2021 Ford F-150 Owners Are Already Facing Rust, Corrosion Issues

[North7]

Nothing should rust that much from a few months sitting, with proper prep and paint.

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[North7]

Okay, I'll revise my statement.

Nothing should rust that much from a few years sitting, with proper prep and paint.

 

[North7]

Why does an 18 year old F-150 not look that bad?

 

[Hemisfear]

Attached are screen shots from a 2013 episode of TruckU, where they are replacing the exhaust on a F150 with 11 miles on the odometer...

To me this is a non-issue, if you want to have Ford spend money for no reason and would like to give up a feature or two to have your banjo housing shinny, go ahead, knock yourself out! lol

I find it funny that something that has been the standard for about a decade is only noticed now by bronco6g...EPIC! (not)

 

[Paul Gagnon]

zoMG! Bare metal exposed to the elements is showing surface rust. How is this possible in the year 2021?

 

[Tdifonzo]

https://performanceparts.ford.com/part/M-4033-R

 

[Razorbak86]

zoMG! Bare metal exposed to the elements is showing surface rust. How is this possible in the year 2021?

COVID, man. Didn’t you get the memo? It fucks up everything and even makes axles rust. Follow the science!

 

[Russ1Bronco]

zoMG! Bare metal exposed to the elements is showing surface rust. How is this possible in the year 2021?

....Because it's bare metal.It's high strength steel that only develops surface oxide like Cast iron.It won't rust through like regular metal...The NJ Turnpike (Interstate 95) redid everyone of their bridges from the ground up....every piece of steel on all the bridges is completely rusted...Surface rust doesn't look good,but it does no harm...

 

[Lorenzo]

why is this a topic - it doesn't matter AT ALL

 

[broadicustomworks]

Not to dredge up any hard feelings or reignite the battle between you and North7...but he is right, and here is my defense of that:
A painted metal product, when prepped appropriately and painted appropriately, will not flash rust sitting somewhere for any reasonable amount of time. The conditions/environment and quality of coverage will all impact what timeframe that is. Under no circumstance should it rust at all in a few months or a year's time.
If you park it in a field of mud near an ocean, yeah, she's gonna rust a LOT quicker.

But:
I am not sure what processes you guys have in place there and am not knocking it, as several industrial and paint engineers got together and set it up, and that's what they get paid to do.
In my lines of work and experience, which are manufacturing specializing in paint and welding for 27 years now, there are different ways to achieve a good salt spray test result and minimize corrosion.
You can either:
-Blast it and run it through an iron phosphate wash prior to primer and paint
-Blast it and epoxy prime it.
Nothing else offers any real, deep-down corrosion protection once that layer of paint has been compromised by anything at all. One chip and it is rust. And that rust travels under the (non epoxy)primer and eats. Epoxy leaves the rust confined to that one chip area.

My opinion from several states away and knowing nothing of your process, I would venture to say a black epoxy primer should/would be sufficient for undercarriage parts.
As a minimum.
Spray it with one application and it is protected. No need to necessarily topcoat it if the primer itself is black.
If I were making and selling a product that is exposed to the road conditions and environment, I would phosphate it and Epoxy prime it and ship it. As long as the profit margin was there to justify the cost.
As a manager for a supplier to a major manufacturer I know all too well what it is like to get nickel-and-dimed and be required to submit cost savings annually vs. cost increases. It makes it more challenging to be a top-notch supplier and run a healthy business when your margins are very narrow.
Also as a manager I can tell you if this were my product being displayed looking like that in that period of time, I'd be handling it or at least use it as a preface to a conversation with Ford.

*gets off soapbox now

Ya'll play purdy now.

 

[broadicustomworks]

FWIW also, this doesn't bother me in the least as a consumer.
Yes, it should look better, but I have the know how and don't mind putting in the effort for some good chassis protectant from the get-go to address it.
It's not ideal, but it is what it is.
Complaining about it isn't going to change anything short-term.

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