Bubbles in Paint at Door Hinges

[#1 for me]

I am glad you got it taken care of but I would bet that is not the last of premature corrosion on your Jeep. It would actually be small peanuts to fix the issue at the source rather than be repainting Jeeps and replacing body panels for years. I have read of a few instances where Jeep is replacing 4 doors and repainting. This will cost Jeep more in the long run, not to mention the bad press and disappointed customers.

I had my hardtop repainted after delivery due to poor factory coverage (could see white fiberglass around Windows and hinges), and now I have bubbling on 3 doors. 19 with 18k and washed regularly.

Any idea when your bubbling started ?

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[TheEddie]

Any idea when your bubbling started ?

First noticed at 8 months, may have started sooner.

 

[#1 for me]

First noticed at 8 months, may have started sooner.

Okay , I have a 19 also I check for blister everyday haven't found any as of yet .

 

[sandor.g]

Okay , I have a 19 also I check for blister everyday haven't found any as of yet .

I have a 2019, I noticed it first when it was 16 months old. I thought it was only a paint defect.

 

[#1 for me]

I have a 2019, I noticed it first when it was 16 months old. I thought it was only a paint defect.

As of yesterday I've had mine 2yrs so far so good !

 

[BRuby]

I am glad you got it taken care of but I would bet that is not the last of premature corrosion on your Jeep. It would actually be small peanuts to fix the issue at the source rather than be repainting Jeeps and replacing body panels for years. I have read of a few instances where Jeep is replacing 4 doors and repainting. This will cost Jeep more in the long run, not to mention the bad press and disappointed customers.

I had my hardtop repainted after delivery due to poor factory coverage (could see white fiberglass around Windows and hinges), and now I have bubbling on 3 doors. 19 with 18k and washed regularly.

Yeah not really liking the odds.

But no doubt the bean counters at FCA have looked at their bottom line and concluded the overall cost to repair under warranty is less than changing the entire production line. Just calculate how many units built x cost to epoxy prime vs total paid out warranty cost + lost goodwill/reputation etc.

If it were not peanuts to FCA then they would have remedied this BS corrosion issue long ago. There looks to be 20 or so FCA vehicles listed in their TSB!

Nonetheless all we can do is hope. Pro is that they actually epoxied both hinges vs only one affected. Repainted the entire hood vs area blend. Followed alum clean room protocols. In the process removed all the existing swirl micro scratches. Body shop owner said IHO the end product was better than original now. We will see. Plus an added bonus is they will warranty their work for life.

 

[EvanH84]

I am still waiting to get mine back. I took it in on December 1st and I am supposed to get it back on Monday. It has spent over a month getting repainted twice in the last year.

 

[Mikepa]

Sadly I must now add my rig to this list. Granite Chrystal JLUR w/ 10/18 mfg date, 22K miles, wheeled regularly this year in New England woods, driven daily, garaged every night, power washed (not soap washed) after wheeling and snow/rain just to keep my eyes on issues like this.

I hope I caught it early as only two door hinges are showing signs of bubbling. And even though it's still under warranty, I have little to no interest in having my dealer repaint the doors as this does not solve the problem. Instead, I am planning to remove the hinges on each door [and possible the hood] to clean up the affected door/hinge and apply some form of film/coating sandwich between the dissimilar metals.

Need to research galvanic corrosion a bit further. Bummer.

 

[Mike S.]

Update: After two weeks in the shop, my black 2019 JLUR was returned to me. All four doors were replaced and painted, along with the hood and swing gate. The quality of the work from the dealer's body shop was pretty good - the colors match pretty well. However, it does look like one of the new doors is starting again. Perhaps they didn't inspect the new doors and they had already started corroding? Also, i now hear a wind/whistling sound when i get over 40 mph. I am really unhappy with the whole situation. Any idea why new doors are creating a whistling sound?

 

[FlatSixShooter]

Update: After two weeks in the shop, my black 2019 JLUR was returned to me. All four doors were replaced and painted, along with the hood and swing gate. The quality of the work from the dealer's body shop was pretty good - the colors match pretty well. However, it does look like one of the new doors is starting again. Perhaps they didn't inspect the new doors and they had already started corroding? Also, i now hear a wind/whistling sound when i get over 40 mph. I am really unhappy with the whole situation. Any idea why new doors are creating a whistling sound?

I’m traveling so my answer is going to be a bit brief here but you might look at the following two items.
One, if they fully repainted the doors and removed the rubber seals and weatherstripping around the doors, they may not have been reinstalled properly or perhaps some of the connection attachment nubs were damaged and the seals are not seated properly.

Two, You may have noticed on your vehicle, as was on my J.L. Sahara, What. jeep did around the front doors-multiple low density small pieces of foam glued to various parts of the door opening. They almost look like an afterthought but in fact, I think jeep was trying to reduce whistling and wind noise. This is one of the reasons why I don’t want to pull all my doors apart, for full repainting, only to have things never go back together quite right. Please forgive lack of punctuation and spelling, as I’m doing this on the fly. Thanks and good luck, I’ve got the same issues coming up myself .

 

[Windshieldfarmer]

Sadly I must now add my rig to this list. Granite Chrystal JLUR w/ 10/18 mfg date, 22K miles, wheeled regularly this year in New England woods, driven daily, garaged every night, power washed (not soap washed) after wheeling and snow/rain just to keep my eyes on issues like this.

I hope I caught it early as only two door hinges are showing signs of bubbling. And even though it's still under warranty, I have little to no interest in having my dealer repaint the doors as this does not solve the problem. Instead, I am planning to remove the hinges on each door [and possible the hood] to clean up the affected door/hinge and apply some form of film/coating sandwich between the dissimilar metals.

Need to research galvanic corrosion a bit further. Bummer.

That stinks big time. If/when this happens to me I will delay the fix as long as possible in hopes for a better long term solution. Yours is not bad enough to warrant a repair yet and I don’t think you can do anything to stop the spread either. Epoxy primer seems to be a possible solution on a repaint....but I am no expert....and neither is FCA apparently.

 

[#1 for me]

That stinks big time. If/when this happens to me I will delay the fix as long as possible in hopes for a better long term solution. Yours is not bad enough to warrant a repair yet and I don’t think you can do anything to stop the spread either. Epoxy primer seems to be a possible solution on a repaint....but I am no expert....and neither is FCA apparently.

It's the contamination under the paint that's causing the blistering . FCAU has a cleaning preparation process issue. It's not only Jeep it's on their cars and trucks also. FCAU has a TSB out on the affected vehicles . So my point is taking your hinges off and cleaning the surface is not going to stop the problem.

 

[Mikepa]

It's the contamination under the paint that's causing the blistering . FCAU has a cleaning preparation process issue. It's not only Jeep it's on their cars and trucks also. FCAU has a TSB out on the affected vehicles . So my point is taking your hinges off and cleaning the surface is not going to stop the problem.

Got it. Door skins and hinges are aluminum. Bolts are steel, connected to door inner steel structure. Guess we get to live with this for life of rig

 

[jet987]

I was looking at buying a new 2021 Willys 4-door, would be my first Jeep, but after reading 46 pages of this thread, I hesitate to go forward with the purchase. I live in Chicago where salt is used on roads all winter, I do have a garage. I take care of my cars and have never had any paint bubble or corrosion issues after several years of owning each. Any idea what percentage of JLs have paint bubbles at door hinges and hoods? Or is it pretty much inevitable at only 1-2 years old?

 

[TheEddie]

I was looking at buying a new 2021 Willys 4-door, would be my first Jeep, but after reading 46 pages of this thread, I hesitate to go forward with the purchase. I live in Chicago where salt is used on roads all winter, I do have a garage. I take care of my cars and have never had any paint bubble or corrosion issues after several years of owning each. Any idea what percentage of JLs have paint bubbles at door hinges and hoods? Or is it pretty much inevitable at only 1-2 years old?

I'd say inevitable unless you get extremely lucky. I'm near Chicago and had bubbling pop up on my 19 after 1 winter, less than a year old, garaged every day and washed every other week, more often in winter.

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