2019 Ram 1500 crew cab rust on inside cab corners

After seeing yours, I may spray some bed liner or something in that area to give it some additional protection!
I would caution you against spraying bed liner or any other rubberized undercoating. Moisture can get between the rubberized material and the metal and cause corrosion.
 
Skippy, I wouldn’t worry about yours if you are not having any problems. Prevention is the key. I see that you are in Illinois. Just keep the underside of your truck clean. Get any road salt off as soon as possible. Spray with Fluid Film before winter. If you start seeing any surface rust, take care of it right away. A rust converting primer is a good start. Rustoleum makes a good product. https://www.rustoleum.com/product-c...o/removers-and-chemicals/rust-reformer-spray/
And, mud flaps help. One more thing, install rear wheel well liners. This will prevent junk and rust in the rear fenders near the bumper. Trucks run on salted roads will get corrosion along the bottom of the tailgate and rear bumper area.
 
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I got underneath my new to me 2019 Ram 1500 CC, 4x4 SLT today to treat it with fluid film. One of the first things I noticed was these areas on the inside of the cab corners, that by design, catch road spray from the front wheels. There's some dimples just downstream on the bed side that also have the paint eroded off and starting to rust.

All this on a vehicle with a build date of 07/2019 and MSRP of ~$45600 and was in rental service for 10 months and 14800 miles. I've had the truck 10 days. Totally disappointing and disturbing.

I got all the door, rocker and tailgate cavities as well as much of the underside done with my last ~2 quarts of FF, but still need to drop the spare tire and touch up some other areas before fall.

I cleaned up the rusty areas with some rubbing alcohol and coated them with some unopened Rust Bullet I had on hand for a previous project that never happened. These areas are going to need some major protection. I'm wondering if some type of 3M tape, Flex Seal tape, etc would do the trick?

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You need something a lot better than almost worthless (in those body areas) fluid film and protect a lot more areas if you want any sort of decent life span out of that truck. They rot like a house on fire in the salt belt.

You will need some supplies to do this right, getting rid of the fluid film is a must before applying another product, mineral spirits should do it.
Get these products, I am using Amazon for most because its convenient but any auto body supply shop will have most of these in stock except for the Noxudol.

Small blast gun

Media

Rust Mort

2K Primer

Stone guard

Noxudol 700

Noxudol 900

Depending on if you have a compressor or not there are a couple of ways to this, either will last a very long time.
Tape off the surrounding are and media blast the area or use a wire wheel to get it super clean, wipe down with IPA and treat it with the Rust Mort.
Once its clean mask it off and spray with the 2K epoxy primer and let it sit at least overnight to minimize shrinkage.

Scuff the primer with 400, wipe with IPA mask off the area and spray the stone guard, it will be solid overnight then shoot color and clear onto the stone guard (it is paintable) and its done.

For better protection thoroughly clean and spray the whole wheel well are with stone guard, you can paint it or leave it black (also comes in white) its up to you.
Flood every inside panel including the bed inside where the wheel wells are with the Noxudol 700. Do the inner fenders, pillars, doors, exposed cooler, brake and fuel lines in any hidden area.
Coat the bottom of the truck including the frame and wheel wells you just put stone guard on with the 900, it is non hardening and will not chip off and allow water underneath it.

You can flood the inside of the frame inside with the 700 after using the 900 on the outside, let it drip out and a few weeks later make sure the door drains are clear. Noxudol has aerosols with a long want available or sue you own gun and wands with qts.
Toyota specs the Noxudol for their frame repairs after warranty replacement.
 
Trav, thank you!

That is a SERIOUS lineup right there. I appreciate the links.

I didn't apply fluid film to the areas in question, just the rust converter coating. I know from using FF for some years, it doesn't stay on road washed areas, but I did flood the door, rocker cavities as well as inside the frame rails and body rails/seams.
 
Trav has the right idea. Sometimes rust prevention may be a bit overwhelming for the individual. And, you may want to rely on a professional shop to do your work.
 
Something going on there....
This is our 2019, early build date as posted in my thread, has 1.5 winters under it. As you can see, there's a plastic guard that's in place over that section on ours, if we are looking at the same location:

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I just remembered, yours is a Classic, right? The_Critic and I are both driving DT's, the NBS trucks, so those locations are going to be a bit different. I can check one of the 2011 or 2012's at work if you'd like though?
 
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Yep, mine is the old 4th gen design. 5th gens look totally different in this area. More aerodynamic and they are coated with some type of seam sealer around the area that gets pummeled with grit/stones.
 
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Here are the pictures of mine (2020 Ram 1500 DT Crew Cab). These pictures are from the driver side.
 
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Trav has the right idea. Sometimes rust prevention may be a bit overwhelming for the individual. And, you may want to rely on a professional shop to do your work.

Yes that is correct it does seem like a lot and a bit of a daunting task but honestly it isn't, in fact it is very easy.
Once you do it the next time is easy. Some places do nice work but some this stuff needs time to cure multiple times and some shops rush it, this can cause problems down the road.

The small blast gun can be powered by a smaller portable compressor for small jobs like this, very small jobs it wont blast a full frame or large parts.
The rest are all rattle cans, the 2K epoxy primer is wasteful because it goes off and that's the end of it but it is a real alternative to qts and a spray gun.
The $10 cheap HF guns with a bigger 1.8 nozzle are what I use for this, a couple of uses and toss it. The gun cost less than the materials used to clean it properly.

I see overkill posted about plastic covers. These can protect but also allow sand and junk to accumulate under them holding moisture, rust can get going under them without becoming visible till its way too late.
GM old W bodies with the Batmobile plastic cladding were well known for this. Looks great but no rocker panels left, the first sign is the cladding drops off or sags.
 
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Skippy, I wouldn’t worry about yours if you are not having any problems. Prevention is the key. I see that you are in Illinois. Just keep the underside of your truck clean. Get any road salt off as soon as possible. Spray with Fluid Film before winter. If you start seeing any surface rust, take care of it right away. A rust converting primer is a good start. Rustoleum makes a good product. https://www.rustoleum.com/product-c...o/removers-and-chemicals/rust-reformer-spray/
And, mud flaps help. One more thing, install rear wheel well liners. This will prevent junk and rust in the rear fenders near the bumper. Trucks run on salted roads will get corrosion along the bottom of the tailgate and rear bumper area.
Thanks! Mine came with the rear wheel well liners, one of my requirements when looking. It’s my first brand new vehicle ever and plan on driving it for a very long time so I’d like to take care of it. I’ll definitely keep it rinsed off in the winter.
 
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I would coat everything but that spot since its already rusting. Let it get crusty and have the dealer fix it. Anything else is just a bandaid, but if you don't keep cars that long, then go ahead and keep it at bay with rust preventative.
 
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It looks to me like others mentioned, it was driven on gravel a lot and the paint chipped and wore off. I would clean, prime, and paint the area, then apply a clear rust proofing coating. Then consider it an item that would have to be checked in the fall and spring, and maintained as needed.
 
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Thanks! Mine came with the rear wheel well liners, one of my requirements when looking. It’s my first brand new vehicle ever and plan on driving it for a very long time so I’d like to take care of it. I’ll definitely keep it rinsed off in the winter.

Mine has the rear inner fender well liners as well. I typically take them out once a year to gain better access for fluid film, etc. I believe at one time, these liners were optional on rear coil spring equipped Ram 1500s, but I've never seen one w/out them.

I would coat everything but that spot since its already rusting. Let it get crusty and have the dealer fix it. Anything else is just a bandaid, but if you don't keep cars that long, then go ahead and keep it at bay with rust preventative.
Not even up for debate, hit your corrosion warranty and have a record of the repair.

I appreciate what you guys are saying with make this a dealer problem, but I'm thinking you guys have never dealt with a corrosion issue with a new car dealer, in western NY. Especially with an under body part like this. If it was a top side, exterior issue, I'd be all over it with them. I've been down that road before living where I do (several times) and it was a difficult endeavor. This is a body design problem more than a factory paint problem IMO. You can see the paint abraded off the rear shock absorbers in my pics. Either someone did constant burnouts in sand or this thing saw nothing but fine gravel roads for 1000s of miles. Luckily the rockers and everything else is in excellent condition.

Like I said above, I've already coated the area with a rust converter coating product : https://www.rustbullet.com/product-category/rust-inhibitors/automotive/
 
I think the intent of having the dealer look at it is to get it on record so when corrosion became a serious problem down the road you and FCA have a reference.

If you have already coated it then that point is moot.
 
I think the intent of having the dealer look at it is to get it on record so when corrosion became a serious problem down the road you and FCA have a reference.

If you have already coated it then that point is moot.

Which manufacturer corrosion warranties cover rust due to rock chips or other paint removed type damage? In this case, pebble blasted damage that removed the paint and the e-coat.

I am not aware of any.


JTK, keep us updated on that Rust Bullet. Their web page claims and supposed product research are impressive. https://www.rustbullet.com/product-comparisons/
 
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Which manufacturer corrosion warranties cover rust due to rock chips or other paint removed type damage? In this case, pebble blasted damage that removed the paint and the e-coat.

I am not aware of any.


JTK, keep us updated on that Rust Bullet. Their web page claims and supposed product research are impressive. https://www.rustbullet.com/product-comparisons/

That's exactly my point. (y)

Will definitely post back some long term results on the rust bullet coating. It seems to be very tough stuff. If it doesn't work out, I will be using Trav's suggestions above by blasting it off, treating and coating with those products.

Just got done pulling the spare tire and rear fender well liners to use up the last of my fluid film. Got a good amount up in those pesky areas around the rear fender wells. Everything looked new back there aside from some dust, dirt/grit build up I cleaned out before fluid fliming.
 
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