of the issue and check it out for them (if they would like). I would wager that there is some serious rust going on and they have no idea.

Crossfire owners should not be punished for this obvious design flaw.

Thoughts?

 

I agree we should not be punished for a design flaw, but it will be awfully hard to get them to admit there is a flaw. Also rust issues are very subjective and most rust warranties are for rust through and not surface rust, which is what I bet they will call this. I agree it may be something worth fighting for, but if it is not something that is taken care of now before it is too late, one might win the battle but lose the war, so to speak.