2012 Trunk Decklid Rust

[spartanv7]

Hey all,

My wife and I were out of town and I was getting luggage out of the car when I noticed that it looked like paint was bubbling up along the rolled edge of the trunk decklid on the inside. Upon further inspection, it appears to be rust from within, not surface rust. There's also rust around what appears to be a small drain hole in the center of the decklid. The rust isn't bad enough to have eaten through the metal and created a hole.

The car is my wife's and is driven in the winter, but is taken very good care of and garaged. I detail it multiple times per year and make sure that either I or my wife washes it thoroughly on a regular basis. Only has 51k miles on it.

Has anybody experienced or dealt with this? I called one of the local Ford dealers and they told me that Ford's extended rust coverage on the car only applies if the rust has eaten all the way through the metal (perforation), but that I could bring it in and see what the body shop says.

Sorry no pictures right now because she has the car and I haven't gotten around to it yet. Just trying to get info about the issue to figure out how to go about this the right way.

Thanks in advance.

 

[markathome]

Went and checked mine... Sure enough, yes, I have some surface rust along that seam as well.
On mine, the paint is bubbling and starting to crack/peel off.
Had I not read this, I'm not sure I would have noticed. I've got to fix that before this winter or I'm sure it will rust faster with the winter road chemicals. 6.5 yrs old & 65k miles....sigh

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[SHOdded]

 

[spartanv7]

Took some pics this morning:

View media item 112View media item 111View media item 110View media item 109

 

[spartanv7]

Since there's rust and not corrosion here, I'm guessing our trunk decklids are made of steel and not aluminum. If that's the case then this could be fixed and not need replacement, correct?

 

[SilverSH0]

Since there's rust and not corrosion here,

What exactly is that supposed to mean? To my knowledge rust is corrosion. But rust is corrosion that happens to only iron and it's alloys. It's kind of like the "a square is a rectangle, but a rectangle isn't a square" statement. Rust is always corrosion, but corrosion is not always rust (as it depends on the metal).

But yes, the trunk deck is steel. You can stick a magnet to it.

 

[BlueSHO]

Dang that sucks. Hope this helps mine.

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[spartanv7]

What exactly is that supposed to mean? To my knowledge rust is corrosion. But rust is corrosion that happens to only iron and it's alloys. It's kind of like the "a square is a rectangle, but a rectangle isn't a square" statement. Rust is always corrosion, but corrosion is not always rust (as it depends on the metal).

But yes, the trunk deck is steel. You can stick a magnet to it.

My apologies. I meant galvanic corrosion as it pertains to aluminum and is a known issue on many Ford vehicles beginning from the early 2000's onward. I over generalized.

 

[Sunday DICKSON]

Is there a way of halting the rust process generally?

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[SilverSH0]

Is there a way of halting the rust process generally?

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On steel the only real way to halt it is to remove it. There are ways to slow it down. But the only way to stop rust once it starts is to remove it completely (be it cut out and replace or sand out surface rust).

 

[6500rpm]

Check with Ford and see if they have a rust policy. Your vehicle isn't that old in the world of things. Water entering via deck lid spoiler mounting points?

 

[Sunday DICKSON]

On steel the only real way to halt it is to remove it. There are ways to slow it down. But the only way to stop rust once it starts is to remove it completely (be it cut out and replace or sand out surface rust).

Thanks SilverSHO, I understand, but I have a situation where the part of the metal as exposed by a tiny rock chip seems to be rusted. If you don't look at it very well you might not even notice it. In this situation what need to be done to halt it.

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[Sunday DICKSON]

Check with Ford and see if they have a rust policy. Your vehicle isn't that old in the world of things. Water entering via deck lid spoiler mounting points?

No it's a 2011 SHO, just bought it. The spot is on the back of the trunk lid.

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[SilverSH0]

Thanks SilverSHO, I understand, but I have a situation where the part of the metal as exposed by a tiny rock chip seems to be rusted. If you don't look at it very well you might not even notice it. In this situation what need to be done to halt it.

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If it was mine I would clean out the chip really well and remove all the surface rust. After it's all cleaned out and rust free, use some touch up paint to cover it.

 

[Pintony]

Keeping the panels CLEAN & WAXED-UP is the best way to keep rust away.
Spending the extra at the car wash for pushing that wax into all the tiny crevices.

 

[Sunday DICKSON]

If it was mine I would clean out the chip really well and remove all the surface rust. After it's all cleaned out and rust free, use some touch up paint to cover it.

This chip is really small, like I said if you weren't looking for it you wouldn't see it. So how would you clean out the chip I am really interested.

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[Sunday DICKSON]

Keeping the panels CLEAN & WAXED-UP is the best way to keep rust away.
Spending the extra at the car wash for pushing that wax into all the tiny crevices.

Ok

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[SHOrod]

This chip is really small, like I said if you weren't looking for it you wouldn't see it. So how would you clean out the chip I am really interested.

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Are you sure what you are looking at is actually a paint chip then versus some "rail dust" that stuck to the paint and rusted? You might try using a clay bar in the area to see if it lifts away the rust spot and if anything is left behind.

As for the original post here, since the rust appears to be coming from inside the trunk lid due to insufficient/cracked paint and moisture getting in there somehow, I'm not sure how you'd ever get wax in the area where the rust is originating from. This used to be a very common issue on the bottoms of car doors for several manufacturers.

-Rod

 

[SilverSH0]

This chip is really small, like I said if you weren't looking for it you wouldn't see it. So how would you clean out the chip I am really interested.

I'm not a professional in the area at all and don't claim to be. How small of a chip are we talking? Most chips are going to be at least the size of a pin head if not a bit larger. What I've done is taken some fine sandpaper (1500-2500 depending on severity), used a hole punch to punch out a small circle, place that centered over the rock chip, and then used the eraser from a #2 pencil to rotate the sandpaper to sand out any minor rust and clean up the jagged edges of the paint from the chip. Then I clean out the sanding dust and get the area really clean. Then I fill in the chip with touch up paint and allow to try. Then I'll come back and wetsand the immediate area to level out the touch up with existing paint. Then if there's a low spot where I didn't get enough touch up paint applied I'll clean it, add paint, dry, and wetsand again. Then I'll finally come back and buff out the area.

If you want the easier way then most touch up paint pens come with an abrasive white tip that you can use to clean out as much as you can before applying some paint. But if the chip is really small, it might be like SHOrod stated and just contamination stuck on or into the paint.

 

[SilverSH0]

As for the original post here, since the rust appears to be coming from inside the trunk lid due to insufficient/cracked paint and moisture getting in there somehow, I'm not sure how you'd ever get wax in the area where the rust is originating from. This used to be a very common issue on the bottoms of car doors for several manufacturers.

-Rod

This is really the ultimate rust problem even on modern cars. If you look at the 2004-2008 F-150s you'll notice they are now rusting on the back half of the rear wheel well. My dad has one and I've looked at why they rust in this area and it really comes down to bad design and nothing the customer does can really prevent it from rusting. In this case there are two pieces of sheet metal that come together and form a seam here (wheel well and rear "fender" pieces). When it's wet outside the wheel will throw water up and a little will get into this seam. But what really makes it bad is that Ford put a spot weld to hold these pieces together and it's at about the 1 to 2 o'clock position (if you imagine the wheel well as a clock face). So water gets in the crack, gravity pulls it down, and then that spot weld dams it in place and prevents it from draining. The water is held against the metal and it rusts from the inside out. I fixed it on my dad's truck by cutting it out and welding in new.

For the OP it looks like a similar situation. There was something in the car design that allowed water into the trunk deck and it's rusting from the inside out. There's really not much one can do to prevent that except for not driving in the rain/water (which isn't practical for most people).