I have a 2012 jku. I've had bubbling for a while on my hinges. Now the paint is popping off. What's your advice? Just replace them? With what? I'm sure others have experienced this. I assume my Chrysler lifetime max care warranty wouldn't cover this?

 

I took mine off, media blasted them, and bed lined them. Pretty common problem some of smarter people might be able to explain the metallurgical reasons why.

 

I have a 13. Had mine repainted under warranty about a year and a half ago. Saw some bubbling and was like no way. The guy at the dealer body shop said the problem was that jeep started using aluminum hinges on the doors and never upgraded the size of the gasket between the door and the hinge. No problem with steel door against steel hinge. But steel door coming in contact with aluminum hinge. Boom oxidation. FCA is aware of the problem so I wonder how much shit they give you. The fix was to replace with larger door hinge gaskets and repaint.

 

Yep, steel and aluminum when in contact are subject to galvanic corrosion. It takes an electrolyte for it to actually occur, and on a vehicle that will often be water contaminated with road salts. Interestingly, my '07 has never had this problem. I have no explanation why.

 

Yeah, I know a bit about galvanic corrosion. It's a big headache for me at work now. One of the products I'm responsible for is on the Boeing 787. It's an aluminum part mounted to carbon fiber. By itself it is fine. However, we found that it can make contact with an insulation blanket on the plane. If that blanket is wet (from condensation) the circuit is complete and corrosion starts. Back to our jeeps: aluminum is a Group 2 metal and steel is a group 3. When metals from different groups are in contact with each other, that introduces the galvanic corrosion potential.

 

MorRyde should be bringing out their hinges relatively soon as a replacement option. They should be steel like the tailgate hinges they currently produce. It may be an option for you.

 

You live in New Jersey... the rust belt... like me here in Pittsburgh
Living where we do... rust / corrosion happens. I'm also very familiar with galvanic corrosion, I'm in the engineering dept at a nuke plant and the NDE/ASNT LIII. Corrosion is my life, and it has made me a metric shit ton of money Those hinges get lumpy/scale under the paint around here in 2 winters, it is because the door and the hinge are not coated at the joint/interface. If you remove them, it is bare primer on both the hinge and door surface where the 2 meet. So your de-ice chemicals find their way in from capillary action... and there you have it. Galvanic corrosion combined with caustic chemicals and a wetted environment that has oxygen available to feed the process. Corrosion requires a susceptible material, a catalyst, and moisture. Here you have multiples, and a shitty as hell coating process that does not help to prevent the process.

Do what I do, toss the Jeep into storage from November 1 to April 15, drive a second vehicle that your not in love with all winter. I just got a 2017 Ram Rebel Hemi for my winter beater, so it can set waiting all summer unless the Jeep is needing trailered to a far away event, but come November it becomes the daily driver and it is Big Willys turn to set and wait.

 

I'm a retired body shop owner and most vehicles have a paint warranty of 100,000 miles so check with your dealer and see if that is in effect.

 

Incorrect, they have a X-years and X-miles corrosion warranty, and that is stated to protect you in the case of "perforation"... not rust as in surface rust or paint that is dull or peeling.

Perforation is defined as a hole, material wastage to the point that there is no material. A Pennsylvania rust hole... you know, rocker panels, lower door pinch seams and door skins, quarter panels and bed sides.... all the things that blister from the inside out because the panel has perforated from the back side and is now showing blistered paint.

 

For the 2012 Wrangler:
https://www.jeep.com/crossbrand/6.7/...p_warranty.pdf

Pages 8 and 9:

2.2 Corrosion Warranty
A. Who Is Covered?
You are covered if you are a purchaser for use of
the vehicle.
B. What’s Covered
This warranty covers the cost of all parts and labor
needed to repair or replace any sheet metal panels
that get holes from rust or other corrosion. If a hole
occurs because of something other than corrosion,
this warranty does not apply. Cosmetic or surface
corrosion — resulting, for example, from stone
chips or scratches in the paint — is not covered.
For more details on what isn’t covered by this
warranty, see 3.5.

C. How Long It Lasts
The Corrosion Warranty starts when your Basic
Limited Warranty begins under 2.1(E).
This warranty has two time-and-mileage limits:
• For sheet metal panels, the limit is 36 months, with no
mileage limit.
• For an outer-body sheet metal panel — one that is
finish-painted and that someone can see when walking
around the vehicle — the limits are 5 years or
100,000 miles on the odometer, whichever occurs first.