ATF: Road Warrior - Aluminum Corrosion ?

Gimpy

Member
I purchased my 2013 305 from a Heartland Road Warrior dealer in North Carolina in 2015. It was a left over that they sold and was bought back when the owners used it one time and traded it in for a larger trailer.

My question is the aluminum siding on the passenger side looks to be corroding. I now see a bubble on the drivers side. What do you all think it is?

Photo 1 to 3 are the passenger side and photo 4 & 5 are the drivers side.
 

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blaird

Member
Not a metal expert but yea that's what it looks like to me. is the black on there painted or a decal. From the location and with the bubble It looks like water is getting behind that strip that seperates the top and bottom. And then working it's way down behind the paint / decal. And then just sitting and slowly eating it away. Further up it looks like the caulking might be cracked or drying so I suspect that water just got behind there and with no place to go it started to do what trapped water does and break stuff.

Certainly I'm not an expert but just my .02 worth.
 

Gimpy

Member
Not a metal expert but yea that's what it looks like to me. is the black on there painted or a decal. From the location and with the bubble It looks like water is getting behind that strip that seperates the top and bottom. And then working it's way down behind the paint / decal. And then just sitting and slowly eating it away. Further up it looks like the caulking might be cracked or drying so I suspect that water just got behind there and with no place to go it started to do what trapped water does and break stuff.

Certainly I'm not an expert but just my .02 worth.

The bottom body is painted aluminum and is not a decal. No way for water to get between the paint and aluminum.

- - - Updated - - -

Factory rep wants me to take it to a dealer. It will be Friday before I haul it again and the dealer is on my route.
 

JohnDar

Prolifically Gabby Member
Looks like filiform corrosion to me. Any breach of the coating that exposes the aluminum to halides, aka. salt, can be the initiation point. The surface will show blistering and filament-like tracks under it. Similar to what happens to a clear coated aluminum wheel.
 

mlpeloquin

Well-known member
Paint can bubble if it was painted with high humidity and not dry enough. A perhaps a scratch, or edge which doesn't take paint well allowed salt water to get in. Eather way it needs to be addressed. Looks like it is on the J panel only. They are defiantly thin. Perhaps it was taken out after the last freeze and the first rain had some salt in it.
 

travelin2

Pennsylvania Chapter Leaders-retired
We used to own a Buick Riveria that had mostly an aluminum body. The front of the engine hood exhibited these same symptoms. A local body shop remedied it by stripping the paint, using an acid to remove the oxidation, and then repainted. Was still looking good years after


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Gimpy

Member
That is what I was thinking, taking to a body shop that did a great job on my wifes SUV a few years back from hail damage.
 

JohnDar

Prolifically Gabby Member
H'mmm finally an explanation that makes sense with my expensive Ford aluminum wheels.

View attachment 44736
I became familiar with it when Eldorados being shipped to the west coast were arriving with flat tires. Seems the maker of the mounting lube changed the formulation by adding a large amount of salt as a thickener. Had to rub a Ph.D's nose in my failure analysis report.



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