Both rear wheel wells rusted through and looks terrible. I was told by the dealer it would cost $2000 to fix both sides. What a joke, Dodge needs to step up and do a recall! Won't buy another Dodge truck!
Okay...now that I got the piss poor fuel system rant out of my system. I have the same issue with the frame....and the rear paint bubbling at the areas above the rear wheels as many others. I pay over $36,000 for a vehicle its should not rust after 11 years of being garage kept. I even saw other dodges doing this famous rust show. I even cleaned and painted the back side to prevent this. Funny thing was last year I was asked how my truck looked so good and wasn't rusting above the back wheels. I responded with, 'cause I took preventative measures'....lol. That didn't do squat. This rusted somehow from the inside. Now I have a crappy looking dodge that is running rough and rusting out and even worse I am more afraid to buy a similar new dodge comparable to mine for the asking price of 42,000 to 47,000 dollars. I also am not the type to dump my truck in fear that someone less capable or financially fit would get caught up in the same issues. So dodge lets see...fuel problems...rust problems...now the front ball joints that don't have grease ports.
Had dealership look at truck, was told it was the metal they used on that year and nothing they can do about it. I cannot believe a company like dodge would not take care of this. Now I cannot get truck inspected. I shouldn't have to pay for a new truck bed and rear bumper. If dodge doesn't recall this, I will never buy another dodge, neither will anyone else I know. Can send it to me and will have my own mechanic put it on. Come on dodge do the right thing ...
On both sides of the rear fender wells are rusting out. I thank this is a poor design by dodge due to seeing a lot of the same models dodge trucks with the same problem. At the cost of these trucks I thank dodge should step up and correct there mistake .
you would think for the money you spend $$$$ on a new truck it should last a lot longer inside and out! I take good care all my cars and truck. Do I need to buy a Ford, GMC ect.. Dodge fix your Trucks! so when we trade them in we keep coming back.
- Tim B.,
Mt.Royal, NJ, US
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I bought this truck April 4th 2011 I have had sides of box repaired & repainted 3 times now. Costing myself $1600 the first time, then in 2013 same problem again. Sides of box and mostly above wheel welds rusted out once again. Costing me another $1200. Then again this year a month ago June 21st 2015 paid another $850 to have repaired again, and they continue to rust out. Dodge's have bad name for this happening no matter the year. I will never buy another Dodge!!!
Truck has 74,000 as of date. I have my truck serviced as needed, changed shocks, steering cooler, radiator and hoses, thermostat , service transmission. I wash and wax it frequently, including washing the under carriage. I could understand the rear bumper corners rotting out due to cheap metal, but no reason there should be rust starting above rear wheels if dodge built a truck as good as they state. After 2 Dodges, will be changing to a Ford or Toyota. Shame, have always loved a Mopar.
Had a 96 Dodge before this one, that's why I bought this truck, never again!!! This truck is nothing compared to that truck and when the rust started, I was done. I WILL buy a Toyota Tundra after I get rid of this thing. The motor runs great, no transmission problems, then the body starts to let go. Now the driver's door is getting rusty on the bottom, I give up.
The American truck company's should take a good look at what Toyota is doing.
I noticed the paint bubbling up over the rear wheel wells over a year ago. The paint finally started flaking off. I took it to a local body shop and had both sides repaired. The repairs lasted a little over a year and now the problem is showing up again.
The new owners of the body shop called my up after they had cut into outer metal layer and told me I needed to come and look at all the rust. The inside wall had completely rusted thru in several places. They showed me holes that Dodge had put in the wheel well where water and dirt were suppose to drain. Apparently, they allow more dirt and water into the wheel well than they let out. The body repairman said it was in to poor of a condition to repair. They said they could patch it but it would probably be doing the same thing in six months or less.
This appears to be a design problem and Dodge should be held responsible for repairs. My truck has never been driven in areas where salt water was present. Not much need for that in SE Oklahoma. This is all damage from water and dirt. My wife has the same truck in 2-wheel driver instead of 4-wheel drive and we noticed recently that her truck in starting to show paint blisters above the rear wheel wells. Coincidence? I don't think so. Design flaw? Definitely!
This is the second Dodge truck that I have where this problem has occurred. It started on my 4-wheel drive Dodge over a year ago. I has just started on this truck. The paint blistering up over the rear wheels. Since I have 2 of these trucks and the problem has occurred on both of them, I'm thinking that this is not an isolated incident. This is apparently a design flaw that Dodge should take care of!
I'm the original owner of my 2004 Dodge Ram 1500. Within the past year I've noticed a major rust problem occurring on the crest of my rear (truck bed) fenders centered right above the tire. This problem exists on both right and left side and started simultaneously. There are several "bubbling" spots of rust that appear to rise from the surface of the metal that grow to the size of about a quarter (25 cent piece). Then they kind of crack and liquid rust protrudes from the center of the crack. I am extremely troubled and angry about this problem.
I met a gentleman in the parking lot of the local mall recently who has a 2003 Dodge Ram 1500 with the same identical problem. He said he has ran into several other Dodge Ram owners with 2002 to 2004 model trucks that also have rust in the same spot on their trucks. I brought it to the attention of my dealer about 3 months ago who acknowledged it was probably a factory defect but who also was quick to inform me that my warranty has expired. To me a class action type suit is clearly in order. I would definitely welcome any input from anyone on how to fix this problem. I unequivocally believe that Chrysler (Dodge) is fully responsible.
I always wash under my truck, as well as the top. I was proud of my Dodge Ram until the rear fender wells started rusting out. Not a speck of rust on the rest of the truck.
I cut the sheet metal out after tracing a pattern so I could make a form later. After removing the rusted sheet metal this is what I found. Dodge had put 4 or more drain holes in the inner fender well, vertically, right above the tire. These are hard if not impossible to reach to flush out salt and dirt and stuff for one thing and also were positioned to be easily splashed by the tires filling them with road water, salt, dust etc. This was definitely engineering stupidity. The other thing they did was between the outer skin and inner panel they put a quarter inch round caulking of some sort that went around the fender well,and looped around the drain holes to keep dust dirt salt water out of the fender well. Only problem is that it would have needed 3/8 to half inch thick caulking to seal the outer panel. The end result was that fine dust, salt, etc. would get past the caulk and be trapped under it where you couldn't wash it out at all. Very poor design.
Dodge should recall this as it was designed to fail. I have taken videos and pics of this but they are still on my cell phone. I will try to post them later.
My dodge ram 1500 is rusting out over the wheel well. After talking with a couple of body shops, I found out what is causing the rustout. There is foam behind the exterior body panel that gets wet or damp and causes the vehicle to rust from the inside out. The way a body shop fixes the problem is by cuting the exterior of the box, removing the foam, sand blasting inside where the foam was, spraying the foam area with paint/under coating, welding or clueing a new patch panel in place, slapping some duraglass/bondo, and painting. Cost of this couls be $600 to $800 per side.
The problem would not exist if Dodge would have done a better job at designing this area of the truck. This is a failed design by Dodge, So I believe dodge should fix.
A unhappy customer will not return to by your product, a happy one will return. Dodge should man up to there mistakes and fix the problem.
I have always washed my truck, taken care of it, only for it to start rusting. Both fender wells and the tailgate are rusting horribly. dodge should definitely fix this.
The problem did not just exist in the northern states. All beds are affected by the poor design and therefore there are no clean beds out there for sale. I can find every other manufacture and model of truck bed for the past 5 decades but I cant find a clean 2003-2009 truck bed that won't have the same problem in 2years. Fix the problem or hire me to show you how to build a bed that won't trap road grime in between the bed sides.
well i bought my 2004 dodge ram 1500 5.7 quad cab black on black leather hemi sport package,not to mention a $950 tunneu cover that i put on the next day after i picked up off the lot. So you can imagine my aggravation when i have bubbles rotting thru the paint on my wheel wheels.this is a truck that is so beautiful that i get compliments everywhere i go, now i hear about my rotted wheel wells? it is annoying. my cover obviously kept it from rusting sooner. 67000 miles, dodge is a joke without a doubt everything they make has flaws.things they didn't think about.I'm a contractor and i have a perfect rep because i stand behind my work and products. way to go dodge!!!!! you suck there heater doors get stuck and i better not forget the radio taking in my cd player and not giving back my new cd,having it replace and it happening again and then it not covered for the third time cuz warranty out of date. gm toyota or a ford to all hard working people don't buy mopar.........it means need more parts. dodge recall our sh*t bi#ches.
A brand new 2004 dodge ram rusting out at 48000 miles. I had the truck undercoated and rust protected. I even bought the rear wheel well covers. Never buying a dodge anything ever again .
I didn't know till recently I should have complained,, I was sorta busy at the time we noticed it as my husband was going thru cancer treatment,, we discovered the punch holes in the fender well had never been opened so they could drain was the reason for the rusting ??,,, We have always driven Dodge Trucks hubby's is a 85 with almost 300,000 on it still original engine going strong. Back to my truck it's always garaged I love my truck but trade -in value for the rusted fenders really ruins that. Had hubby not been sick at the time we noticed we would have done more sooner now it's to late and Dodge does not back this problem. Although it was their fault the holes where not opened at time of manufacture. Oh well, just wanted to say ME TOO!!
My 2004 1500 ram quad cab has been taken care of sense i bought it new,it only has 20800 miles on it currently and the rear fender wells are rusting and bubbling.This truck isn't used much in bad weather its cleaned and waxed often, its a shame dodge doesn't care about there customers.I don't think I would buy another dodge again.I looked for recalls but didn't find any.If anybody knows of them please post them,I'm going to call dodge and complain.
well not to sure where to start!!!,i bought this truck from a dealer in my town.
very clean,for the year (not hardly any rust)small stone chips nothing much)
now its been under coated again!! just to be sure and bammm out comes the little bubbles over the back wheels, what the hell this is ( not a beater).very clean truck.dodge should be very embarrassed of such sh*t .For such A great truck.
does any body ever think that for almost 15000$ and that's not for a new truck, it would not rust all the hell like this(i mean do we have to go back to (chev-ford)....!!!!
and man we all know about the great bodies of those trucks HAHAHA .well i hope dodge just wakes up before its too late!!!
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
Both rear wheel wells rusted through and looks terrible. I was told by the dealer it would cost $2000 to fix both sides. What a joke, Dodge needs to step up and do a recall! Won't buy another Dodge truck!
- millerta1958, Milford, OH, US