on the bottom of my doors on the inside are paint bubbles, possibly signs of rust. i noticed it one day drying the door jams in my car. anybody else have this issue? its right on the bottom of the door where it would meet rubber strip when the door is closed.

 

Try this thread. Hope the link works.
https://www.chevyhhr.net/forums/show...ght=rust+doors

 

those are the rust bubbles i have. should be under warranty. i think GM has a 5 year thing on body rust, hopefully its covered. my brother graduated from ohio tech and has certifications in auto body. he says it'll eventually rust through the outside of the door. I wonder if any one near buffalo NY (or any other area that uses crazy amounts of salt to clear roads) has holes in the doors already?

 

I posted the problem that I had under "Premature Unwanted Oxidation" - I know the problem you are having. Took mine to the dealer to see if it would be covered under GM's 100,000 mile rust program (I only had 48,000 at the time). I was informed that GM would not cover the rust problem. GM classified it as a "failure on the owners part" - for not keeping the areas on the bottom of the doors clean and dry (Just another GM copout for poor materials or workmanship). I always wipe the door jambs, around the doors, and especially the bottoms every time I wash mine. I have always had a habit, that if I can't wash the whole vehicle in the winter, that at least I keep the door jambs and inside of the doors clean. Luckily my local dealer agreed to repaint the bottom of the doors for me about three months ago. Unfortunately, I think they did a poor job - because I see a few of those rust bubbles coming back. Good luck - Hopefully you get better results.

 

Mine was covered under the 3yr bumper to bumper warranty.
The problem is the seams arent completely sealed when painted at the factory. I think the problem is actually made worse by washing the area, as it puts more water in there.

 

I flushed out the space where the mud collects as best I could - notice the drain holes. Then gave it lots of time to dry and finally squirted some oil in there to coat the steel.

 

I had the same thing happen to the doors on my 1994 Suburban. When it was 3 years old, there was a lot of rust and bubbling on the bottom inside edge.

My solution was to paint the inside bottom edge with POR-15 paint. Then I removed all 4 door panels and painted the bottom 2 inches inside of the door with the POR-15.

This fix lasted until I got rid of the Suburban in 2003.

I'll probably do this on my 2006 HHR this summer.

Here's a link to the POR-15:

http://www.por15.com/

Steve

 

We bought our HHR last spring, and in a matter of 3 months had it back into the dealer for this problem. The assured us it was fixed and did not know why it would do this. 6 months later we noticed it again....brought it back, they now claimed they corrected the problem this time. (That was just this Feb) March....not even a month later the rust is coming through again! We are now battling with the dealership and a GM rep supposedly is checking into it. We were told this past week it is caused by the stuff they are using on the Minnesota roads now and HHR's are susceptible to it.....but still nothing solved on how to fix the problem.

 

I haven't seen this problem yet on mine (under close inspection). I am a stickler when it comes to cleaning all of my vehicles, especially in the winter. In those times, I actually focus more on the chassis, fender wells, door jambs and the bottom of the doors.

If this thing presents itself anyway, then GM has something to reckon with.

This type of thing happened to me when I was a Toyota believer. Had an SR5 pickup where the frame was rusting within 3 years and the body was rusting from the inside out, even with the white glove care I gave it. I bought a second Toyota SR5 pickup 6 years later (I figured the 1st one was a fluke) and the frame also rusted as well as the body from the inside out. Toyota gave me no help or recourse.

No more Toyota for me.

Hope Chevy's not the same in regard to this, but I have other Chevys that are 8 years old, 10 years old and 23 years old with no rust, so I won't hold the HHR against them. I'd just want it fixed.

 

Do any of you have running boards? Just curious.