Rust/Corrosion on Unibody near Mount

[PMB]

Hey everyone, I wanted to start a new discussion about this. I read nearly 10 pages of search results and nothing about actual rust yet, so forgive me if this has been covered before.

Here's the situation. I live in Canada and drive a white 2019 Stinger GT Limited. I purchased this vehicle in late November 2018. I don't drive very much, and have just 15,500km on the vehicle (less than 10,000 miles). The vehicle is stored outdoors, but I keep it well by doing pressure wash with foam lance regularly, iron-x, claybar and paint sealing with Klasse a few times per summer. I wash the car whenever it's dirty, and in the winter take it to touchless car wash, if we get some mild days.

I was swapping on my winter tires/wheel a few weeks ago when I noticed some rust in the driver front wheel well. The rust appears on a body mount just above where the front sway bar goes through.

When I purchased the vehicle, part of the extended warranty I purchased was clear PPF on some of the panel and also a dripless/clear undercoating? I'm not too clued into the details.

Anyways, here are the photos. What does everyone think?

 

[MerlintheMad]

That looks darned creepy to me!? Is it surface or is that rust popping through?

 

[Ohiocruiser]

Wow!! That looks pretty bad. Doesn't look like surface rust at all.Year old car shouldn't have that issue. Was it in accident? Also you wanna be very careful with any kind of rustproof coating. A lot of them trap moisture inside, and accelerate the process dramatically.

 

[PMB]

Okay. Yeah, I was thinking this was pretty bad. The car hasn't been in an accident. Bought it brand new with maybe 6km on the ODO.

I already notified the dealership at my last oil change to get it on record. Unfortunately I use a different dealership than where I bought it, so it's going to be a massive hassle... I hate our dealership format in N/A. I just know they are going to say "you should have bought the electronic corrosion protection module".

 

[MerlintheMad]

Rust this early in the warranty should be covered, no question about that. You're are doing your part, caring for your car. How Kia will make good on the warranty, that is the $50K question. No add-on "protection" of any sort is required.

 

[Ohiocruiser]

Rust this early in the warranty should be covered, no question about that. Your are doing your part, caring for your car. How Kia will make good on the warranty, that is the $50K question. No add-on "protection" of any sort is required.

I have no doubts it will be covered by warranty. I would have doubts about quality of that repair. The subframe will have to be removed to fix it.

 

[adam1991]

The car hasn't been in an accident. Bought it brand new with maybe 6km on the ODO.

That last statement does not automatically follow the first statement, and does not prove the first statement.

"Brand new" is an administrative issue of title, which has nothing to do with physical condition of the car.

The important part of that second statement is "6km on the odo". So inside that first 6km, prior to your taking possession of the car, the car could very well have experienced damage. The dealer would have repaired it and said nothing, because they're not obligated to, and then put it up for sale.

And frankly, the Kia factory rep's paycheck depends on how well he puts off claims like this. And now there are TWO parties involved, you and whoever had physical possession of it for the first 6km.

The incentive for the factory rep to see that as a factory defect in manufacturing, is very low. Roll those dice, but set your expectations accordingly.

 

[adam1991]

How Kia will make good on the warranty, that is the $50K question.

IF Kia will acknowledge it as a warranty issue stemming from defects in manufacturing is the real issue.

OP, please keep us informed of how this matter goes.

 

[adam1991]

I would have doubts about quality of that repair. The subframe will have to be removed to fix it.

eh. The whole thing is meant to be repaired, and there's a very mature industry out there with the skills to repair it--and possibly even make it better than it was, who knows.

In 2004, my two year old Honda van was minding its own business parked in a parking lot when a fully loaded 26 foot U-Haul truck backed over the front end, at a 90 degree angle, from passenger side to driver side. sigh. The guy owned up to it, and things happen. Anyway, I had it towed to a good body shop I know of; a week or so later I got it back, and it looked superb and drove perfectly straight.

And it continued to look that good and drive that straight for another 100K miles. Frankly, I'd still have the van if I hadn't stumbled across a good opportunity to replace it 3 years ago.

Don't freak out and assume the worst. In the scheme of things, this is a "so what" issue. Get it fixed and move on.

And if the factory won't fix it, either get rid of it or fix it yourself. Either way, chalk that up to experience. I wonder if that rust was there when the OP bought it. Maybe he would have caught it if he had bothered to do that extensive of an inspection.

I learned years ago, the most efficient way to inspect any car is to give it a good, long hand wash and dry. Used cars especially. This forces you to put hands and eyes on quite literally every piece of the outside of the car. Shoot, do a good interior detail as well if you want. You will discover things you never thought of. This may not have caught this issue, but you get the idea.

Miles on the car? Yeah, inspect it inside and out, crawl under it, put it on a lift, etc. Title status is immaterial. Somebody put those miles on that car, and in this case that somebody (or those somebodies) truly didn't care how they treated it.

 

[MerlintheMad]

I think that you guys are reading "6km" as six thousand miles/kilometers?! I read it as six kilometers. @PMB which is it?

 

[adam1991]

If it's six kilometers, then arguably it was indeed unquestionably brand new. The odds of damage that needs fixed like that are low...but not zero, unfortunately. Transportation damage is common.

 

[PMB]

If it's six kilometers, then arguably it was indeed unquestionably brand new. The odds of damage that needs fixed like that are low...but not zero, unfortunately. Transportation damage is common.

6 km (kilometers) or 4 miles. Like the minimum a vehicle could have while being driven from the factory->ship->truck->dealership, and never test driven.

Unquestionably brand new.

 

[Silvermanor]

Looks like a weld point. I bet all Canadian cars will rust at the spot. Something to monitor. Fun times.

 

[runner1]

It looks like surface rust likely due to contamination to the coating. Scrub it quick and spray a bit of pain on it.

 

[Ohiocruiser]

It looks like surface rust likely due to contamination to the coating. Scrub it quick and spray a bit of pain on it.

Once it starts rusting, that is last thing you wanna do. Due to location of the spot, subframe needs to be removed, so you can remove the rust completely. Than prime and paint. Meanwhile i would wire brush as much as possible and use something like "fluid film" to stop it from spreading.

 

[oddball]

Man, some real paranoia about rust on here....

Do y'all salt the roads up there? That will chew up the car no matter what.
Hopefully the dealer does something, but if it was my car, well, here in TX I would just ignore it. But up there, I'm with runner - brush off the rust and spray some paint on it. I wouldn't necessarily believe that the body mount is rusting.

 

[Ohiocruiser]

If you lived somewhere in the rustbelt you wouldn't be saying this. Rust destroys cars, FAST!

Man, some real paranoia about rust on here....

Do y'all salt the roads up there? That will chew up the car no matter what.
Hopefully the dealer does something, but if it was my car, well, here in TX I would just ignore it. But up there, I'm with runner - brush off the rust and spray some paint on it. I wouldn't necessarily believe that the body mount is rusting.

 

[Silvermanor]

Man, some real paranoia about rust on here....

Do y'all salt the roads up there? That will chew up the car no matter what.
Hopefully the dealer does something, but if it was my car, well, here in TX I would just ignore it. But up there, I'm with runner - brush off the rust and spray some paint on it. I wouldn't necessarily believe that the body mount is rusting.

Rust at a subframe mount is probably not the best place especially on a one year old car.