Factory undercoating is peeling off!!

Silverado-Hareek · April 29, 2014

To buy or not to buy, on the last week to order a 2014. This frame coating is a big concern (live in Upstate NY), lots of salt. Anyone recently pick up their new truck, how's the coating look? Wondering if this is just on the first half production batch or just a "bad" process all together??

From what I can tell every 2014 on the lot looks like it has this bad coating. There is a TSB out for it though so maybe that will lead chevy to fix it on future runs of the truck. I'm sure they will fix it I doubt they want to continue to make trucks that have rust issues, especially with all the bad press GM has been getting lately. It's cheaper for them in the long run to fix the problem than to keep fixing trucks and paying dealerships for the work. In my opinion if you don't NEED a truck right now, wait for the 2015's. Unfortunately my 2007 was burning oil so I did not have time to wait.

norm69 · April 29, 2014

Unfortunately, I sold my low mileage '08 before I did some research. Wish I kept it now, but was concerned I would not get much for it wating another year and the new models being out already. My plan was to buy a '15 after the first year bugs were worked out. I don't need a truck right now, have a small commuter car for work. Mainly need the truck to tow camping and snowmobile trailer. Maybe I will wait and see how the 15's look. thanks.

Silverado-Hareek · April 29, 2014

Unfortunately, I sold my low mileage '08 before I did some research. Wish I kept it now, but was concerned I would not get much for it wating another year and the new models being out already. My plan was to buy a '15 after the first year bugs were worked out. I don't need a truck right now, have a small commuter car for work. Mainly need the truck to tow camping and snowmobile trailer. Maybe I will wait and see how the 15's look. thanks.

The good news is the 15's will be out late summer so you can pick one up before the bad winter weather hits.

Silverado-Hareek · April 29, 2014

Also the '08's were burning oil too like the 07's. Getting rid of it wasn't necessarily a bad idea other than not having a truck for a while.

Silverado-Hareek · April 29, 2014

Well the dealership just called to tell me they can fix my rust and there is a service bulletin for it, but the "recall" does not apply to my truck. They said they would try to push it through for me anyway under the "recall." Anyway I plan to call them back to discuss that and see what that means. I'm not sure why the rust or bumper to bumper warranties don't apply in this situation.

Silverado-Hareek · April 29, 2014

Well the dealership just called to tell me they can fix my rust and there is a service bulletin for it, but the "recall" does not apply to my truck. They said they would try to push it through for me anyway under the "recall." Anyway I plan to call them back to discuss that and see what that means. I'm not sure why the rust or bumper to bumper warranties don't apply in this situation.

UPDATE: So the dealer said that the "recall" does apply to the 2014 model truck, but just not my particular VIN number and that's why they're going to try to push it through anyway for me. I still didn't get an explanation on why the warranty didn't cover it but the guy I spoke with is kind of a jack ass. There's a better girl that works there and I will pick her brain when I pick my truck up tomorrow.

Pinnacle · April 30, 2014

Take pictures and post them here, I bet they just bought a can of 3m undercoating and sprayed some areas, thats what we did at the dealership, in my days.

Silverado-Hareek · April 30, 2014

Take pictures and post them here, I bet they just bought a can of 3m undercoating and sprayed some areas, thats what we did at the dealership, in my days.

There's a technical service bulletin out on it that explains the approved process for dealing with this recall. They cut off the loose wax, sand the frame in the rusty spots to get the rust off, and then it's a two part spray system they put back. I'm not sure what the exact product is, I think it might be 3M. But I confirmed the process with the dealer.

Silverado-Hareek · May 1, 2014

Well they certainly could have done a better job. They fixed most of the big rust spots but they missed one big one near the gas tank and they didn't hit any if the miscellaneous smaller ones. I pulled the service rep aside and showed to him but his tech was gone for the day. We both agreed he'd fix the rest when I bring it in for my oil change to cut down on the number of times I have to bring it in. The positive in this whole situation is I can see how the existing patches hold up over the next few thousand miles in case they weren't done right and can be fixed while they finish the rest. Overall the dealer is being accommodating but I'm really not too thrilled with this product from Chevy. I'm starting to have buyers remorse. I told myself I would never buy another first edition and I did it anyway. Fool me once shame on you, fool me twice shame on me.....

jcchevy · May 1, 2014

Heres some after pics of the TBS, they fixed the large rust areas that were showing, but they acknowledge they do not do the entire frame and also only do this fix one time. So you can't go back 1 yr later when its all rusted again and get this applied.

heres some pics on some of the areas after the TSB.

Mad Max · May 4, 2014

I've got a new 2014 CC and live up in Mass. I've been wondering if I should get a undercoating from like ZBart or someone else of just buy some cans and do it myself. But if I'm reading and understanding this right, this wax is on the frame (only?) and that and the fenders are the main parts I would want to do, but not if it won't stick to wax. ZBart used to drill holes in the doors to spray it in. I think they still do. Also read here that doing it may void the warrentee? All of the warrantee? Eye yey yey! Recommendations?

Silverado-Hareek · May 4, 2014

If you do zbart just do the frame. Everything else on the truck has added corrosion protection already. Most of the body is galvanized except the hood which is aluminum. On top of that they sprayed the bottom edges of the body with an anti chip coating on top of the already galvanized metal substrates. This coating protects from rocks and other debris being kicked up from chipping. The rust issues we're having are only on the frame itself.

Pinnacle · May 4, 2014

Heres some after pics of the TBS, they fixed the large rust areas that were showing, but they acknowledge they do not do the entire frame and also only do this fix one time. So you can't go back 1 yr later when its all rusted again and get this applied.

heres some pics on some of the areas after the TSB.

That last pic you can see the rust coming through, they didn't even sand it down, just straight on top of the old stuff, cant say I'm surprised.

jcchevy · May 5, 2014

@pinnacle, its not rust coming through, they just didn't sand/fix every tiny crevice , and they stated they would not, they will only hit the major areas. (the rest is mud/dirt on the frame if anyone was wondering).

No GM shop will do a very good job. Because in order to follow the TSB and hit all areas of the frame that have rust areas/crevices of rust, it would take a month of work to do it correctly.

Thats not going to happen. All I can say is It was better then what it was. I am not worried about rust through, just appearance. So will be doing my general frame cleanup every spring same thing I did to my last GM's trucks.

Ford/Yota's have similar issues.

Its not greener on the other side, its just as rusty

just to quick searches through their forums (as painful as it is)

Pinnacle · May 5, 2014

Yes, I know exactly how long it takes to the frame as I have done it on my back with a heatgun and scraper followed by 2 coats of por15. If you're fine with the job they did that's fine, Its been a year on my and not a single spec of rust.