Bubbles in Paint at Door Hinges

[Bill_P]

The hinges is one aspect and I understand the reaction between two opposing metals. The issue is this is happening to many on door and hood edges. This is clearly a defect on paint prep at the factory.

I just had my '18 at the dealer last week about this issue. All 4 doors, hinges and hood. The service writer told me that they definitely had an issue in the paint department because the problem is huge on their Chrysler Pacifica minivans as well. Hopefully FCA will approve mine for repaint. They sent everything in and now I'm just waiting for a decision. They said that by me being the second owner it may have an impact, but I still have 2 years of corrosion warranty that is showing as active on the Jeep.

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[Whisky19]

I just had my '18 at the dealer last week about this issue. All 4 doors, hinges and hood. The service writer told me that they definitely had an issue in the paint department because the problem is huge on their Chrysler Pacifica minivans as well. Hopefully FCA will approve mine for repaint. They sent everything in and now I'm just waiting for a decision. They said that by me being the second owner it may have an impact, but I still have 2 years of corrosion warranty that is showing as active on the Jeep.

 

[jack bauer]

Thank you for that! This has been eating at me for days, to the point that I no longer wanted a new vehicle if rust and corrosion was built in. Appears you may have found the "fix".

Be mindful that this gasket is not included on the hood hinges.

 

[Bayrat]

Keep in mind, the "battery" effect created by the two dissimilar metals isn't always going to remain isolated between the hood/hinge area. The examples of door and hood edges indicate travel. https://galvanizeit.org/uploads/def...enter-center/galvanic-corrosion-explained.jpg

 

[Bayrat]

Again, my 2016 2 door Rubicon was driven for almost four years including a salt bath all winter and mud, rain etc in the remainder of the year. When I traded it in December of 2019, there was zero rust or corrosion spots on it. None!

So what changed? The obvious answer is the addition of a dissimilar metal. But, then, perhaps there is more to it, and we should look more deeply into it. Possibly a 12 volt current leak exists somewhere within the system which is causing this issue. We have so many circuits, computers, connections, batteries etc, all installed by human hands on a production line. Engineering could have screwed up and unwittingly created this problem by allowing a circuit to feed milliamps of current into the body fed by one of the batteries. I know, it's a long shot.

 

[Puckn19]

Update on my jeep. Bodyshop called and said Mopar is refusing to replace the hood unless they sand and take photos and let them decide. This bodyshop has already been down this road with Mopar and just as soon as they sand and take photos they will tell them to just repair. This puts the dealership in a spot where they must now repair the hood even when they know the issue is going to come back.. When it comes back, Mopar is going to tell the dealership its on you because it was your repair work. Their master body repair tech is telling them it cannot be repaired because of the location of the corrosion. Mopar won't listen to the professional. Like I have said, this dealership has experienced this with Mopar over and over again.

This is exactly why a lot of dealerships don't want to deal with this issue. Mopar is really making it difficult to do job correctly. Either way ,I am having that hood replaced even if I have to pay for it myself which is probably what Mopar is also banking on. We will see what happens after I call them. Just when I thought everything was good to go.

 

[Jebb]

What I am seeing in the photos - and on our own 2018 Wrangler JL - looks like galvanic corrosion.

I believe the cause of this corrosion may be due to step(s) skipped in the manufacturing process.

When aluminum is machined (holes drilled for the door hinges, etc.) the steel cutting tools leave microscopic bits of iron on the surface of the aluminum. If not removed those bits of iron can create corrosion with the surrounding aluminum. Paint and primer will not stop this as it occurs UNDER the paint and primer (as we see in these photos). A gasket between the door and hinge may not stop this either as the problem is in the surface of the door panel itself.

Machined aluminum parts are typically cleaned with an acid bath called "pickling" which removes any iron particles from the surface. A "passivation" process is then typically applied to prevent corrosion before finally being primed and painted.

Since FCA previously made these door and hood panels out of steel they may have skipped the pickling and passivation steps (either to save cost or inadvertently) as those steps are typically not required with steel parts.

If this is the cause of the corrosion then FCA has a really big problem. Fixing it properly requires stripping the paint and primer down to bare metal; cleaning with acid, then washing, priming and repainting. That is a HUGE job that would have to be done on millions of Jeeps.

So, they will likely fight us on it while providing temporary paint repairs to get us outside the warranty period while never fixing the cause.

This appears to be a manufacturing flaw that could become a safety issue since it involves the door/hood hinge attach points. Suggest everyone having this issue report it to https://www.nhtsa.gov/report-a-safety-problem#index

Since our beloved Jeeps appear to be rotting away prematurely due to flaws in the manufacturing process I suggest a class action be considered. One example https://thelemonfirm.com/2021/12/14/jeep-lawsuit-jeep-wrangler-corrosion-warranty-a-sham/

 

[Whisky19]

What I am seeing in the photos - and on our own 2018 Wrangler JL - looks like galvanic corrosion.

I believe the cause of this corrosion may be due to step(s) skipped in the manufacturing process.

When aluminum is machined (holes drilled for the door hinges, etc.) the steel cutting tools leave microscopic bits of iron on the surface of the aluminum. If not removed those bits of iron can create corrosion with the surrounding aluminum. Paint and primer will not stop this as it occurs UNDER the paint and primer (as we see in these photos). A gasket between the door and hinge may not stop this either as the problem is in the surface of the door panel itself.

Machined aluminum parts are typically cleaned with an acid bath called "pickling" which removes any iron particles from the surface. A "passivation" process is then typically applied to prevent corrosion before finally being primed and painted.

Since FCA previously made these door and hood panels out of steel they may have skipped the pickling and passivation steps (either to save cost or inadvertently) as those steps are typically not required with steel parts.

If this is the cause of the corrosion then FCA has a really big problem. Fixing it properly requires stripping the paint and primer down to bare metal; cleaning with acid, then washing, priming and repainting. That is a HUGE job that would have to be done on millions of Jeeps.

So, they will likely fight us on it while providing temporary paint repairs to get us outside the warranty period while never fixing the cause.

This appears to be a manufacturing flaw that could become a safety issue since it involves the door/hood hinge attach points. Suggest everyone having this issue report it to https://www.nhtsa.gov/report-a-safety-problem#index

Since our beloved Jeeps appear to be rotting away prematurely due to flaws in the manufacturing process I suggest a class action be considered. One example https://thelemonfirm.com/2021/12/14/jeep-lawsuit-jeep-wrangler-corrosion-warranty-a-sham/

It may very well come to this. I’m actually torn on turning in my jeep. It’s a 2020 Rubi 2 dr in Bikini Pearl with 27k miles on it. Any dealership would love to take this in. Makes me sad to even think this way.

 

[Map08008]

I have this issue on all 4 doors hinges, door panels and hood badd.. my tailgate however is fine so far… Recently I installed a tailgate reinforcement bracket and it uses new steel hardware… I was told our oem steel hingr bolts were coated in hopes to prevent galvanic corrosion... Clearly it doesn’t work, but did I now just endanger my not yet effected tailgate?

 

[Moose568]

Just trying to get this straight. The 2021 has aluminum doors and aluminum hinges with steel bolts correct??

 

[Bayrat]

Just trying to get this straight. The 2021 has aluminum doors and aluminum hinges with steel bolts correct??

I believe that would be aluminum doors and steel hinges and bolts. Someone mentioned the hood also, but I do not know whether that is aluminum, however, the same corrosion issue exists there.

 

[Bayrat]

I happened to stop at a dealer today whom had several Wranglers on the lot. The hinges are not backed by a gasket, as near as I could tell. Here is a picture of a white Gladiator hinge. Visually, I could look behind the hinge a bit and saw nothing but bar metal, no gasket. The camera did not capture that well.

 

[jack bauer]

I happened to stop at a dealer today whom had several Wranglers on the lot. The hinges are not backed by a gasket, as near as I could tell. Here is a picture of a white Gladiator hinge. Visually, I could look behind the hinge a bit and saw nothing but bar metal, no gasket. The camera did not capture that well.

I can tell you is mine is. 22 JL Rubicon.

 

[Bayrat]

I hope you are correct, I really don't want this issue again.

 

[jack bauer]

I hope you are correct, I really don't want this issue again.

There is no saying the gasket on the door hinge is nothing more than a stop gap to slow the issue to push it past warranty period. Also, as I stated prior, there is no gasket on the hood hinges.
Not trying to come off negative, just honest.

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