I ran into a couple of friends this weekend at a horse event and both told me of their 2014's fenders rusting. Actual bubbles in the paint. One (60,000 miles) brought it into the dealer and was told if the rust was not completely through the warranty did not apply. He was so disgusted he traded his F350 in for a GMC and the other is not happy.
I have a 2016 Lariat that was stickered for $64,1280.00
Anyone else seeing any problems?

 

I suppose where you are, the highways have more salt than snow. It doesn't matter the brand, salt, water and steel equals rust. As long as the general public cries for more and more salt the problem will only get worse.

 

 

I'm in the process of rust mitigation on my '14 as it is white and any rust sticks out like a sore thumb and my '02 rusted out very badly. So far I've done the drivers side cab pinch weld and inner rocker panel area. I'm aiming to get the passenger side done before winter and then at some point I want to pull the box and clean the whole bottom of that off. The spots that kill me are on the doors at the back corner of the window frame area. How the heck does the paint just fall off of there and start rusting? That and underneath the front mud flap mounting area I have one big paint flake one each side.

 

Salt gets everywhere you have to wash all these areas with water to get all the salt out.
A small scratch will allow salt to eat through the paint and then through the body. I was in Iowa recently and you wouldn't believe the conditions of some of the trucks. Ford Chevy, Dodge made no difference buy a beater to drive in winter rust problem solved

 

You can't stop rust in CT. by washing the truck.
You have to have it sprayed with a rust inhibitor when it's new, and reapply yearly.

 

What is this 'rust' you speak of?

My '72 ford has no rust either. Suggest moving to desert.

 

Seems to me that if you just scrape away the bubbled paint it would be through rust. Would that meet the terms of the Ford warranty ??? By the time we see the blistering in the paint it's usually already through and has only the coat of paint holding things together.

Roger from NJ

 

If the rust is already bad enough to be visible on the wheel arches, then imagine how bad it is getting under the truck where you don't get to see. I would be oil spraying the bed cross members, the cab corners and rockers just for starters. Do it yearly and make that truck last a lot longer. Check in your area to see if there is a shop doing oil sprays, there are many shops now that have a more environmentally friendly oil spray they put on vehicles. And it does not build up the layer of grease that regular oil will do.

 

The reason I traded my 2009 F250 6.4 (bought new) in for a used 2017 F250 6.7 Lariat was because my roof rusted through where the seams are AND I live in California! No salt, no snow, almost no rain and the roof rusted through. Body shop wanted $10k to reskin the roof. I got rid of the truck instead (only had 77,000 miles on it) for the new aluminum body. Since then I have found out that this is a common problem and has been for the entire Super Duty steel body run. I first noticed a musty smell in the interior and when I started looking around, found the rust.

 

I spray all my vehicles annually with fluid film. My oldest is a 2013 and it is doing fine. No bubbles, no rust.

 

Which seams? Can you post a photo? Even if your personal truck is gone, can you find a steel bodied roof photo online and draw arrows on that photo pointing to the specific seam that you are referring to?

It's hard to interpret the word "seam", since it could mean so many things, including, but not limited to:

1. the sealant filled seams that are longitudinally oriented along the length of the cab on each side, that could be described as peripherally positioned "gutter" (not really a gutter though) channels outboard of the stamped ribs of the roof skin

2. the rear cab corner seams that are covered with an upside down L shaped plastic trim piece that is angularly oriented toward the rear window

3. the seam between the roof skin and the top of the windshield

4. the seams between the roof skin and the hat channel cross braces under the skin (I've seen rust form at these connection points, midfield on the roof skin)

Anyways, the examples could probably continue, but a picture would be worth a 1,000 words. Even if you drew a crude sketch on a napkin, or took a photo of your aluminum bodied roof with a post it note temporarily stuck on the corresponding area that you found rusted through in your older truck... anything like that would be helpful to better understand what area of the roof you found rusted through.

Also, where did you learn that the type of rust you found is a "common problem"?

Thanks!

 

There are two seams that connect the roof skin to the side stampings as described in your item #1 as a gutter. They are spot welded and then a seam sealer is added that looks like a plastic strip but is actually a strip of caulk with the exception of the corners, which is plastic insert. As the caulk ages and dries, water gets under the caulk and causes the seam to rust. The two body shops I got estimates from both said they see this with the entire generation of steel bodied Super Duties and, if I had discovered it before the metal perforated they would just strip the caulk, sand and prime, reapply the caulk and paint. Unfortunately I already had holes in the roof. My neighbor also has a 2009 very similar to mine, and we looked at his roof and it was rusting also. You can also find a lot of info on the problem looking at the Internet .

 

Now you guys got me thinking about my roof. It's fine now I'm sure but I will check it out when I get a chance. I'm almost thinking of doing a preventive maintenance job of covering the roof with a roll on bedliner like MonstaLiner to get while it's solid and protect the metal. My truck is a long term vehicle and I don't see moving to the desert or south anytime soon. x2 on the yearly oil treatment. I get Carwell Products as they spray inside the body panels as well and under the hood covering all wires, connectors and the batteries. .

 

Part of this roof rusting problem may be the sun in the southwest killing the caulking strip. I used to spend a lot of time with the truck working in the Mojave desert and additionally the truck lived outside its entire life. It is possible that the problem is actually worse outside of the rust belt as the caulk may not dry out, harden, and pull away as readily in a colder climate. Be that as it may, it seems to be a lousy way to put a roof together. The rest of the body was perfect. The underside even had all the factory paint on the frame and the underside of the cab. Wish I had taken some pictures before I sold the truck.