Rust

[Legend]

I took the cladding off of my bumper to fix an accident ? and discovered that the top and the sides of the bumper have been attacked by rust!
To check yours, Remove one of the diamond shaped steps on the bumper by pressing up in the slot besides the tab underneath and prying up from the top. ?Should I contact the dealer? ?My AVY is only 8 months old.

Rust part 2,

I went to the dealer today and he contacted GM about a replacement. I guess that my main concern was if it was happening there, what about the body panels. IT appears that the panels are dipped to prevent that from occuring, whew!

Legend

 

[WS6Y2K]

Legend,
I had the same thing when I fixed my bumper. Mine just had small specs of rust. Looked like when I had rust dust in my bed they did not get washed off the bumper. Here is a picture of the rust spots. I will probably remove the cladding again and paint it with POR 15.

http://www.picturetrail.com/gallery/view?p=999&gid=817174&uid=553636

The 4 picture down you can see some rust on top of the bumper.

 

[Legend]

Thanks for the info, btw what did you use to break that metal ring? It is a b@#$!

Legend

 

[hymur]

Just as a side note - take a look at any Silverado truck's bumper on a dealer's lot. The outer chrome will look great - the inner side will show signs of surface rust - had this happen to me (noticed after a few weeks) when I bought my Silverado in 99. Dealer's response was "yeah check my lot or any other dealer - we all have it". He was right. After 3 years I traded it in for my AV, - not for that reason, jumped on the incentives - and the inner rust did not appear to have deteriated. Not to say it wouldn't in another 3 years.

I think it would be wasted energy trying to get such a thing corrected - only to be dissapointed in the end anyway. My experience has been, no matter who the dealer is, whenever they fix something, they always end up doing somehting else to piss you off - like scratches, or repeat returns to correct the last "fix". Yeah, if you plan on keeping your AV till you run it into the ground, give it a try. But short of replacing it, and getting a replacement that does not have the same problem, may be hard to do.

JMHO

 

[dgbryant]

and the inner rust did not appear to have deteriated. ?Not to say it wouldn't in another 3 years.

I am not a metallurgist, and I don't know anything about the specific element content of Chevy bumpers, however, I do know there are certain types of steel that will rust (oxidize) to a certain point and then stop.
I have wondered the same thing about the drive shaft in my AV. It's completely orange, and has been since the day I picked it up.

helmet

 

[WS6Y2K]

Thanks for the info, btw what did you use to break that metal ring? It is a b@#$!

Legend

I just took some pliers and bent it back and fourth till the outer ring broke. Once that came off the inner ring came loose. The outer ring also has some teeth that hold onto the inner ring. Just keep pulling till it comes loose.

 

[jstrickl]

Helmet, I'm with you on this one.
I am guessing this is a normal occurance on all vehicles. It is likely the parts that have higher concentrations of iron in them. Plus these are the unprimed/unsealed areas so you can only assume this is a normal oxidation occuring.

Jamie

 

[NJAV]

Can't these areas be prepped so to speak..with some sort of chemical which fights against rusting....or is something like this just a fact of life and leave it at that..

 

[jstrickl]

NJAV, I think the areas we are looking at - underside of bumpers, frame elements etc are intended to be left in that condition. Just think of how many beat-up early 70's Chevy Impalas or big old Buicks and Oldsmobiles you still see running around. The frame members and bumpers are well rust-coated but still solid. It's kind of like your good hunting or fishing knife that you forgot to bring inside. It got wet and now has a coat of oxidation on it. A little steel wool and it's all cleaned up and as long as it stays dry, it stays rust-free!

Just an observation...

Jamie