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Front Grill and Rear Silver Hatch Handle Cover Oxidation
All
I have a Black 07 Eddie Bauer (with silver albeit plastic front grill and rear hatch handle cover, standard fare on EBs ). I noticed today what can only be described as looking like some form of oxidation on these. I washed the truck twice to try and remove it and even took a more abrasive approach on the front grill but cannot remove these discolored spots. It's not stuff stuck to it as it is smooth to the surface but more like something has started to discolor (want of a better description) these areas. I also noticed that the Expedition name on the rear hatch is starting to lose its black inner paint.
Anyone else experienced these things ?
I only brought the truck last June and personally think this should be covered but did not know if warranty would tackle these or not.
As I am in Colorado I wonder if some of this has been caused by mag chloride during the snowier months but again with a truck that is barely 10 months old and still only has 6k miles on it this does not seem right. Could this be the same crap that is affecting the 20" rims with the chrome clad ?
I had my front "chromed" grill replaced under warrenty after about 6 months & 10K miles. It was forming rust stains on the undersides of the slats. I had only been in rane a few times and never snow/salt.
Magnesium Chloride is really aggressive material, corroding commercial trucks significantly faster than other ice melting materials. The industry has a big problem with it and the states know it, but still use it because it is best under really cold temperatures.
What you may be seeing is the "chrome" corroding. It is really not chrome, but aluminum that is placed on the plastic grille and other plastic parts. Typically, there is a coating on the aluminum. When aluminum corrodes to aluminum oxide, it turn clear, because aluminum oxide is clear. The same thing happens to the insides of sealed beam headlamps when they get a stone hit. After a short while, the shiny aluminization apparentily disapears and you can see right through the headlamp. Again, that is because aluminum oxide is clear. It is still there on the headlamp reflector, its just not shiny.
My grill had a difinite rust colored spots. If there was also aluminum oxide, I didn't notice it. From my experience, aluminum oxide is like a white powder, not clear.
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