So I have a 2011 JKU with about 8000 miles. Last week while installing some side steps I noticed a small dent on the frame that's had rusted out and paint flaking off. I also have rust on my tow hooks. Is the normal for a jeep 6mths old? Should I take it to the stealership?

 

Have you taken it off road and hit something? Or used the tow hooks to get pulled out? If not, I would definitely take it in and make them repair it under warranty. There shouldn't be any rust on it with so few miles, especially down in TX where they don't have salt on the roads.

 

X2. Not at all normal. We Jeepers take the quirks with our jeep in stride cause we all love the vehicle but that is just plain unacceptable. Take it in an have them fix the issue.

 

that is a beautiful pic you have as your avitar! but salt air and salty snd will eat up metal.

 

I have taken it offroad but mostly trails nothing to exteme.

 

Bahadden this pic was taken about a month ago, I was @ the beach for about 2 days. Once I returned home I made sure to watch the undercariage. Is it possible to get rust that quickly?

 

I would say yes, my top and doors are off 24/7 and i have rust in some places like the brackets underneath the seats

 

As long as the jeep was not obviously offroaded or scratches from offroading then i would take it in.
6 months old and rust is not cool when you spend 25,00+ I wouldnt be happy if my LOD rock sliders rusted after 6 months and they cost allot less.

 

I wonder if they had a problem at the plant with their corrosion dip or something?

My 2011 came from the dealer with quite a bit of underbody rust. I discovered it a few days after I got it home and was underneath to install my bumpers. The mount brackets for the shocks, trackbars, and swaybar links both front and rear, spots on the axle tubes, and places on the frame rails were rusting and had paint flaking off. I have never seen rust on a Jk like this (and I have owned 3). Rather than take it into a dealer and let them screw something up, I just fixed it myself. Steps I followed to fix:

1) Mix up some baking soda and water, put it in a spray bottle and spray down everything that showed rust. This is to neutralize anything acidic under there.
Rinse well with water. I did this just in case they had run the Jeep through a puddle of something caustic that caused the rust.

2) Unbolt the shocks, trackbars, and swaybars from the mounts and move out of the way. If your control arm mounts are rusty also, do them separately, as you need to leave something hooked up while you work in order to keep the axle on.

3) Hit the rusted areas with a wire wheel on your drill to remove the surface rust. Don't press hard, just let it graze the surface to take off the surface rust (you don't want to go deep into the metal).

4) Wipe down the sanded areas to remove the sanding dust.

5) Spray paint the areas with rattlecan black. I used a special rustoleum that is supposed to bond with surface rust and stop it from progressing.

6) Once paint is dry, reassemble everything.

I am much more confident in my fix than anything the dealer would do.

 

I've never heard of this approach. I know (and use) the baking soda/water mix to neutralize the sulfuric acid found on or near car battery cable mounts.

Rust is Ferrous Oxide. I thought that was a oxidation process rather than an acid? If the combo works on both, I'll start using it under my jeep too!

Using Rustoleum is a the easiest fix for this problem. After you've prepped the area, just shoot it with rattle can rustoleum. I suggest you not use the hammered appearance rustoleum. I tried it and still got rust. The regular paints however, have been very durable.