Undercarriage rust issues on 2008 EX?

[TimGinCentralNJ]

This weekend was mostly dedicated to working on my 2008 EX. She got clay bar treatment, fresh wax, a new top o' the line Die Hard Platinum battery from Sears, and I installed all new rotors and pads, as well. While I was under the car, I noticed a tremendous amount of rust on the undercarriage--but it was more serious that just the surface rust which I'd expect to see. Additionally, both my catalytic converters' outer shells had been totally rusted through. In fact, my dealer had gone so far as to bolt a hose clamp around the worse of the two--without so much as even mentioning it to me. I'm going to have to look at my factory extended warranty to see if cat converters are covered (probably not since they're still functional), but regardless I'm going to have a few choice words with my dealer.

So, my question is: Has anyone else seen an exorbitant amount of medium to advanced rust under their EX?

This is not something I'm used to seeing; even my former 2001 Expedition which we regularly drove on the beach (and occasionally even in seawater when we had to) for the 10 years I owned it didn't have this much rust on it.

Thanks,
Tim

[TonyN]

you have 10 year factory rust protection I think, definitely bring this up! Also document as much as you can and get your dealer to admit they use the hose clamp to fix the catalytic converter, that way you can prove that it was a known problem and you can indirectly accuse them of covering it up for a unknown about of time since you trusted them to work on your car and that trust has been broken and demand that your rust problem be fixed on good faith.
As we all know dealers love to point out every detail that is wrong with your car to get $$$, seems like they are trying to avoid this confrontation by a band-aid fix, your case is much stronger if you have only had your car serviced at the dealer.

[NJGuy]

This weekend was mostly dedicated to working on my 2008 EX. She got clay bar treatment, fresh wax, a new top o' the line Die Hard Platinum battery from Sears, and I installed all new rotors and pads, as well. While I was under the car, I noticed a tremendous amount of rust on the undercarriage--but it was more serious that just the surface rust which I'd expect to see. Additionally, both my catalytic converters' outer shells had been totally rusted through. In fact, my dealer had gone so far as to bolt a hose clamp around the worse of the two--without so much as even mentioning it to me. I'm going to have to look at my factory extended warranty to see if cat converters are covered (probably not since they're still functional), but regardless I'm going to have a few choice words with my dealer.

So, my question is: Has anyone else seen an exorbitant amount of medium to advanced rust under their EX?

This is not something I'm used to seeing; even my former 2001 Expedition which we regularly drove on the beach (and occasionally even in seawater when we had to) for the 10 years I owned it didn't have this much rust on it.

Thanks,
Tim

Tim, I am calling BS on you doing a brake job, battery swap, clay bar/wax. There's no way your kids could be occupied long enough for you to finish all those jobs . Did you go with the R1 Concepts kit again? How did the old set hold up?

To address your question, my experience with corrosion on the EX isn't quite as bad as yours. The last time I was under my car (maybe 8-9 months ago), I had a fair amount of rust on the catalytic converter heat shields, as well as some surface rust spots on the black painted sub-frame and metal bracing components. But there was nothing that really concerned me.

It seems to me that the previous owner of my EX did a decent job of taking care of the car. My wife is at least pretty good about keeping the exterior of the car clean. In the winter, she hardly ever takes the car out when there's snow. And when the car gets dirty from the road salt, she'll get it washed when the streets aren't caked with the stuff. I think the biggest thing that helps keep the rust at bay is that she parks in the garage year round.

If you're that worried about underbody corrosion, maybe you can spend another day on the weekend to apply a rust converter (like POR-15 or a similar product) to the spots that look like a potential problem. I recall that someone here has done that with their EX and posted about it, though I don't remember exactly who. As an alternate solution, if you still have the 7 Series BMW and it sits in the garage, you can displace it and park your EX there instead .

Anyway, good luck with the dealer and let us know how it goes.

[NJGuy]

you have 10 year factory rust protection I think, definitely bring this up! Also document as much as you can and get your dealer to admit they use the hose clamp to fix the catalytic converter, that way you can prove that it was a known problem and you can indirectly accuse them of covering it up for a unknown about of time since you trusted them to work on your car and that trust has been broken and demand that your rust problem be fixed on good faith.
As we all know dealers love to point out every detail that is wrong with your car to get $$$, seems like they are trying to avoid this confrontation by a band-aid fix, your case is much stronger if you have only had your car serviced at the dealer.

I think the corrosion coverage is only good for 7 years, and that it only covers the body. I also think that the exhaust components are explicitly excluded from the coverage.

While he might not be eligible for warranty coverage, I'm with you that the dealer was wrong about not reporting the issue; even though it would give the appearance of an up-selling of services. I'm not sure how much Tim is entitled to, but hopefully they give him compensation that he feels is fair; or even something better, like a free replacement of the heat shields.

[TimGinCentralNJ]

Tim, I am calling BS on you doing a brake job, battery swap, clay bar/wax. There's no way your kids could be occupied long enough for you to finish all those jobs . Did you go with the R1 Concepts kit again? How did the old set hold up?

Ha! Normally, you would be right on the money, NJGuy Luckily, I had scheduled this even with my missus (and reminded her it meant we'd be saving in excess of $1200 by not having the dealer do it with OEM parts), so it ended up going well.

Yes, I ended up using R1Concepts parts again but this time, I did not go with the slotted rotors. Reason being, after about 20k miles, the front rotors developed a vibration whenever I applied the brakes between 35 and 50 mph. And it wasn't the typical shimmy you'd expect with normal rotor warp (maybe this is just how slotted rotors warp, I don't know), but it was noisy and annoying enough I decided to swap out both fronts and rears with the non-slotted replacement rotors and new low-dust pads. As it turns out, the pads I replaced still had more than 1/2 of their "meat" left on them so maybe I should've just sucked it up a while longer. I just wasn't sure what was going on and felt the safest option would be replacing everything.

It seems to me that the previous owner of my EX did a decent job of taking care of the car. My wife is at least pretty good about keeping the exterior of the car clean. In the winter, she hardly ever takes the car out when there's snow. And when the car gets dirty from the road salt, she'll get it washed when the streets aren't caked with the stuff. I think the biggest thing that helps keep the rust at bay is that she parks in the garage year round.

You're right about the garage and the salt. Although my EX is used during the winter and unfortunately is not garaged, as you know my old 7 Series is always garaged (even at work) and never sees salt/snow and both the paint and the undercarriage look stellar for a 14 year old car. And no way am I putting the EX in the garage instead!

If you're that worried about underbody corrosion, maybe you can spend another day on the weekend to apply a rust converter (like POR-15 or a similar product) to the spots that look like a potential problem. I recall that someone here has done that with their EX and posted about it, though I don't remember exactly who.

Yeah, I think that may be an idea. I actually did find the post you're referring to, and although I can't remember the board member who did it off the top of my head, he/she did a really great job using POR-15....much better than I imagine being able to do myself. Definitely something to think about.

I'll update my post once I've had a chance to speak with my dealer re: the rusted out cats. Still weird if you ask me....

Thanks!
Tim

Anyway, good luck with the dealer and let us know how it goes.[/quote]

[AWGD8]

This weekend was mostly dedicated to working on my 2008 EX. She got clay bar treatment, fresh wax, a new top o' the line Die Hard Platinum battery from Sears, and I installed all new rotors and pads, as well. While I was under the car, I noticed a tremendous amount of rust on the undercarriage--but it was more serious that just the surface rust which I'd expect to see. Additionally, both my catalytic converters' outer shells had been totally rusted through. In fact, my dealer had gone so far as to bolt a hose clamp around the worse of the two--without so much as even mentioning it to me. I'm going to have to look at my factory extended warranty to see if cat converters are covered (probably not since they're still functional), but regardless I'm going to have a few choice words with my dealer.

So, my question is: Has anyone else seen an exorbitant amount of medium to advanced rust under their EX?

This is not something I'm used to seeing; even my former 2001 Expedition which we regularly drove on the beach (and occasionally even in seawater when we had to) for the 10 years I owned it didn't have this much rust on it.

Thanks,
Tim

Tim we discussed this issue here before here.

undercarriage-rust-what-do-you-guys-do- ... 78332.html.

[TimGinCentralNJ]

Tim we discussed this issue here before here.

undercarriage-rust-what-do-you-guys-do- ... 78332.html.

And there's the post I had read! Thanks for the linky!

Tim