Rust on the roof

[lalibgal]

I recently discovered rust spots on the roof of my 2003 G35 (purchased 4/03). The dealership is telling me that the rust is caused by chipped paint and I must take the car to a body shop to be fixed (and pay for the touch ups myself). I'm pretty disappointed by the news and by the dealer's response. Anyone else experience roof rust on your G35? Am I just being unrealistic to think that the dealer should offer to cover this cost? I also own a 93 Civic and there isn't a spot of rust on the roof of that car. I love my G35 but this rust problem is making me unhappy.

[Heather]

lalibgal.....I don't know if this will help since the dealership has already told you it was from paint chips. I had spots on my car that looked like rust but it was rail dust. Rail dust can eat through your paint and cause rust spots from what I understand. I think if you type rail dust in search you can find a little bit of information on this if you want. Good luck with your G. I know it's so disappointing to have problems with a new car. If it is rust....is it covered under warranty?


04 G35Coupe/6MT/Ivory Pearl/Willow/Premium/Nav/Aero/XM Sat

[GZire]

Lalibgal congradulations on your purchase and welcome to 6MT.net. I am sorry to hear about your rust problems, but there may be a related issue to your car.

This topic is about rail dust: http://www.6mt.net/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=7356

What I would suggest is that you take your car into several (at least 3) reputable autobody/paint shops (not Earl Scheib or Maaco). Ask them for their opinion on what might be causing the problems and what it might cost to repair the problem. Be careful because some places ask a non-refundable deposit for quotes. Personally I would not give my business to such people. A reputable company should be able to give you a free repair quote (this is very minor time to produce a quote as the repairs are simple) as it should be part of their normal overhead costs.

The paint is a sore issue with the Nissans. Due to changes in environmental laws the paints have been changing so the more durable paint used on your Civic is not the same type of (more environmentally friendly) paint on the G's. Due to the less durable paint many G owners use clear bras (use search function and you will get numerous threads for this) to help protect the front of their cars as that is where most of the damage due to chips will come from.

What this means is that if your roof paint is chipping you should be able to see the chips and if caused by road debris you should see numerous chips to your hood, front bumper, etc. If it is indeed chipping and is only to your roof, you might want to look at what you are parking your car under. Could be a rusty pipe at your apartment or work garage that is transfering the rusting materials to your car.

Good luck and let us know what the problem was.

"you will rue this day....well go on start ru-ing" Stewie Griffin

[robb411]

Have any pics of the rust spots?

[lalibgal]

Thank you all for responding! Your information was so helpful (and enlightening). I will put up pics soon. I got the car back from the dealer late Wed. They applied touch up paint to the rust spots. Some of the spots have already begun to spread so the problem looks worse now (yikes). I looked at the threads on rail rust and I'm pretty sure that is not my problem (but maybe the body shop will have something different to say). The spots are isolated to the front and sides of the roof, indicative of where rocks could have nicked the paint (this was the dealer's comment, too). I am still pretty bummed about having to get the roof repainted but I've learned some valuable info from the threads-- like not having the dealer wash my car. I live in the Chicago area (transplant from New Orleans) and think it's freezing here 9 months of the year. I don't give my g the proper attention she deserves by hand washing her frequently. I will let you know what the body shops say. My dealer doesn't handle paint jobs.

[GZire]

<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Originally posted by lalibgal

The spots are isolated to the front and sides of the roof, indicative of where rocks could have nicked the paint (this was the dealer's comment, too).
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote"></font id="quote">
Lalibgal did you see any chipping of paint to your hood, front bumper, side mirrors? It seems odd that if this is due to rocks that it would be isolated to only your roof, there would have to be extensive chipping to your front bumper and hood also.

Definitely see what the body shop(s) has to say about it.

"you will rue this day....well go on start ru-ing" Stewie Griffin