BRZ BODY RUST!
 

I'm livid. The back half of my white BRZ premium is showing rust spotting. It's pretty bad on the trunk and above the rear wheels. I'm disgusted. I'm going to take it to Subaru this week when they hopefully get my new lights in. Both of my tail lights had really bad condensation.

My coworker had the same problem with his White WRX and warned me that Subaru paint was terrible. Subaru Canada has repainted almost 70% of his car and it's not even three years old. I'll try to take some photos of the rusting this week.

I live in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. We've had massive snow fall this year so there is a lot of salt on the roads. I still can't believe I'm seeing rust on a 2013 in less than 7 months of ownership. None of my other cars had this and I wash it at least once or twice per week. I also had it professionally opti-coated (2.0) right after I bought it.

hmm, I never had issues with my 03 wrx... nor is there any rust on my 06 forester now... and I'm in Ontario.

Post some pics.. would like to see it, but there shouldn't be any rust on a brand new car.

Since your car is white, maybe it's rail dust? Try to clay it out. Also it's not good to wash your car very often in the winter because it's the water that works with the salt that creates rust, not the frozen ice.

Pics please

Also, if you do get it re-painted or fixed, try a clear bra. Spend a little to save a lot!

What is rail rust? I can rub most of it off right now but that's little comfort.

If you can get it off then it's rail dust.. Just clay it more often since you have a white car it's a lot more visible than other colors

Does it look like this?

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v4...g?t=1204911256

Did the paint get clay bar like it should have been before opticoat?

Like shu said, without pics it sounds like rail dust. Little shards of metal that impregnate themselves in the paint during transportation then later rust(especially ugly on white). A few different approaches to the issue(google), but letting the dealership handle paint issues is not recommended if you ask me.

It could be worst..even seen mazda 3's ?

However I'd like to see pics also..it is rusting along the panel's edges or right in the middle? I'm driving through a lot of snow and salt also..keeping an eye out...

I had a 02 wrx and 6 winters later that car had no rust at all

Time to get serious with your 'professional' coater... Im sure you didnt pay him hundreds to have something like this going on UNDER the opticoat. Poor prep work is to blame for this oversight.

That's industrial fallout. Common and most visible on light colored paint.
Whether it's rail dust or not, it's likely iron particles that have started to rust. This isn't a manufacture problem.
IronX does wonders for that sort of contamination.

Exactly my thought... Probably didn't deironize the car before the Opti-coat application.

When cars are transported on railroad cars they are subject to rail/brake dust settling on them which happens naturally on trains. Rail dust, being tiny particles or steel will turn to rust in our natural environment. It happens to all cars but it is most noticeable on white cars. Your dealership is very familiar with this happening and have an acid wash that can be used to remove all signs of rust. It is not harmful to the finish of your car. Let the dealership take care of it for you under warranty.

If it's like what Shu posted, then it's not a big deal, just clay then wax. My '10 Altima coupe develops those spotting and I just clay it then wax, then it's good for a year. It's not your car rusting.

It's not the car's fault. Clay won't permanently fix it as clay will shear off the top layer of the iron particles. You need something like the Finish Kare decontamination system which will actually get all the crap out of the finish. Then, you need to keep it protected and clean it often to prevent it from coming back.

Rusting through the paint is extremely unlikely, especially considering your efforts thus far. Underbody/chassis/hardware rust is a possibility, but still not likely this early. Need pics!

You can thank your "professional" opticoater...probably didn't clay bar the car properly

Strip the opticoat, clay bar and detail your car...disaster averted

it looks like raildust, i had on my white evo x.

The car was washed 4 times, 100% clay barred and opticoated. I watched the guy do it and he has a great reputation. He spent 8 hours preparing and opticoating my car.

I watched him de-ionize the entire car before hand as well.

The rust spotting is behind the drivers side door, the trunk (Pretty much all of it) and around the rear fenders.

Photos are tough, I'll need to borrow my girlfriends SLR to get good shots of it.

de-ionize?

Sounds like typical raildust locations. Whether you think your guy is 'pro' or not the proof is in the paint. Someone didnt do a through job.A service thats worth anything will stand behind their work, hopefully this doesnt become a problem and they just fix it right.

The dealership is well aware of rail dust/rust and could have eliminated this problem when they did their PDI work. I'd dump it in their lap for not properly prepping your car for delivery. As I said in an earlier posting, they have a very simple bath solution to eliminate the problem that is not harmful to the cars finish.

Mine is rusted due to a deep scratch, I need to POR15 it, then prime then paint.. ugh when I have time.

I watched him de-ionize the car!

Here is what gets me about the responses to this thread...

What if I didn't opticoat the car? Most people don't and there shouldn't be a spec of rust on the car until years down the line.

It's not the car itself rusting. It's rail dust that was already ON the car from transportation starting to rust (and show up now) becuase the salt on the roads is making it do it. "rail dust" is just a term most of us are using, and it probably is from transportation and the guy who cleaned your car so awesome, didn't. We get it, you watched him, but my guess is you watched him do a shitty job.

If the car was actaully rusting you wouldn't be able to remove any of it like you said you can. I used to live in Michigan and I've seen this a bunch of times on new cars.

^ Yes. I was in Michigan in 1995 and bought a new white Pontiac Grand Am and it began showing up on my car shortly after I bought it. I went back to the dealership with the problem and within a short time they eliminated the problem. The service manager told me they usually took care of the problem before delivery and apologized for failing to do so.:burnrubber:

Subaru is replacing both my lights on Thursday and the service manager is going to look at my car and send photos to Subaru if necessary regarding the rust. I'll let you know how it goes.

You haven't mentioned if it looks like the picture posted. If so, it isn't your car rusting. Especially if you can rub it off with your finger and the paint is fine underneath. It takes iron to rust, and there isn't any in your paint.

I bet if you look closely, you'll be able to find specs of rail dust on plastic parts of the body.

It's fine that you want your dealer to look at the car anyway since you are taking it in, but they'll tell you the same thing we are.

My ex's white (non-coated) GTI had rail dust on it. I clean it off with a clay bar, and it never came back. It's not the car rusting.



Also, do you live in the city? It could just be rail dust/pollution that got on your car after it was Opti-Coated.

Sorry, I've been reading this thread at work and my proxy server strips the photos. Just looked at this photo on my phone and it does look pretty similar. I've called both my dealer and my detailer/opticoater.

I do live in the city and drive under a railway over pass everyday. I also think the rail dust/pollution/iron deposits could be from driving around country roads in Quebec on the way to the ski hills.

Thanks for the suggestions everyone.

If it was rusting I honestly wouldn't be surprised. When the 08 WRX remodel came out there was a recall for rust on the front of the rear quarters from the front tires flinging sand/rocks at it. They ended up putting thick clear bra like film on that location from the factory.

yeah, either your detail guy didn't prep well enough or you are getting iron fallout on your paint from another source now. Either way, it has nothing to do with the car you bought. I'm fairly certain your car will need to be properly stripped down, removing any opti-coat you have, for this problem to go away.

Thanks for mentioning earlier you live in a city and drive under a railway after everyone said it was likely rail dust. Your problem is a dirty car, not a rusty one. Now that I read this I'm sure your detailer did I fine job and you've picked up iron dust since. It's really easy to see on really light colored cars.

All white cars look like that. It's not rust. If you have studded winter tires it usually gets even worse.

It's what someone stated it's just crap that's on the roads (from railways and such). All cars get's this but on white it's ALOT more visibile.

It will be better or worse depending on where you live and how much you drive :)
You can remove it with cleaner clay and at my workplace we have a special liquid that you can apply to the
"rust spots" and it will erase them with just water flushed over.

What is this rust that you speak of?

so much misinformation in this thread!


these are IRON deposits that eat themselves into the clearcoat, also known as rail rust and it's present on all cars that were train-sported and left untreated by their original buyers.

that's why when i bought my car i had it cleaned by a professional (In my case, Hamza) by using a combination of claying and special compound that helps to remove these iron deposits.

here is my car, see that purple stuff, that's iron deposits, my entire car turned purple after the application of IRON-X

http://getdetailed.ca/wp-content/upl...0/DSCF5187.jpg


so after a wash, iron-x, claying, and polishing, my paint was sealed using opti-coat

i have no rust spots on the car.


the dealership will most likely deny coverage but good luck anyway.

i suggest you contact a local detailer to see if they can iron-x/claybar/polish because the last thing you want is to actually re-paint a brand new car.


and if you live in an area of high air pollution/rail sediment then invest into a high protection wax/coating/sealant and re-apply/clean regularly to avoid the contaminates from getting to the base layer

Also do a search in the forums for spots or brown spots. I've seen a thread where someone else has had this type problem.

This isn't always just from shipping and transport. If you live/work/drive in an area where there's a lot of industry you'll see this too. There are a lot more things that contribute to iron or metals in the air, it's not just trainspotting! LOL
Yes, there is a lot of misinformation here...

Not just that, but if you drive PERIOD, you're going to get iron deposits from brake dust.

I have a white BRZ and I have A LOT of those rail dust near my trunk area only. My car has been opticoated since August.

My question is:
If I put iron x on the area do I have to reapply opticoat?