Rust on Winnebago Frame Components

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mrschwarz

mrschwarz

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Joined
Jun 7, 2009
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This is an old topic that I have seen earlier posts on, but I thought I should bring it up again. When connecting the shore power cord yesterday, the gasket  around the hatch fell off the at the bottom of the hatch. When I inspected it, I discovered that it was still glued to the paint. It's just that the paint was no longer attached to the metal frame around it.

On closer inspection, it appears that there is a lot of rust around the metal frame throughout the outside of the coach. I crawled underneath and found a lot of the Winnebago manufactured steel was in the same shape. On the other hand, the Freightliner chassis and attached components are fine. I have written to Winnebago since this is clearly a manufacturing defect.

I might be able to do the work, but I still have a job that requires travel and I don't have the amount of time that it would take to do the surface prep, masking and coating. It is a bigger painting job than I have done before and may be beyond my abilities to complete.

I would most likely wind up having to pay someone to take care of it for me and that's a huge expense.

Based on some of the posts I have read, there are quite a few folks that have had the same problem. Has anyone else had any success getting Winnebago to participate in getting this taken care of?
 
Have had 3 Winnebago products, had the same problem on all three. Corrected the problem myself with sanding, applying rust preventer and several coats of rust preventing paint. The braves had rubber seals that snapped in place but the Journey had the glued on seals. I put then back on with a contact cement.

Not that big or hard of a job but was time consuming. Being retired, that didn't bother me and the cost was minimal. Everyones situation is different though.

Good luck, and any body shop should be able to handle that. While in Florida last winter, there was a mobile tech that did body work on your site.
 
On my 06' Meridian I had the kick plate under the entry door nearly fall off due to rusting out. I had to unscrew the body trim panel and completely replace the metal backing plate. I used two galvanized Simpson PA straps cut to length. John is right, this long after the warranty period will be pretty tough getting that covered.

I also had to sand and do some repainting on the metal surrounding the bay doors as well. Did the same a Wizard though. Sanded and painted with Rustoleum. 
 
We did some of our access panels and some of the frames a couple of years ago and the following year there were rust spots where the metal was pitted (yes, I followed the directions to a T but apparently did something wrong). We then decided last fall to have it professionally done at I believe $600 and a week later it was better than new. They did all the way around and it is even thicker and more solid looking than before (if that makes any sense). The body shop did comment on how thin the initial paint treatment was on all of the framing. We are extremely pleased with the results and would highly recommend that if you don't have the time/skills/desire to do it yourself then have the pros do it. Everytime we now open the bay doors we no longer feel like we are looking at a 10 year old coach but a brand new one.

We did talk to a Winnie rep about it a couple of years ago at a show and he said that they were using the same process as Ford and therefore do not understand why there would be any issues?  :-\
 
I had the same issue on my 08 Journey.  No surprise as I use it year around in Midwest winters.  Found a product called POR 15 rust preventer and applied it all around my compartment frames and underneath. Also removed my retractable steps and stripped and repainted those. You need to top coat the POR15 if it is exposed to sun as it will fade.  I'm satisfied with the results.  Good luck.
 
POR15 (with their Metal Ready primer/etcher, and Chassis Coat black as a top coat) is now my absolute first choice for rust prevention on parts that you can't take to a powder coater.  I used that system on the bumpers I had built for our Jeep Rubicon and I am really, really impressed with the product.  The guy that builds the bumpers recommends them and now I see why.

I used POR15 on my bumpers before I found a local powder coater, or I would have had them powder coated, but I'm glad I now have experience with the POR products.
 
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