Buying used JL - Need your help

[mwilk012]

My 2018 has zero bubbles and several rock chips. I would accept zero without a serious discount from the price of a new one.

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[JL MADDOG]

If the seller won't fix the issue as a condition of the sale, then walk away. Be very picky about rust and corrosion as it will only get worse.

Keep looking for one that doesn't have the rust issue. Some Wranglers have it, some don't.

Good luck!

 

[JeeperKeeper]

Hi all,

I was hoping my first post would be a photo of me with a 2018 JL Sahara I went to buy today. Unfortunately, I left the dealer and I'm now here asking you all for advice. I apologize in advance for this post likely being in the wrong spot...if necessary direct me to where I should put it.

I had never seen the Sahara but pictures looked great and it checked every box for what I wanted in a jeep at this time. Went and drove it and fell in love. However, I did walk it in great detail and found some (what I consider decent size) paint bubbling at the 7/8 door hinges. The only reason I looked at the hinges is because I know they are a place rust can easily happen on the Wrangler. The sales manager said they can contact Chrysler to see if it would be considered warranty issue. He kinda brushed it off as a "wrangler" thing...I'm not so sold that this is normal. I said I'm not buying till I hear back. Should I stick with this vehicle or walk away and find one that doesn't have this issue. I saw a paint bubbling thread but it was 129 pages and didn't have time to check it out yet. Is this a 2018 issue? A normal wrangler issue? How long till this turns into rust? I am surprised a vehicle that is only a 2018 could already be getting ready to rust.

Pictures are posted below.:

There is an exremely high probability that most jeeps will have this problem as it has never been remedied by FCA I had it on a 2021 JL after 590 miles I no oone Niger own an FCA product my wife has a Cherokee but this is a well known issue on wranglers that they will not remedy. I dumped mine for a 4Runner. A 50k vehicle with known paint issues is problem.

 

[mwilk012]

There is an exremely high probability that most jeeps will have this problem as it has never been remedied by FCA I had it on a 2021 JL after 590 miles I no oone Niger own an FCA product my wife has a Cherokee but this is a well known issue on wranglers that they will not remedy. I dumped mine for a 4Runner. A 50k vehicle with known paint issues is problem.

Why are you on this forum?

 

[Karnak]

I have a 2019 with 95000 km on it and has seen salt every winter (rust belt living here). No bubbling anywhere that I can see. So its hit or miss, some have it, some don't, possibly depends on paint type too, not sure if the Pearl coats are subject to it as well as others etc

 

[Hogdreamer]

I dumped mine for a 4Runner.

Sure hope your 4Runner is better than my brother in laws. Don't know what it is about Toyota brakes but his are terrible. If they had holes in the floor board so you could stop like Fred Flintstone, I think it would help.

He owned a Camry before the 4Runner and those brakes were beyond bad too. It has to be some sort of design flaw on all their models, I'm guessing.

Every time I had to come to a stop with either vehicle I felt like the brakes were not going to do the job they were supposed to do. Nerve racking to say the least.

 

[Xspurt]

That paint issue is that common? It looks like somebody did a really shoddy paint job over rusty areas. Yikes.

 

[fat_head]

That paint issue is that common? It looks like somebody did a really shoddy paint job over rusty areas. Yikes.

To my untrained eye, and monitoring the "Problems" forum daily, I'd call the bubbling hinge paint the second most common problem behind the "wandering steering" problem.

 

[Old Dogger]

My 2018 JLR does not have that issue.

 

[Steemax]

I have no experience with bubbling paint so I might be wrong but is it just me or does that look like the dealer tried to cake on touch up paint to an already rusted/damaged surface. If anyone has been to carmax knows what I'm talking about. They are guilty of doing this on every scratched surface and it looks terrible like OP's pictures.

 

[mwilk012]

I have no experience with bubbling paint so I might be wrong but is it just me or does that look like the dealer tried to cake on touch up paint to an already rusted/damaged surface. If anyone has been to carmax knows what I'm talking about. They are guilty of doing this on every scratched surface and it looks terrible like OP's pictures.

Nah this is what the hinges have been doing on loads of aluminum body panels. Steel fasteners, aluminum panel, improper surface preparation. Add an electrolytic solution and you get galvanic corrosion.

 

[Steemax]

Nah this is what the hinges have been doing on loads of aluminum body panels. Steel fasteners, aluminum panel, improper surface preparation. Add an electrolytic solution and you get galvanic corrosion.

Interesting.. has anything ever been ID'd as a good preventative or it's just roll the dice.

 

[Carolina Jeeper]

That's enough for me to walk away from it. It's your decision, but it's pegging my walk away meter.

It's actually the aluminum corroding and not actually rust. The problem is a metal contamination issue during the manufacturing process. The corrosion is probably in more places you have not looked yet.

 

[Carolina Jeeper]

I have no experience with bubbling paint so I might be wrong but is it just me or does that look like the dealer tried to cake on touch up paint to an already rusted/damaged surface. If anyone has been to carmax knows what I'm talking about. They are guilty of doing this on every scratched surface and it looks terrible like OP's pictures.

No, it hasn't been touched up. It's the factory paint with corrosion growing underneath the paint. This has occurred on three hinges, the hood edge and a door frame on my 2019. The bubbles all look like this.

 

[JeeperKeeper]

Why are you on this forum?

The wife has a Cherokee and dad has a Jk my shall had a shot ton of problems is that ok with you?

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