Need advice

[Schoo]

Hey folks I need a bit of encouragement from you experts. I recently bought a 2019 Rubicon JLU in Bikini Blue. I had it shipped to Florida from a Carmax in Virginia. After a few long days my Jeep finally makes it to Gainesville and an appointment is made to go see it. The color is stunning and it is in really good condition at 85k miles. So my wife and I take it for a test ride and bring it back to the Carmax delivery area and give it a good look over. I told the sales guy I wished it was light out so I could see the paint and body better. The earliest appointment they had was already after dark so we went with it. I noticed some paint bubbling on the trailing lower corner of the front passenger door. I told the sales guy and he informs me that I have 30 days to bring it back for any reason whatsoever. The only catch is I must bring it back within 30 days and put no more than 1500 miles on it. After loving the 60 mile jaunt to the house I start to take mental ownership and plan my tires, lift, winch and so on. The next morning I look at the paint more in the outdoor sunshine and I find many more places where the paint is bubbling. Found three places on the hood, the aforementioned passenger door, all the hinges and doors near the hinges, etc. If I keep this thing it will be my seventh Jeep owned over the years (not including a Grand Cherokee) starting with Jeep CJ's back in 1977. Yeah I'm old... I'm really committed to Jeeps and really love the new JL's but I'm unsure if I want to deal with this problem. I currently own a 2007 JKU Sahara that is fairly well tricked out to include lift, tires, snorkel, winch, blah, blah, blah. It's been a great Jeep but at 210k miles it is time to buy something newer and more reliable even though its is not something I depend on as a daily driver. I've read about the Jeep paint issues and I decided to take my machine to the local (sorta) Jeep dealer. He tells me on the phone to stop in and let him take a look. They will take pics and submit them to FCA and they will decide what to do. So I do as he says and the service manager follows me out to the lot and looks at the vehicle then tells me yeah, you got some paint issues. So I ask will Jeep take care of this? He asks me how many miles it has and I tell him 85K. Then he proceeds to tell me that it is out of his hands at 60k as a service manager. Mind you this is the same guy that I talked to on the phone before I drove 30 miles for him to look at it! WTF?
My questions to you are as follows:

Do I take the Jeep back to Carmax and start my search over again? Will I even find another Jeep that doesn't have this problem? Mind you my stuff certainly doesn't have to be perfect. I'm a firm believer in "Real Jeeps Wear Scratches" but I know this corrosion thing is just going to worsen over time.

Will the salty air where I live speed up the paint and body degradation? My chemistry teacher wifey certainly thinks so.

Do I take this one back to Carmax and look for a JK instead? I know the hinges are problematic on those but not at the same level as the JL's.

Are there words to use or procedures to follow to get Jeep to help me with this? I'm even willing to overlook some of the smaller places on the vehicle if they would fix the big ones. What are you guy's experiences with this. How quickly will this progress?

Should I just get over it and love this Jeep as I have all the previous ones? I'm really committed to the Jeep marque but this is not an acceptable thing for customers to have to deal with on vehicles this new.

Please tell me your thoughts, experience and advice on this issue. I need a nudge or some good advice I think.
Thanks for reading this ridiculously long post!

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[swflfireguy]

I think with a used JL at 85K and 4+ years old, this is what you're going to face on any used JL. That said, my '19 JLU with 102K has the same bubbles, I really just ignore it. short of re-painting the entire vehicle, it's something that I'll live with. I think there's a technical term, it's not really rust, since the doors are aluminum and the hood also ( maybe it's fiberglass??), the only steel is the tub ( I believe).
Enjoy your new-to-you JL !

 

[Koolkarguy]

Hey folks I need a bit of encouragement from you experts. I recently bought a 2019 Rubicon JLU in Bikini Blue. I had it shipped to Florida from a Carmax in Virginia. After a few long days my Jeep finally makes it to Gainesville and an appointment is made to go see it. The color is stunning and it is in really good condition at 85k miles. So my wife and I take it for a test ride and bring it back to the Carmax delivery area and give it a good look over. I told the sales guy I wished it was light out so I could see the paint and body better. The earliest appointment they had was already after dark so we went with it. I noticed some paint bubbling on the trailing lower corner of the front passenger door. I told the sales guy and he informs me that I have 30 days to bring it back for any reason whatsoever. The only catch is I must bring it back within 30 days and put no more than 1500 miles on it. After loving the 60 mile jaunt to the house I start to take mental ownership and plan my tires, lift, winch and so on. The next morning I look at the paint more in the outdoor sunshine and I find many more places where the paint is bubbling. Found three places on the hood, the aforementioned passenger door, all the hinges and doors near the hinges, etc. If I keep this thing it will be my seventh Jeep owned over the years (not including a Grand Cherokee) starting with Jeep CJ's back in 1977. Yeah I'm old... I'm really committed to Jeeps and really love the new JL's but I'm unsure if I want to deal with this problem. I currently own a 2007 JKU Sahara that is fairly well tricked out to include lift, tires, snorkel, winch, blah, blah, blah. It's been a great Jeep but at 210k miles it is time to buy something newer and more reliable even though its is not something I depend on as a daily driver. I've read about the Jeep paint issues and I decided to take my machine to the local (sorta) Jeep dealer. He tells me on the phone to stop in and let him take a look. They will take pics and submit them to FCA and they will decide what to do. So I do as he says and the service manager follows me out to the lot and looks at the vehicle then tells me yeah, you got some paint issues. So I ask will Jeep take care of this? He asks me how many miles it has and I tell him 85K. Then he proceeds to tell me that it is out of his hands at 60k as a service manager. Mind you this is the same guy that I talked to on the phone before I drove 30 miles for him to look at it! WTF?
My questions to you are as follows:

Do I take the Jeep back to Carmax and start my search over again? Will I even find another Jeep that doesn't have this problem? Mind you my stuff certainly doesn't have to be perfect. I'm a firm believer in "Real Jeeps Wear Scratches" but I know this corrosion thing is just going to worsen over time.

Will the salty air where I live speed up the paint and body degradation? My chemistry teacher wifey certainly thinks so.

Do I take this one back to Carmax and look for a JK instead? I know the hinges are problematic on those but not at the same level as the JL's.

Are there words to use or procedures to follow to get Jeep to help me with this? I'm even willing to overlook some of the smaller places on the vehicle if they would fix the big ones. What are you guy's experiences with this. How quickly will this progress?

Should I just get over it and love this Jeep as I have all the previous ones? I'm really committed to the Jeep marque but this is not an acceptable thing for customers to have to deal with on vehicles this new.

Please tell me your thoughts, experience and advice on this issue. I need a nudge or some good advice I think.
Thanks for reading this ridiculously long post!

I'd call Jeep and atkeast get there take on the situation? If that doesn't work take it back to carmax see if there willing to help out with some repair? Not all Jl's have this issue my daughter 19 Rubicon has none and 126k miles my wife's 20 has none only 38k miles but since we got her 22 Tuscadero Jlurd the 20 has sat outdoors at the cabin. Good luck

 

[The Last Cowboy]

Yeah, age and miles are against you on this one. The cost to repair this out of pocket will likely be higher than you want to spend.

Take it back and find a Wrangler out of the Southwest. I never see this problem in my part of Texas. Any of them that have been driven where the roads are salted or chemically treated for snow will likely develop this issue.

 

[hoch]

Take it back to Carmax. I’d never want to deal with paint issues, especially when it’ll be coming out of your own pocket.

I have a 2018 and zero paint issues. Look for one from the southwest where winters are mild and no salted roads. Get a carfax and make sure it hasn’t spent time in the rust belt. You’ll find one. Good luck with the search.

 

[tomk62]

What's not entirely clear to me is if this is still under warranty. If not, I'm not sure there's much point in going through the dealer or FCA/Stellantis on this?

So you decision comes down to if you have to have this Jeep, and if it's "yes" are you willing to accept the bubbles or at some point take some remediation steps on your own.

If "no", then return it to CarMax - I suspect you'll find another you'll be even happier with.

 

[OrneryBear]

I think with a used JL at 85K and 4+ years old, this is what you're going to face on any used JL. That said, my '19 JLU with 102K has the same bubbles, I really just ignore it. short of re-painting the entire vehicle, it's something that I'll live with. I think there's a technical term, it's not really rust, since the doors are aluminum and the hood also ( maybe it's fiberglass??), the only steel is the tub ( I believe).
Enjoy your new-to-you JL !

It's called galvanic corrosion due to dissimilar metals. Common theory is there is some sort of steel contamination during the construction process that is contaminating the surface of the aluminum before the coating/paint process.

The hood is aluminum not fiberglass.

 

[morph860]

I had paint bubbling on the hood of a 2015 Grand Cherokee that Jeep eventually fixed under warranty. It was a process and I had to visit several dealerships before finding one that would help. Vehicle was about 3.5 years old and had 40-45k miles on it at the time of the repair. I do remember them saying that it was good that I found them before 60k miles or else they wouldn't have been able to fix it under warranty.

 

[Stetson]

If you buy it it’s yours in the condition it is currently in. If the paint is bothering you, I would pass on it because you are essentially accepting it as part of the deal. You won’t be happy with it with the paint bubbling and Jeep is not going to do anything since you bought it used like that.

used vehicles have some degree of wear and tear and use, which is why a used vehicle is cheaper than a new one.

If you really like the seep and you are getting a good deal then maybe you live with the paint issues and if it bothers you or gets worse you can always take it to a body shop to be repaired.

Stetson

 

[The Last Cowboy]

As much as late model JLs are, I don't see any sense in buying one that's 6 years old with 85k miles. My guess is that you can buy one with far fewer miles for not much price difference.

I don't know what the one you are considering listed for, but here is a South Texas listing with only 22k miles. Caught my eye, probably because it's similar to my sister's.

https://houston.craigslist.org/ctd/d/houston-2019-jeep-wrangler-unlimited/7695761324.html

Here's one, with some mods. 42k miles

https://austin.craigslist.org/ctd/d/san-antonio-2021-jeep-wrangler/7697068603.html

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