[Rpaulg87]

I was taking my lower dash off today to spray some WD-40 on the shaft boot to make my steering wheel stop squeaking (worked like a charm) but I noticed the panels and metal under my dash look horrific...is this how they are supposed to look? I have never seen anything like this...

I find it very weird as it's all throughout the metal under the dash..even the plate that hides the shaft boot

 

[addicted to pcp]

I just went and popped my bottom piece off, and it does not look like yours. I did not take it down, but just from inspection, mine looks ok. You might have some water leaking in down there.

 

[b1gted]

wow that is really disturbing for how young of a car the challenger is! I hope this is an isolated incident and they don't all end up doing this. Keep us posted if you end up showing the dealer.

 

[Mark052]

hmmmmm, we might need more people with 08's to respond since it may take a couple of years for this to manifest itself.:scratchhead:

 

[CruzKing]

that really sucks , rusting from the inside! wtf.
i"ll have to look at mine next week 09 RT.
do you live near the ocean ?
i have had guns rust when i lived near LA , so bummed me out.

 

[Rpaulg87]

I called Dodge they said it was normal because of the humidity from A\C and it'snot coated...I'm going to go down there and compare to another Challenger like he said I could just to make sure. I live in GEORGIA, and I park underground, there is no reason for this to be happening. He claims it's normal.

 

[Speedy!]

Yep, mine looks worse. Noticed it when I was working on my gauge wiring.

It is just surface rust. I've seen it on other cars. I don't think it'll ever be such a problem that it rusts through or anything.

You can see it on the bars in this pic:

 

[CruzKing]

jay that looks awful bad for a new car. bummed.

 

[waumo]

Bare steel plus all the moisture from rain, damp mats, etc = surface rust.

However I cars that are 40 years old and rusted like that after a year and the metal does not rust out from surface rust. It just stops once the metal is covered with surface rust.

Make sure you don't have a leak soaking the carpet because that type of problem will destroy your floor pan and worse.

 

[Cuda340]

Did you ever look at your upper control arms or the underside of your car and see the surface rust. Apparently, Dodge saved money by not rust-proofing a lot of the exposed metal.

I painted my control arms with black Rust-Oleum paint and they now look great.

 

[THEONE]

My 09 had rust like that I just cleaned and painted black it's not a big deal.

 

[Speedy!]

Yep, I've thought about painting those under dash supports and plate, but honestly I don't wanna smell fumes all the time so I just left it be.

My car still has that new car smell and I don't wanna spoil it.

 

[HEMI2NV]

when i installed the wife's mopar alarm that same plate looked the same as your picture...just surface rust

 

[noz34me]

Rust like that is not caused by a leak, but by humidity. It may be present in damp mats (tracking in from bad weather), or a damp garage space.

Although I doubt this rust will ever be a problem, it doesn't stop just because the surface is coated. The only way to stop rust is to remove it entirely and seal the surface. Of course you can also remove oxygen and that will stop it, but not very practical. Also, rust does not occur below freezing. That's why people that store classic cars in conditioned space make sure the humidity is controlled as well as temperature.

 

[R/TCLASSIC]

yes i looked underneath mine when it was brand new,it was appalling at all the rusty components.i took some high quality rust inhibitive paint and painted everything i could that looked like raw steel.hopefully it will make a difference,but didnt even think about the dash metal,i think it doesnt matter as much as control arm bushings and under car components.:scratchhead:

 

[aarcuda]

did you ever look at your upper control arms or the underside of your car and see the surface rust. Apparently, dodge saved money by not rust-proofing a lot of the exposed metal.

I painted my control arms with black rust-oleum paint and they now look great.

i used the marhyde rust converter on mine. Made it a nice purplish black

 

[BayouTiger]

Wow! Another non-issue issue. I sometimes wonder if some here have ever looked at the innards of any other car. For those that want everything painted that if it was painted and got a nick, the resulting rust would likely be much worse that simple surface pitting.

 

[TinCuda]

I think fussing over stuff like this is fine as long as it does not get obsessive. Most of us (by that I mean me) think of these cars as more than a transportation device to get between point A and B. I frett about every little thing but the best thing my wife did for me and my charger was to drag the driver side mirror off with a parking garage wall. After I got it fixed, I didn't mind the small stuff. LOL

 

[Rpaulg87]

Wow! Another non-issue issue. I sometimes wonder if some here have ever looked at the innards of any other car. For those that want everything painted that if it was painted and got a nick, the resulting rust would likely be much worse that simple surface pitting.

Oh, me so sorry for not expecting horrid looking metal behind a 45k car with 12k miles thats basically garaged, when my 25k friggin' Toyota FJ at 60k miles has NONE of this crap rusted metal behind the dash? Because even though it's cheaper they took the time to COAT the panels.

Maybe they are right about foriegn cars, more I tear this sucker apart the most dissapointed I get, skimp more on quality control please Dodge.

I expected more from Dodge when I'm paying almost double the price for a vehicle, I can't even imagine how this crap will look in another 1-2 years...I guess they figure whatever the general customer won't see they don't worry about.

 

[STONEWHITE R/T]

Paint costs money. Everything they don't paint saves you money. Ford stopped painting their differentials years ago and the customers fussed like mad. I have had thousands of dashes out repairing air conditioners. Never had one fall out from rust. It's bare metal and moisture in the air will react with it and corrode it. It's normal.