Anyone have rust bubbling under black portion of B piller?

[EChid]

Hello all, I took my Mazda into the dealer to get the rust it has (wheel wells) and the bubbling underneath the black portion of the b-piller in the front of the rear doors. Mazda has refused to fix it saying its "not a sealable part of the body." I think that is a load of BS personally, but has anyone else had issues with this and had it fixed? Or found the same thing as me?

[deebro]

I was also told it was not covered, don't remember the reason.

Unfortunate really as it's extremely obvious.

[MAZDA Kitten]

Yes I have it too. WTF is it up with this car and rusting. BS

[matt]

anyone know where I can get some of that black tape looking stuff, part of mine is scratched and coming off I would like to recover it

[EChid]

I'm going to attempt to call their bluff on this tomorrow and see what happens.

[ArcticMZ3]

I have this on 2 of my doors. Sucks! I haven't taken mine in to have it looked at yet.

I've heard that the car is painted body colour under the black applique, and it is the painted part under the black part that rusts (just heard this...I haven't seen it myself, so I'm not sure how accurate this is).

[mazdabetty]

noooooo!!! Not another part to worry about :(

And here I was thinking I'd be rust-free for at least the summer...

[ZeroChalk]

photo?

[Flagrum_3]

noooooo!!! Not another part to worry about :(

And here I was thinking I'd be rust-free for at least the summer...

LOL you kill me!


Anyways....:ttiwwp



_3

[DreamM3]

Yup. I have it too... it's a pain. getting it fixed next week.

[crunchie46]

I had this problem and had it coverered by the dealership when i was getting the rust on my rear fenders fixed.

[Saphress]

I'm told that it's covered under warrenty (B Pillar)... I'm just waiting for a good time to give up driving for 2-3 days... :P

[Rusty04Mazda3]

Hi,

First post here but just wanted to share some information with all of you in the hopes that it may help some of you.

I took delivery of my car new back in April 2004, I started to see evidence of rust within 2.5 years starting with the bubbling on the b pillar. At the time when I mentioned this to my dealership in the GTA I was told that this is a surface rust issue not covered by the warranty. A year and a half later, when in for another service I mentioned that it was getting worse and that there was some minor bubbling around the wheel well and I pretty much got the same response... "mazda canada will not cover this". My plan at that point in time was to wait until a couple months before my warranty expiration date (5 years unlimited KM for rust) to take my car to an independant mechanic for a third party assesment, I was hoping at the time that the bit of internet speculation regarding the rust issue and Mazda's reluctance to fix the problem (as of early 2008) would eventually bubble over. Well, when the service manager looked at my car in March, the only question asked was "when can you bring the car in". They will have had my car for 3 weeks this Saturday when I expect to pick it up, the repairs were supposed to be completed within a week. The service manager has said that the body shop has continued to find more problem spots and that the bill will be in excess of $6000 with essentially all of my car having been repainted.

What I hope those of you in the same boat will get from this is the following:
1) Mazda knows they have a major rust issue with early Mazda 3's
2) My car did not have any "holes", the worst of my rust was some bubbling on the b pillars and rear wheel wells, contrary to what some dealers will tell you, you don't have to have perforation.
3) Speak with the service manager, tell him/her that you've done research online and that Mazda is repairing vehicles. Be prepared to elevate the issue and document your discussions, take pictures as well.

Good luck to all of you!

[mazda lover]

Hi,

First post here but just wanted to share some information with all of you in the hopes that it may help some of you.

I took delivery of my car new back in April 2004, I started to see evidence of rust within 2.5 years starting with the bubbling on the b pillar. At the time when I mentioned this to my dealership in the GTA I was told that this is a surface rust issue not covered by the warranty. A year and a half later, when in for another service I mentioned that it was getting worse and that there was some minor bubbling around the wheel well and I pretty much got the same response... "mazda canada will not cover this". My plan at that point in time was to wait until a couple months before my warranty expiration date (5 years unlimited KM for rust) to take my car to an independant mechanic for a third party assesment, I was hoping at the time that the bit of internet speculation regarding the rust issue and Mazda's reluctance to fix the problem (as of early 2008) would eventually bubble over. Well, when the service manager looked at my car in March, the only question asked was "when can you bring the car in". They will have had my car for 3 weeks this Saturday when I expect to pick it up, the repairs were supposed to be completed within a week. The service manager has said that the body shop has continued to find more problem spots and that the bill will be in excess of $6000 with essentially all of my car having been repainted.

What I hope those of you in the same boat will get from this is the following:
1) Mazda knows they have a major rust issue with early Mazda 3's
2) My car did not have any "holes", the worst of my rust was some bubbling on the b pillars and rear wheel wells, contrary to what some dealers will tell you, you don't have to have perforation.
3) Speak with the service manager, tell him/her that you've done research online and that Mazda is repairing vehicles. Be prepared to elevate the issue and document your discussions, take pictures as well.

Good luck to all of you!

Over $6000 for paint repairs, they are full of it. They are making it sound like they are doing you a big favour by saying they are spending a lot of $ on your car..3 weeks sounds like a long time..
Good luck with your repairs.

[Rusty04Mazda3]

Over $6000 for paint repairs, they are full of it. They are making it sound like they are doing you a big favour by saying they are spending a lot of $ on your car..3 weeks sounds like a long time..
Good luck with your repairs.

You may very well be right regarding the $6000... I'm picking up the car tonight and will finally be able to see first hand just what they've done.

But the repair has included the following:

new rear doors
new trunk lid
new rear bumper (its a plastic bumper so I'm unsure as to why it would need to be replaced but they did say something about the fasteners???)
new metal on:
rear fenders, rocker panels, all wheel wells
and the whole car has been repainted.

A number of years back when I wanted to fully repaint a honda civic prior to selling it (I thought that car was a rust bucket but my Mazda is MUCH worse)I got quotes from $2500 through $3500, so the $6000 while certainly not wholesale may not be off the mark for the retail value if they HAVE done all items listed above. My car was on its 4th year and 11th month with over 140,000KM so its probably about as bad an example as you'll get, . I will put a post in tonight regarding the results.

[thanu31]

wow which dealer did all that for you?!

[Go_Habs_Go]

You may very well be right regarding the $6000... I'm picking up the car tonight and will finally be able to see first hand just what they've done.

But the repair has included the following:

new rear doors
new trunk lid
new rear bumper (its a plastic bumper so I'm unsure as to why it would need to be replaced but they did say something about the fasteners???)
new metal on:
rear fenders, rocker panels, all wheel wells
and the whole car has been repainted.

A number of years back when I wanted to fully repaint a honda civic prior to selling it (I thought that car was a rust bucket but my Mazda is MUCH worse)I got quotes from $2500 through $3500, so the $6000 while certainly not wholesale may not be off the mark for the retail value if they HAVE done all items listed above. My car was on its 4th year and 11th month with over 140,000KM so its probably about as bad an example as you'll get, . I will put a post in tonight regarding the results.


Thanks for posting your experience and sharing that with us. Please let us know how the car looks when you get it back!

I don't think 6000$ is excessive when it comes to body work/rust removal/repainting/etc. I had an Acura Integra with a lot of rust issues completely repainted about 4 years ago and it cost me close to 3000$. They replaced both doors and cut out a lot of the rear wheel wells. I went to a shop that was recommended to me and the guy definitely gave me a lower price than he would give a dealer no doubt. You also seem to have a lot more rust than my Integra did!

Post some pics of the car if you can! (before and after would be great). :)

[mazda lover]

You may very well be right regarding the $6000... I'm picking up the car tonight and will finally be able to see first hand just what they've done.

But the repair has included the following:

new rear doors
new trunk lid
new rear bumper (its a plastic bumper so I'm unsure as to why it would need to be replaced but they did say something about the fasteners???)
new metal on:
rear fenders, rocker panels, all wheel wells
and the whole car has been repainted.

A number of years back when I wanted to fully repaint a honda civic prior to selling it (I thought that car was a rust bucket but my Mazda is MUCH worse)I got quotes from $2500 through $3500, so the $6000 while certainly not wholesale may not be off the mark for the retail value if they HAVE done all items listed above. My car was on its 4th year and 11th month with over 140,000KM so its probably about as bad an example as you'll get, . I will put a post in tonight regarding the results.

didn't realise the car needed so much work, thought it was just a bit of a repaint...so the cost might not be too far off, the repair cost is probably half the value of the car?

[DreamM3]

Ohh boy... I just noticed a few more spots this morning on the pillers... gotta get that fixed. STAT

[Rusty04Mazda3]

Hi,

It turns out the total repair cost was about $4500, a new trunk and rear bumber were not required, and they did not paint the hood, front fenders or rear bumper. Overall it looks pretty good and they did a good job with blending the paint. But it is still a bit odd that in profile my car looks pretty much new but if you look from the front or back you see the typical wear and tear you'd have on a five year old car. It was a bit disappointing that they did not paint the whole thing... had I known I would have offered to kick in a few $$$ to get the whole car painted.

As far as workmanship is concerned, I was a bit disappointed that it appears they had a rough time removing/reinstalling the plastic rocker panels (Factory GFX package) and there are several indentations where the plastic meets up with the metal rocker. Otherwise they did a good job, the interior was fully vacuumed and washed. I was advised that the repair has a one year warranty but that they will definately have a look if anything happens inside of 2 years.

I have to say that overall I'm pleased with the outcome and that Oakville Mazda handled it well (I purchased my car their and have had about half my service appointments).

[Rusty04Mazda3]

[QUOTE=Rusty04Mazda3;425837]Hi,

It turns out the total repair cost was about $4500, a new trunk and rear bumber were not required, and they did not paint the hood, front fenders or rear bumper. Overall it looks pretty good and they did a good job with blending the paint. But it is still a bit odd that in profile my car looks pretty QUOTE]

Got to watch my spelling... good thing a rear bumber was not required LOL.

I'll try to post pictures of the finished work, I never took pictures of what it looked like before though.

[EChid]

Alright, I finally sorted out the B piller issue. It turns out that part is $23 a piece and can be repaired in 2 hours, meaning about $180 all in, so not worth getting worked up about. Mazda won't cover it because its "ornimental"

[sauga_kid]

You might want to double check that. I think its $23 for the vinyl pieces, its going to cost a little more to sand down the rust, prime and paint each pillar.

[EChid]

He said there isn't much behind the black pieces, so theoretically no sanding down. Besides, if rust is found on the metal behind the blackstrip that becomes a warrenty matter because its part of the body.

[Thrizzl3]

hopefully this bs gets taken care of when i go in for the rust warranty

http://i455.photobucket.com/albums/qq273/guranteed_justice/IMG00114.jpg

http://i455.photobucket.com/albums/qq273/guranteed_justice/IMG00116.jpg

[mazdabetty]

AAAAAAAAAAAAHH!!! It's horrible.... I can't look :(

[Bean]

The more rust problems I see, the angrier I get

[RedRaptor]

I discovered a rust bubble on my B-pillar as well underneath the black tape. How disappointing...

My car is a 2004 and my warranty is up. Will the dealership or Mazda Canada still cover this?

[Bean]

I highly doubt it.

:(

[RedRaptor]

Ahhhhhh...

Lame! Oh well...I'm never buying another Mazda again.

[Krisekca]

Parts number for B pillar ? to me looks like its a mold i don't think that can be replaced

Im fighting rust with Amsoil Rust Dry Spray on outside .. so far so good
03/04 Mazda

[HYPER GEAR]

Its vinyl covered metal. That why I hate it. Why cant they just painted instead of putting an vinyl over it.

[Ex-Rolla]

Hello all, I took my Mazda into the dealer to get the rust it has (wheel wells) and the bubbling underneath the black portion of the b-piller in the front of the rear doors. Mazda has refused to fix it saying its "not a sealable part of the body." I think that is a load of BS personally, but has anyone else had issues with this and had it fixed? Or found the same thing as me?

Yup... looks like friggin zits!!! It's annoying as hell to look at. Haven't spoken to the dealer about it though. Would be curious to see what they say. Next time i take it in i'll mention it.

[m3mtl]

I had my two rear doors replaced because of rust under the vinyl on the door frame. It was done under warranty.

[RedRaptor]

Yup... looks like friggin zits!!! It's annoying as hell to look at. Haven't spoken to the dealer about it though. Would be curious to see what they say. Next time i take it in i'll mention it.

Change dealerships and take it to AsianCourt (Agincourt) Mazda. Karen will be able to help you.