Rust - is this normal?

I had a '99 LX with rust on the seam on the trunk lid and along the bottom edge of the door seams on the LF, LR, and RR doors. And it was a Florida car! I now have an '03 LX and it has rust spots beginning on the door seams. And this is a Florida car as well. I hesitiate to take it to the dealer because they did a horrible job on the repair on the '99, though at least they did repair it. I bet almost everyone - if they look hard enough - will find rust beginning to form on the seams, whether it be on the hatch, trunk, doors, window frames, or wherever. I think it's just a Protege weakness.
 
My brother has a 2002 P5, and he has nasty bubbling around the 'protege' badge on the rear. I also noticed that his wheels are bubbling. Luckily his lease is already up, and he is in the process of getting a new car.

I am surprised that other owners are experiencing the same. I hope that this will not be a problem down the road for the new gen Mazda's.
 
Mikey444 said:
They cant deny you warranty no matter what on rust related problems.

Well they already did for me.

"I don't see why we should do something about that, your car has no warranty."

Me: "it's five year, unlimited mileage for rust.. that is rust bubbling through"

service guy "Well I don't know, I don't think we can do anything to help you, you'll have to come back to talk to the service manager".

Service manager looked at it and said he'd call the regional rep, actually sounded optimistic, complemented me on the car, etc.. but he's the manager, I would expect no less.

He said he would call me back by the end of last week, so I went back there today and he said the regional rep wasn't around and that he should know by the end of the week. I think tomorrow after work if I get out early enough I'm going to run to another Mazda dealership in the area to see if the regional rep is actually not around or if they are just dicking around with me.
 
Well an update today.. they never called me back, so I checked in today and of course got "Oh the service manager is on break, come back in 20 or 30 minutes". Last time I got that I went back and they said he left for the day. I was lucky this time, he was in. I have to leave my car there all day (7AM - 5PM) on Monday the 11th. The regional rep is coming in sometime that day and he'll take a look at it. I think I might put my stock wheels on just so that there aren't really any visual mods other than badging, headlights, and lowering.

I know they "can't" claim that my wheels caused the car to rust, but I wouldn't put it past them to say it anyways.

One of the bubbles in the paint is getting big and I'm afraid it'll come through soon. I love my car so much, I don't want to lose it :( It sucks because I don't have enough money to even get a used Mazda6 S, I think I would end up with a Protege MP3 or something if I had to get rid of my car now :(
 
Rust is a very tricky issue to get warranty on. It all depends on where it is. Most of the time the dealer will tell you that the rust spot was caused by a stone chip or something to that extent. Of course if the rust is inside your trunk, then you could tell them to go suck an egg if they told you it was a stone chip or something.

I just went in for rust on my rear driver's window guide. It is definitely a bubble from underneath. I was of course told that it was a paint chip and that the labour to fix it would be approx. $90 Cdn. So I called the parts guy and asked how much a rear window guide was. $15 Cdn he tells me. I ordered it (just waiting for it to come in), and I'm just going to change it myself. I figured it wasn't worth the hassle to argue with them. Plus, last time I had my car in they gouged the crap out of my rear skirt and chipped the hood with what looks like something that was caused by dropping an air wrench.

Anyway, good luck with the rust. Like I said it's tough to argue no matter right you know you are.
 
Here's what my rust looks like on the rear door window frame:

IMG_0061.JPG
IMG_0064.JPG
 
Ow.. what gives Mazda?!

I love the zoom-zoom mentality more than anyone but I'd like to have a car go 3 years without rust if taken care of impeccably.
 
ottawaP5 said:
I take extremely good care of this car.....so they can't deny my warranty claim.

Hahaha that's a good one. I bet they'll open up my hood, see the headers, and tell me that headers caused the rust and deny my warranty claim.

Which is why when I leave my car there all day monday for the regional rep to see it I might just leave them the wrong mazda key :P
 
haha....they already fixed an ABS sensor for me and they knew I did something to the car because the service tech said that the car had more power than usual. I dont think this should be a problem.
 
ottawaP5 said:
haha....they already fixed an ABS sensor for me and they knew I did something to the car because the service tech said that the car had more power than usual. I dont think this should be a problem.

Haha..

Hmmm.. 8 hours 40 minutes from my home in CT
http://maps.google.com/maps?q=thomaston,+ct+to+ottawa,+canada&spn=6.538917,9.351563&hl=en

ooh only 5 hours 32 minutes from my apartment in Rochester, NY sweet
http://maps.google.com/maps?q=rochester,+ny+to+ottawa,+canada&spn=3.234860,4.675781&hl=en

It's a bit farther than 5 minutes to the dealership in CT and 5 minutes to the dealership in Rochester, but maybe it's worth it :P

Good luck with your rust, when are you taking it in to see it?
 
If they fix your rust but not mine, then that's just the last straw... I'm moving to Canada :P I love it up there so much anyways.
 
Yeah its quite nice, except that Canada is known for making your car rust lol.

Do you think Mazda made the window frames from compressed rust?
 
ottawaP5 said:
Yeah its quite nice, except that Canada is known for making your car rust lol.

Do you think Mazda made the window frames from compressed rust?

Damn good point.. Mexico it is :P

I don't even see how the window frames could rust.. I thought they were completely vinyl covered. I'll have to check mine and cover up any chips or anything before that starts rusting too.
 
zverg said:
Damn good point.. Mexico it is :P

I don't even see how the window frames could rust.. I thought they were completely vinyl covered. I'll have to check mine and cover up any chips or anything before that starts rusting too.

The rear window frame that separates the 2 windows on the door is not vinyl covered, its painted metal, hence the only one that is rusting on the doors. It must be extremely cheap metal or extremely cheap paint.
 
ottawaP5: That is the exact kind of rust I took my car in for. It was denied warranty because they claimed that it was caused by a stone chip. I didn't feel like wasting my breath and arguing it so I went and bought the window guide for $15 and I'll install it myself.
 

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