Home Ā» The Jeep Wrangler Corrosion Problem Is Worse Than I Thought

The Jeep Wrangler Corrosion Problem Is Worse Than I Thought

2019 JeepĀ® Wrangler Rubicon
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You’d expect a modern vehicle to have paint that sticks to the body for a good few years at least. Sadly, as we’ve explored this week, Jeep is struggling quite severely in this regard. So many JT Gladiator and JL Wranglers are suffering with this issue that my inbox is overflowing. More owners keep hitting me up with their tales of woe, and there’s even a class action in progress.

If you’re just tuning in, these are the basic facts: There’s a corrosion issue affecting Wranglers built from 2018 onwards, and Gladiators from 2020 onwards (these dates represent the start of production for the “JL”-generation Wrangler and the related “JT” Gladiator). The issue most commonly presents itself as bubbling or flaking paint, usually around the door hinges or the lower door panels. However, as I’ve since learned, it can also show up on the hood, hood hinges, tailgate, or tailgate hinges, too.

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This issue is common enough (Jeep sells 200,000+ Gladiators and Wranglers annually (combined)) that I’m still getting a flood of tips. At one point, I’d gotten so many pictures of corrosion I totally lost track of whose was whose. I headed back to the Facebook group to post the pics and hunt down the owner, with hilarious results. “Mine looks like that but yellow!” declared Mario. “Mine looks like that but blue!” said Jacque. And the riffing continued ad nauseum in a perfect “I am Spartacus”Ā  moment.

Faaaaa

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It turned out the images belonged to Paula Kay, whose story we heard in the previous article. Still, I met another one owner convinced that the images were from theirĀ white Jeepā€”Anthony, from Massachusetts. He’d faced exactly the same problems. “My 2018 Jeep JL has been to the body shop three times now over the past five years for paint bubbling issues all over the vehicle,” Anthony told me.

Some have raised the question as to whether this issue comes down to paint color. Without having Jeep’s warranty stats on hand, we can’t say conclusively. What I can say is that I’ve seen terrible bubbling on Jeeps of all colors, from white to red to green to black, just like the photos below. They’re from Nicole Smith Martin, who has recently left her Jeep with the dealer for repair.

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Credit: Nicole Smith Martin

It’s not obvious at first, but if you look closely, you can see the paint has totally flaked off the hinge. The second photo shows bubbling on the hood. “Mine started this year, [and the] warranty expires in August,” explained Nicole. “Hopefully, the dealership is ordering four new doors and a hood like they said they were.”

Meanwhile, Shannon Geyer had a more unique problem. She’d wrapped her Wrangler with custom graphics, which had to be removed to deal with the corrosion. “Stellantis would not cover replacement of my custom graphics so I was stuck paying that out of pocket,” she explains. “Now that the graphics are done again I’ve found more corrosion and it will have to go back again, just to cost me more.” She’s found corrosion on the hinges, doors, and hood, and suspects there may be some on the windshield frame, too.

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“It makes customizing your rig a huge risk,” Shannon toldĀ The Autopian. “My graphics would have lasted me several more years if not the lifetime of me owning my Jeep.” It’s a poignant note, given how many Jeep owners love customizing their vehicles.

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A Big Deal

As it turns out, this issue didn’t just pop up overnight. A class action suit was filed back in 2021 over this very matter. The matter of Orozco, et al v. FCA US, LLC is being heard in the US District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan. Of course, the slow pace of the legal system means that this case is still apparently moving through the courts, with a status conference slated for July 9.

Stellantis did get back to us for this story. Sadly, it didn’t tell us a whole lot.

Model-year 2018 migration to an aluminum door design ā€“ a weight-saving measure ā€“ inadvertently coincided with, initially, occasional variation in the manufacturing process.

The issue described may occur in a fraction of these vehicles. Accordingly, we are providing affected customers with a solution.

Okay, so Stellantis is telling us there’s a “variation” in the manufacturing process. That means some part of the process isn’t being controlled properly and is leading to defects. We don’t get to know what that might have been or whether it’s still happening.

As we discussed previously, a current repair TSB from Stellantis involves fitting a zinc shim in between the door and the hinge. “The shim helps mitigate material properties that may induce corrosion,” a Stellantis representative told The Autopian. Zinc is often used as a sacrificial metal in this regard in applications like boat hulls or marine structures. This is because it preferentially corrodes over other metals like aluminum and steel under certain conditions.

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Bubbling always seems to appear near the edges, rather than in the middle of panels. Credit: Mike Haines

Many have speculated that dissimilar metal corrosion is the root cause here. The zinc shim added more fuel to that suspicion. However, it still seems unlikely given the evidence out in public. The hinges and doors are both made of aluminum on the affected vehicles. Plus, we’re seeing hoods and doors corrode in areas where there is no dissimilar metal contact. That seems to tell us this is a paint or sealing issue of some sort. On doors and hoods, moisture might even be playing a role. It’s worth noting most photos show bubbling near edges of panels and seams.

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I could give you a stack more photos and case studies, but instead, we’ll talk about what affected owners can do. The best course of action is to pursue a repair within the five-year corrosion warranty period. Contacting a dealership with a good body shop on hand seems to be the best bet according to affected owners. Getting a repair with a good color match to your original paint seems to be down to the luck of the draw in some cases.

Rust bubbles: Any advice?
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Sadly, a repair is no guarantee that the issue is solved. As shared by YouTuber Evolved Jeepin,Ā the problem is recurring for some owners.

I did, however, want to get the lowdown from someone on the other side of things ā€” an owner who hasn’t had these same problems. I chatted with fellow auto writer Zerin Dube, who owned a 2018 Wrangler until quite recently. His Jeep was luckily spared from the rot, and his photos from 2023 give us a great example of what these hinges are supposedĀ to look like. “No issues whatsoever, corrosion or otherwise, but we sold it last summer,” he told me.

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Zerin’s Wrangler was an exceptional example.

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Hinges and doors gorgeous and unblemished.

Still, Zerin understands the frustration of his fellow Jeepers. “My honest thought is FCA didnā€™t acknowledge the issue fast enough, [and] didnā€™t give dealers the tools or SOP to fix the issue,” says Zerin. “[It] made customers have inconsistent experiences when trying to get repairs covered and the entire thing was one massive cock up.” He also questions why the issue has rolled on for so long. “It happened across multiple model years, despite this being a known issue early on,” he says. “FCA should and could have addressed it.”

In any case, if you’re out of warranty, your situation is altogether tougher. Some owners have posted that Jeep has covered their repairs under goodwill, others have been left wanting. Many are flocking to forums and Facebook groups in search of advice to get the best results.

We’ve talked about this at length this week, so let’s wrap this thing up. It seems like Jeep got something a little wrong with the paint on these Wranglers and Gladiators, and those chickens are coming home to roostā€”in big numbers. That really sucks for a vehicle that is otherwise a bonafide American icon. Here’s hoping Jeep can sort these issues once and for all, and restore the confidence of its customers.

Image credits: Shannon Geyer, Mike Haines, Nicole Smith Martin, Jeep

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Nicklab
Nicklab
4 months ago

I let my buddy know, he’s got a 4xe and lives on the coast. So far so good for him. Only headaches have been the software recalls.

John Fischer
John Fischer
4 months ago

I have a 2021 in White. Spent first three years in relatively dry Denver, and now 1 year in humid SC. So far I have no rot anywhere on mine, but it does make me nervous. Coming up on 4 years of ownership, but before I hit 5 I may reconsider how long to keep this. Mechanically it’s been great, no trips back to dealer but this corrosion issue has me worried.

NosrednaNod
NosrednaNod
4 months ago

ā€œJeeps are trashā€ – All non-Jeep owners

Jeff N
Jeff N
4 months ago

The more things change, the more they stay the same. My ’82 CJ7 was nothing but a rolling pile of rust. So much rust. Everything rusted, I think even the plastic parts. SO much rust would fall off while driving I was surprised I never received a citation for littering. You might think that in the last 40 years, they would have figured out how to solve the problem.

I wonder how long it took the layers to come up with nonsense like “manufacturing variations” and “fraction of vehicles”. “Fraction” is meant to intone a small number, but in all honesty, even .99 is represented as a fraction. Their statement didn’t address the runaround they’re giving affected customers. Just like Ford and the Taurus automatic transmissions. Ford lost me as a customer for life at that one, I see FCA doesn’t want me as a Jeep customer either. Maybe the best way to lower your warranty and customer satisfaction costs are to build a quality product in the first place.

Sivad Nayrb
Sivad Nayrb
4 months ago

It’s the Fiat connection at Stellantis. Fiat showed Jeep engineers how car rust is made.

Justin Smith
Justin Smith
4 months ago
Reply to  Sivad Nayrb

I have a 2019 Fiat without an ounce of rust on it. I think Fiat found a way to pass the rust virus on to poor Jeep

Dest
Dest
4 months ago

How are they managing to get every basic component wrong with the JL? From the initial wandering steering issues to the bad welds on the frame, clutches blowing up and they can’t even get the paint right. As a JK owner I think I’ll be looking at even older wranglers instead of new ones for my next one…

Box Rocket
Box Rocket
4 months ago

Mopar has been having corrosion issues for a while now. Look at all the warranty claims they’ve had for corrosion especially on the hoods of most of their vehicles made in North America. Rams, Jeeps, Chrysler, and Dodges, they all can have it.

Nate Grant
Nate Grant
4 months ago

The aluminum corrosion paint peeling problem isnā€™t just on jeeps. At least early Chrysler Pacifica vans have the exact same problem. 2017 maybe 2018 the aluminum doors, hood and rear hatch corrode and peel the same way. Not sure if they found a solution on later models.

Mike TowpathTraveler
Mike TowpathTraveler
4 months ago

Looks like a poor metal-primer/paint fault to these untrained eyes. But I am curious as to what, if anything, Jeep has done with the steel bolts that hold the aluminum hinge to the aluminum door skin, as there will be long term corrosion ongoing there. Is there a thread sealant to minimize dissimilar metal contact?

Reminds me of the Ford trucks that were found to be rusting in their undercarriage area a couple years ago, as they sat in a Ford Long Term parking lot, exposed to the weather. The quality control of all new vehicles built in the past 5 years or so is flat out abysmal.

Davey
Davey
4 months ago

Lmao @ Jeep and that stellar American build quality. Why does Jeep still have problems despite these vehicles being some of the oldest, simplest designs? Why do we keep harping on Chinese build quality when this is the best we can do after building these vehicles for decades??

4SpeedToploader
4SpeedToploader
4 months ago

Interesting. My 25 year old TJ’s door hinges still look great.

John Fischer
John Fischer
4 months ago

Mine did too on a 2003. But that was good old fashioned American steel on those šŸ™‚

Theotherotter
Theotherotter
4 months ago

Prior to my current job, my background was heavily in technical problem-solving – my first job was as a Red X engineer at GM powertrain, and my last one in Detroit was as a quality engineer at Chrysler working on Fast Feedback issues. I would enjoy the challenge of trying to figure out the root causes of this problem!

Greensoul
Greensoul
4 months ago

This is worse than the late 80s-early 90s GM products that magically shed their paint in sheets. I had a brand new Neon in 98 that did the same thing within a year. Chrysler repainted the whole car under warranty.

John Stiles
John Stiles
4 months ago
Reply to  Greensoul

That carried on well into the late 90s and early aughts. Especially if you had one in white. To this day I’m amazed they botched a basic color that badly for so, so long.

Greensoul
Greensoul
4 months ago
Reply to  John Stiles

agreed. And the beat went on. Both my 88 and 98 white GMC trucks shed their paint, albeit, the 98 did it at a slower pace though.

Tbird
Tbird
4 months ago
Reply to  Greensoul

Wasn’t just GM. The plant fell off dad’s 1990 Lincoln as well, took about 8-10 years.

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