Turboo2u

I noticed at the bottom inside of both front doors, there are bubbles of rust forming!!. I haven't seen anything like this since I owned a 1980 Mazda RX-7
25 years ago! I took a small screwdriver and scraped away, and rust it is.
Is this normal for a 2009 MY HHR??

Mrs. DLVRNIT

Yes it is common in the Snow States! Feel free to use the above "search feature" for more threads on this subject .....

Best-O-Luck ,

foolmoon_design

They best way to help combat this is to keep a small towel in the car to wipe down the door bottoms and jams one or two times a week. The way the doors curve cause a little buildup at those seams. Five years doing this... Still no rust.

Turboo2u

Thanx for the advice but it seems to be too late. Looks like I'll have to scrape it down and repaint.

Dracos

Wouldn't it be less hassle to skin over the seams with silicone?

TiggersHHR

This may sound a little off the wall - but the first time it happened on my 2007 I took it into the dealer and they repainted the bottom of all four doors. That was in 2009 - since then it started to creep up on the doors again in 2011. This is the off the wall part - I sanded down the bottom of the front two doors, had some color match paint mixed up and put in spray cans at a local paint shop, mixed up some JB Weld, spread a thin layer of JB Weld over the seam area, let it cure for three days, lightly sanded it, and repainted the bottom of my doors. Seams to have cured the issue for me. Good luck.

IMPALADAKID

I am actually taking mine into the dealership body shop this morning for this issue. I am still under the factory rust through warranty til February 2013. So if it is covered I want it fixed by GM since it seems to be an issue that GM knew about and addressed along the way.
If not covered, I will fix myself. Anyone who decides to go this route, because of location, it is a very DIY job, providing the rust is surface only. I can certainly advise anyone on the repair if they are planning it in there driveway. Cost is about $50 for material if your paint code can be purchased over the counter. If it has to be custom mixed because it is not available OTC, cost would rise to about $75.

Old Lar

I suspect that the corrosion is on the inside of the door skin creeping through the seam. When I lived in the snow belt, all my cars had the seam bubbles after a few years, I believe that there isn't much you can do to really fix the issue except to perform temporary sand clean, repaint and repeat in a couple of years. Unless you open up the door panels to see just how much corrosion is on the inside all you will be doing is covering up the issue.

When I had the issue with one Chevy, covered under "lifetime rust through", all the dealer did is sand, slap on some bondo and repaint. It started bubbling again and I ended up covering the area with a fiberglass sheet overlapping the seam sanded smooth and repainted. It looked fine. I don't know how long that lasted as the car went to Maine and it was there for a few years until the corrosion got the best of the car.

geg

Just thoughts ...

Before starting this topic^ https://www.chevyhhr.net/forums/how-...l-61734/page3/, I looked for something similar on the site.
Unfortunately, I did not notice this thread/
Now I see this thread and carefully read it. About the towel and stuff.
I was interested in "Snow Belt". I thought: “Most of the Russia territory is a solid “Snow Belt ”, I live in the Urals where it snows 6-7 months a year. The guys from the snow states of America have a problem with all four doors. Why I have rust only on the right front door ? "
I asked myself this question and found the answer to it.
1. I know from a young age that if you keep your car in a warm garage in winter, it’s not very good. Frost and snow, picked up on the street, melt in the heat. Worst of all, the snow from the road is stuffed with salt and anti-icer. The body is energized (grounding), the road chemistry solution in combination with electricity eats away paint, the metal rots. This something like happens with sea vessels - salt water gnaws metal at an enormous speed. Cars that are stored on the street, less prone to rotting.
2. I keep my car in my yard, right in the snow in any weather. I just do not have a warm garage. And my doors do not rot, except for the right front. Why did it rot? Apparently, this door gets the heat that melts some of the snow. This heat comes from the cabin heater, which I direct directly to my legs. But why doesn't the driver's door rot? After all, the driver's door also receives a good portion of heat? Apparently, I open and shut this door at the entrance and exit. This short time is enough for the moisture to evaporate in sufficient quantity and not be able to damage my door. Why don't my back doors rot? Everything is simple - the heat does not reach them or the cooled air can no longer melt the snow.
3. Why do the American car rot all four doors? If all my previous words are true - warm garages are to blame. Many Americans live in individual houses and in each house exists a warm garage (I saw in the movies, correct me if I am mistaken).
Conclusion. To the American car did not rot in the American garage you just need to store it with slightly ajar doors. Or at least open all four doors for a couple of minutes before go to dinner.

As I wrote above - just thinking ... I do not pretend to be a Nobel. lol

solman98

In a nut shell, who knows. But it could also be the chemicals they put down on snow and ice that causes the issues. Many, if not all, of the northeast uses salt in winter. Those cars are usually identified with what we call "cancer" with all the rust. Now, when I lived in the pacific northwest, they used urea on the roads. Didn't see nearly as much rust. Granted I only live in that area about 12 years, but had the same Mustang all of it. In Washington State, no garage. In Montana, garage. When I left car was still rust free. So again, who knows.