Door bottom edge rust

I would guess that body work was done to the door for it to begin rusting so quickly, especially if there were no scratches or chips were the rust began. I don't think that it is necessary to replace the entire door if it is prepared properly - primer, caulking, etc. We have body work on our Avalon that is 7 or 8 years old that is very difficult to detect, with no rust, etc.

You are absolutely right, Ray! Body work was done on this door. And it was done poorely. Of course the dealership won't replace the door. But obviously we have a fraud here. The dealership introduced the car in 2004 as "clean", "no repairs done". And I was the first owner. This was obviously a lie. I wonder what can I do now about it?

Rob

Ray O wrote:

The first step is to speak to the sales manager, then general manager, then owner of the dealership. If you do not get relief, then you may want to look into small claims court or local newspaper that offers consumer assistance in getting problems fixed. If the car is still covered by the factory warranty, you can cocntact the Toyota customer relations hot line. It sounds like this is technically not a warranty issue, but you may get lucky there.

Depending on the condition of the door that is currently installed on your car, a new door may or may not be the solution. I don't know if the door comes as an assembly or if the exterior skin has to be installed on the door frame. In either case, I don't think that replacement body panels are caulked at the hemmed seams and many body shops forget to calk the hemmed seams so rust eventually develops, making people think that the replacement body parts are inferior. It is also possible that aftermarket body parts were installed, which also tend to develop rust more quickly.

Good luck!