Well after the Yeti looking very sorry for itself being absolutely filthy, I gave it a wash, to my surprise I found rust, corrosion, ferrous oxide and what ever you want to call it.

 see the picture below, this is the bottom corner of the front drivers door.

 

 Quite surprised really on a 2 and a bit year old car, I presume there is an anti corrosion warranty?

 

 

 

Blimey, that's not good

there is, Jamie. Get it in and insist they sort it.

Yup, I've had this, although I have caught it early on.

 

Mine first registered Jan 2012, now on 26k miles.

 

It's caused by friction rubbing the paint down against the seal with accumulated road dirt. I've managed to contain it by regularly "whisping" (technical term) with aerosol paint and laquer and careful masking of the surrounding areas - probably a 0.25" strip vertically up from the bottom corner.

Mine has not progressed as yours, as I'm on top of it. It's worse in the winter months, more dirt, than in the summer.

 

I was first aware of this minor irritation as I run a fair few miles on gravel roads, and washing off the dirt afterwards was a priority as it looked a trouble spot from the outset.

 

It might be that gravity makes the dirt hang about on the lower edges as the top is fine.

I will have a ride across next week, hopefully they will sort it Lee.  I wonder if they will spray in the other chips on the front too whilst he has the paint out  :wonder:

All this talk of rust and paint defects on cars that are mostly under three years old is rather worrying, considering my last humble Citroen and Fiat had none at ten years old. Are the bad old days returning?

I will have a ride across next week, hopefully they will sort it Lee.  I wonder if they will spray in the other chips on the front too whilst he has the paint out  :wonder:

worth a try but I doubt it :( Good luck

Just ordered a white Yeti, does this colour rust more or just show it?

All this talk of rust and paint defects on cars that are mostly under three years old is rather worrying, considering my last humble Citroen and Fiat had none at ten years old. Are the bad old days returning?

 

Most unlikely.

Are you sure there was no rust - underneath? Cosmetic stuff you can see on top is easily spotted and rectified, but I bet it looks a nightmare on any car underneath after the first winter.

Apart from the new water based paints, standards are every increasing. It might be that "more" stone chips are appearing because we grit more in the winters, drive faster, generally drive too close to the car in front, our roads are deteriorating fast and we have less time for car TLC?

I don't think this worrying attitude is necessary. One colour does not rust more than another and white probably will show it more than a brown Yeti.

 

 Personally I think the rust is there because some time in the 100k miles it has done I might have caught the bottom corner of the door on something which has scratched the paint and revealed the metal hence the rusty bit.

 

 I also noticed thousands of stone chips on the front end, which incidentally are not rusty.