This is the hood on my '05, which is upsetting. I had some rust on the seam of the rear deck lid that I had my local body shop sand out, treat, and reseal. It's been good ever since. I'm thinking that for the hood, it's too late to fix and probably cheaper to replace. Thoughts? My '01 has an aftermarket hood, which seems to be less rust prone than the OEM. If I do need to replace, I'll probably go with aftermarket.
Looks like mine. It got a yearly wire-wheel, coating of oil-based metal paint and a bug deflector. I kept it in check under the deflector and it was never much of a problem.....
mine is doing the same thing on the back side and some on the front. also has spot on roof. getting it all done for $300 from a friend that works in a chrysler body shop and has had his own body shop ever since i was a baby. (was his dads shop from the '40s i think)
With all the rust mine has had amazingly I have not had any surface rust on the hood. I treated the seams on the back lift gate with some rustoleum rust converter and that worked really well. I have not painted over it yet (and I hit it with the rust converter every now and then) and it seems to have done a good job so far (for $6).
I like the idea of the bug deflector instead of getting a new hood.
I'd just slap a bug deflector on and hide it. that's what I did with my '02 when i bought it 3 years ago and it never managed to rust past the bug deflector to where it was visible. a whole lot cheaper plus i think it dresses it up a little bit and helps with the bugs
I had hood rust starting in the seams within months of driving my 2003 new off the lot. Dealer body shop touched it up with paint no charge but Chrysler refused to replace hood since it was not a perforation. Problem could have been prevented if seam sealer & better prep used @ the factory before painting. Like was said previously, once rust starts in a body panel seam, the only permanent fix is to replace the entire panel. My hood rust is now far advanced with exterior paint bubbles. Earlier than expected seam rust is a problem on these vans and other models of Dodge/Chryslers of this era. I see it often in my travels. The seam rust is probably the most disappointing part of my van ownership experience which has been very positive overall.
Yes, 7 yrs or 70,000 miles corrosion warranty. But this warranty is for "perforation" due to rust. This means a hole from front to back of panel. Paint bubbles, rust in seam, rust on only one surface of panel etc. is not covered by the language of the warranty.
I'd clean everything up (sanding on top and under hood edge) and seal it up with POR 15, then paint body color over it. If you got an aftermarket hood, it wouldn't be a bad idea to coat the whole front edge (on top AND underneath) with POR15 before painting, to seal it and protect it from nicks and rust in the future.
X2 on the por 15, but the thing about it is.. It sticks better to rust than bare clean metal, and it shouldn't be painted over other paints. And any UV exposure to it degrades it so if expsed to the sun, it should be top coated over with any regular paint.
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