A not so nice rust surprise.

[Blanco]

Okay, so I noticed some rusty staining starting to appear along the rocker where the rear driver's side wheel trim meets the back door so I pulled the wheel trim off to have a look. Surprise! Practically the whole area around the edge of the wheel well under the wheel trim is flaking away like a bas****. I thought I'd better check under the fender trim at the front driver's side as well but guess what? Clean. The front passenger side? Clean and the rear passenger side? You guessed it, clean.

I will post up some pics tomorrow but I think we all know what rusty flaking metal looks like (at least those of us who live up in Canada/Northern States do). Incidentally, I also noticed my rear bumper is sitting a tiny bit 'low' like it has been bent downwards so I looked underneath to see what might be the issue and surprise, the passenger side frame where the side piece of the bumper is bolted is rusted and flaking away, while the passenger side is minty fresh.

Trying to figure out this phenomenon where the driver's side takes such a rust beating towards the rear of the truck yet the passenger side does not?? My initial theory is that road salt collects at the centre/crown in the road and sprays up there in the winter but who knows.

So, thankfully the bumper is held to the frame at many other points but that wheel well is gonna need some attention before winter sets in.

My questions is: shall I remove the wheel trim, clean it up real good, apply a little bondo, prime and repaint myself or hit up a body shop for this to get it done right? AND, has anyone else experienced more corrosion forming on the driver's side rear body/frame than on the passenger side of their Runner?

Thanks.

 

[Maritimer]

If it's all under the trim, I'd do it myself. I did it myself, actually. I have the skinny trim, so I was lucky I caught it in time. Paint matching didn't matter as it's covered.

I bet your filler pipe and the upper wheel well area near there is in need of some TLC, as well. Definitely road salt gathering in the middle, plus I think the exhaust heat helps dry things out a bit on the passenger side.

 

[Blanco]

Hey Maritimer, I just took a look at the thread where you painted your rockers, been thinking of doing that and running it up underneath the trim as well, not sure. Thanks for the tip on checking the filler pipe, definitely don't want that to rust out and perforate! My underside as a whole has a few corroded spots but I've seen way worse frames on here as far as rust is concerned. This fall, I need to get underneath with a power wash then take a wire wheel to the frame, axle etc. Gonna take the rear skidplate off soon to clean and paint, then the spare and that whole area. Following the cleaning, wire wheel and rust paint, I'm going to get the whole thing underpsrayed. What a pain, I get so envious when I look at some of the Runners on here from the sun belt - original factory black still intact on the frames...damn!