I have an '03 and when I was washing her the other day, I noticed rust forming on the inside very bottom of the door? I remeber this happening on my '95, but my car is only 3 years old. WTF? Anyone know if this would be covered under warranty?

Warranty wont do anything for it. I live in NY and I had this happen 2 years after I bought it. I have taken the doors of once already and sanded it down primed it and painted it. Im actually about to do it again it happens with all the salt up north. Every time the car gets wet i usually take a towel and wipe under the doors. It helps alot. The reason the warranty wont work is they say it has to rust through the panel. I hope this helps
Dan

This is happening on my 98 also.




I was happy when I heard my car ran 10s. Then I found out that was 0-60.

yea same problem on my 99 has me mad

My 02 had the doors rust through and the rocker panels almost falling off, cause of rust.. 2 years after I bought the car (in 04 this happened).. POS!!! It's cavalier, it's going to rust.




Red 2005 Saturn Ion-3 Coupe
Burgundy 2006 Saturn Ion - My winter beater

Happening on my Z and I just got a new door put on after a lady hit my car... 3 months and boom rusting....



My Cav
I give up...
i'm buying a VW those people love trees, so they should love eachother too... "Andy"

ya just really sucks with vertical doors its a lil noticable

Yeah no crap...I have the same problem on my 01 Z. But it hasn't spread that much. I just make sure that everytime it rains, I wipe the door panel down dry.

ShiftyCav wrote:thats probably the dumbest thing i have ever heard. you should take that serpentine belt and wrap it around your neck.

In my part of the world (southern Ontario, Canada) ANY car that I've seen that doesn't get some kind of additional rust protection applied is guaranteed to show signs of rust within 2 to 3 years.
I was working on a 2004 Ford Escape a couple of weeks ago, and it had a notable amount of bubbling at the inside bottoms of the doors, as well as brown staining around every seam and crevice on its undercarriage. Last weekend I was looking at a friend's 2003 Explorer, and it was nearly perforating at the bottoms of the doors, and about a third of the floor underneath was already brown!
My brother and I both picked up Sunfires in 2002 (mine a basic SL, his a Ecotec powered GT), and they've been thoroughly oil sprayed annually since the day they were bought. (I had mine done at Krown Rust the day I got it.) The only rust visible on either car are some light spots on the control arms. The entire undercarriage, all fuel and brake lines, and door bottoms are still pristine (although with a light coating of oil film). Both are driven daily (152,000km on mine, and 115,000 on his) and kept outdoors, so the oil definitely makes a huge difference.
My two other cars are a 1987 Buick Century, and a 1979 Chrysler 300 - both local cars, and both wearing most of their original paint. Due to dilligent oil spraying, neither one has an ounce of body filler in them (other than what came from the factory). Just think of how long cars could last if everyone did the annual spraying! It's no wonder car manufacturers don't recommend it - they wouldn't sell nearly as many new ones.
Just my two cents...


http://registry.gmenthusiast.com/images/2002sunfiresl/Modified%20sunfire2.jpg

my wifes 99 had the same problem only have a few years living in NE ohio. The first time I sanded, dremeled, used navel jelly to kill the rust, primed with rustoleum paint brused on and then final cost of rustolem. I did it late in the year when it was only mid 60's outside and probably didn't cure the paint well as it is rusting worse than before and flaking.

Now that it is summer this is what I am going to do:

I am going to sand down to bare metal, use the navel jelly again. Once everything is dry I am going to use rustoleum bare metal spray paint a few light coates. Make sure it's a hot day so the paint bakes on. Now the secret ingredient...go to your local GM parts store and get spray can of RUBBERIZED UNDERCOATING...it's like 5-6 bucks. Spray that on and it will waterproof your paint job. The directions on the undercoating says you can paint to match if you like. I would get some Krylon spray paint for bonding on plastics. I am just going to leave it black.

Hope this helps.

Rob O.

my 00 has the same prob today i am takeing all the paint off and just hitting it with some rattle can yes i know this wont FIX the prob but it feels better on my eyes

WOW sorry i did not see how old this post is my bad did a search and just posted lol

Note that there are drainage holes at the bottom of the doors. Ensure they're not plugged up by dirt or anything.

Yeah I've got the same problem too (left rear door) on my 95 cavalier. I think the worst rust in my car is on the underside of my rear bumper. It's so rusted and corroded it looks like a flake-off pastry. I try to take good care of my car but I live in a place where there are rough winters and they salt/sand the roads every yr so the rust is unavoidable. Underbody is showing signs of rust too...

Sigh, might be finally time to sell the cavalier.



PS - Anyone know how to use spray on rust sealant properly? I bought a can but the instructions are vague.

i sanded the rust of it was just flakeing a little bit and shot it with some rattle can OEM paint looks good but i know its only temp i am going ot get the car undercoated soon

i thought there was a 100k rust warrenty?

that would be sweet, my 2000 z24 only has 40k miles on it... but no rust yet. I clean it before I come up to work, and when I get back home, I think every three weeks is good, in winter it barely drives, unless it is all highway.


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