[chaudh2s]

My punto faced a similar rusting issue in the ninth month of ownership. All four doors, boot lid and bonnet were replaced under warranty. Taking advantage of the situation, got the whole car repainted to yellow color (from grey) only paying for the paint job on the non warranty items.
The reason for rust was attributed to a metal strip in door beading(which would rub against the body and start rusting). The door beading design was modified in subsequent batches of punto.

[Soumyajit9]

Originally Posted by Sahil

I am facing a similar issue with my 4 year old Toyota Fortuner. There are rust water stains now visible below the rear quarter panel glass, it seems like the rust is from below the glass/window's beading.
I believe most manufacturers give at least a 10 year warranty from rust and corrosion? Is this applicable for Toyota too?

I read the user manual of Chevrolet, and it says 3 years Anti-Corrossion warranty. 10 years would be a long time. Not sure about Toyota.

Originally Posted by abhinav.s

This is what i remember reading in the owners manual of my 2010 Spark PS. The vehicle is rust proofed for 3 years and there is no need of any extra rust proofing for the car. Owing to this i never went for any anti-rust coating etc for the car!
But just 3.5 years on and rusting in the door panel is quite shocking! Glad you are taking up the issue with the authorities concerned. Hope GM does resolve it for you.

I am dropping them a reminder email to them today. Hopefully they wake up from slumber.

Originally Posted by chaudh2s

My punto faced a similar rusting issue in the ninth month of ownership. All four doors, boot lid and bonnet were replaced under warranty. Taking advantage of the situation, got the whole car repainted to yellow color (from grey) only paying for the paint job on the non warranty items.
The reason for rust was attributed to a metal strip in door beading(which would rub against the body and start rusting). The door beading design was modified in subsequent batches of punto.

In my case, I do not see any metal parts rubbing. The rubber beading of the door was intact too till Feb 2014. It is interesting to see that the beading has become loose. That is the reason why I was able to notice the rust. Had the beadings been intact I would have never noticed the rust and one fine day, the door would just have disintegrated !! Would have been killer shock for me. Since this is in early stage, I am hoping GM would pay attention and get it fixed at the earliest.

[Soumyajit9]

It has been the 4th day today, from the day I reported the issue.
There has been no callbacks either from Kropex or General Motors.

Dropped a reminder email.

from: Soumyajit Laha <soumyajit9@gmail.com>
to: xx.xxxxxxxxxx@gm.com
cc: vp.operations@kropexindia.com
date: Fri, Sep 19, 2014 at 10:42 AM
subject: Re: Rust on Door Panels - Chevrolet Beat LT Petrol - KA 51 MB 1922
mailed-by: gmail.com

Hi Mr. Somashekhar,

I am not sure if you are treating this matter with seriousness and of importance to maintain a good relationship with an existing customer.

I have posted this matter with a leading automobile forum - Team-BHP.
Here is the link for your reading: http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/techni...ml#post3533890

I see that some existing Beat and Spark owners are also reporting the same matter and have posted their experience in this thread.
As a general opinion, followers and members or the Team-BHP automobile community are quite shocked at a 3.5 years old car catching rust.

For you and General Motors, this may be an one off case since many cases might go unreported.
For me, its my first car and very close to my heart, and pains me to see it going to dust, and General Motors not coming forward to take corrective actions.

The recent case of the Captiva catching fire is also quite shocking. It speaks volumes about the quality level of Chevrolet products these days.
A brand doesn't sustain by just selling a product and then washing off the hands after sales.
It is the reliability of the product, the service level and the effort of the brand to come forward to resolve customer complaints, which helps the brand sustain.

I would appreciate if you could liaise with Kropex India Pvt Ltd, Hosur Road, Bangalore and take a decision to fix this problem at the earliest before the problem becomes exponentially bigger.

Regards,
Soumyajit Laha
+91-988-689-4668

[motomaverick]

So what does the VP operations have to say? Think you should inform her that this may spread quickly if unattended as we are having rains on and off in Bangalore currently, and later if GM says you are not under warranty, you might have to shell out more.

[Mortis]

I had a similar problem with my Beat after 1.5 years of ownership ( Bought in May 2011). Living in Juhu, Mumbai right next to the sea has its obvious corrosion problems. But however the beading is poorly designed and doesnt fit snugly and after exposure to sunlight etc it opens up even more and water collects and rusting occurs.
I checked a couple of other Beats in my area and they also had similar rusting problems.
The affected parts were replaced. Even then the beading did not fit properly and I knew the same problem would reoccur so I very patiently sealed the beading to the door frame using a thin bead of silicone sealant applied through a syringe.

My Beat is 3.5 years old now and a couple of weeks ago while cleaning the car I noticed quite a bit of bubbling/rusting on the dor frame above the window, on all four doors on the INSIDE this time !

I am going to get it treated of course but I will have to wait for a month atleast for the humidity to go down otherwise the paint job will be useless.

I have the extended warranty, is the rusting covered by it ?

[Soumyajit9]

As soon as I sent the reminder email, I received a call from Mr. Somashekhar.
He said that the fixing job has been approved and has been communicated to Kropex CASS.
I informed him that no one from Kropex has called me to schedule an appointment.
He informed that he will make sure someone from Kropex gets in touch with me at the earliest.

In less than 2 minutes I received a call from Mr. Shankar, the SA who had attented to the service on Monday.
He informed that the body shop has told that they would require 5 days to fix the rusting and I need to inform him atleast 2 days in advance so that they can be prepared.

Since I am working in US timings this week, hitching a bus ride to work is out of cards and I need the car. Hence informed him that I would be bringing in the car next to next week.

I am very impressed by the positive attitude of General Motors, specifically Mr. Somashekhar who have agreed to get the issue resolved as a warranty repair.

I will keep you guys posted when the job is done and how was the experience with Kropex CASS bodyshop.

[sugathan]

Thanks a ton Soumyajit9. Our less than 2 year old chevy beat has the rust spots in exactly the same spot as yours. Noticed it after reading your post. Surprisingly when we told the dealer at palakkad (geeyem motors), they called thrissur branch and sent them the pics of the rusted spots and it was approved for repair almost immediately! absolutely no arguments from their end. i suppose this is a real common issue with gm cars!. The car will be picked up on monday for repairs as we stay about 100 kms from their thrissur workshop. Thanks again.

[gmhossain]

Originally Posted by Soumyajit9

As soon as I sent the reminder email, I received a call from Mr. Somashekhar.
He said that the fixing job has been approved and has been communicated to Kropex CASS.
I informed him that no one from Kropex has called me to schedule an appointment.
He informed that he will make sure someone from Kropex gets in touch with me at the earliest.

In less than 2 minutes I received a call from Mr. Shankar, the SA who had attented to the service on Monday.

It's quite encouraging that your pursued the matter to the management of GM and glad to know that they have agreed to do the necessary fixing job. Owing accountability often seems to be a rare commodity in our country!

[arjithin]

Originally Posted by Soumyajit9

Since I am working in US timings this week, hitching a bus ride to work is out of cards and I need the car. Hence informed him that I would be bringing in the car next to next week.

I will keep you guys posted when the job is done and how was the experience with Kropex CASS bodyshop.

Any updates Soumyajit?

[Soumyajit9]

Originally Posted by arjithin

Any updates Soumyajit?

No mate, I have haven't been able to pull out time from my schedule and give the car to the CASS for the repair job.
I am hoping to call and book an appointment on 20th of this month.

Will ask for a loaner car also because the job would take around 5 days and I need a car for my daily use.

[sugathan]

The GM motors thrissur did a shoddy job. They removed the paint around the rust and welded the spot and simply hand painted the welded spot. And to hide their shoddy job, they had glued the beading and specifically informed us not to peel it and peep! And when we peeled and saw - the dirty job was just glaring! so when you guys get it done, make you check it thoroughly and probably you should ask them not to glue the beading.

[Mortis]

My Beats Door panels were repainted as a Goodwill gesture even though it was out of warranty and it isnt covered under the Extended Warranty. They even changed the rubber beading on the doors for me. I have to thank the guys at Nikhil Automobiles for coming through on this for me.

[Soumyajit9]

UPDATE: ISSUE RESOLVED ON 20/03/2015 by Kropex Chevrolet A.S.S, Bangalore

Date: 18/03/2015 - I took my car for the scheduled 45,000kms service.
I had planned a 3 days off from work to be able to give the car for the paintjob to be done.
I straightaway called for the service advisor who had inspected my car earlier and had asked for 3 days downtime. He arrived and immediately recalled my issue.
We discussed the general scheduled service things, as usual he tried to hoodwink me into additional stupid jobs (ac blower cleaning, throttle body cleaning, etc). Flatly refused and asked to carry normal service, plus the corrosion treatment + painting.
He called for the warranty manager and body shop manager.
Both of them recalled me and acknowledged that they would do the work within 3 days.

I asked for the job card to be created for the body work, which they said would be created once they get approval from Chevrolet. I wasn't happy with the response. So I called for the VP - Operations of Kropex, and explained that I have given the car for general service + corrosion treatment. She could immediately recognise me and acknowledged the issue. The lady had assisted me a lot during the last visit. She is a perfect example of how a customer service representative should be.

She immediately summoned all the 3 - Service Advisor, Body Shop Manager, Warranty Manager. The body shop and warranty manager immediately said that they have obtained approval (within 10 minutes of me asking for a job card, to the VP summonning them) !! Nevertheless, I was convinced that they would carry the job under warranty and no charge me.

I left for the day. Relaxed at home for a day. I was called to office for the next 2 days (that I had planned to take leave) for some escalations :-(
Had a painful 2 days "ride" to work on my 10 year old Yamaha Libero. That's another story in the rants on bangalore traffic thread.

3rd day, I called up the service advisor asking for status. He said that he would get the body shop manager to call me, which never happened, and I called him 2 more times to get an update. Finally around 2pm, he sent an sms stating "car ready". He followed up with a call about 30 mins later.

I went to the showroom/service center around 5pm, to see that the car shining in their front area. I walked upto the car and verified the rust treatment done and the paint. Must say they have done it brilliantly. Just looks as good as new.

However, there was "stupid" workmanship still done. I wonder how these kind of things go miss !! The beading was not fitted end to end, so while one end of the beading had gone deep into the door, the other side has exposed body and gaps for water to seep into the door panel !! See the pictures below !!
Anyways, got that fixed, after waiting for another 15 mins.

The ill-fitting rubber beading at a corner:





The gap in the beading-door body:





The good paint-job:





Ill-fitting loose beading:



The only grouse that still remains is that they have not replaced the rubber beading which is the main culprit behind the rusting. It is still loose and gaps are present for water to again seep in.

I asked the guys as to why the beadings were not changed, to which he replied that beading replacement was not agreed. We only removed the rust and painted the damaged area. Replacing beading would cost extra.

I had no energy left to fight with the dimwit again. Nor did I have any more intention of summonning the VP lady for such a thing. The only thing I will do is, give a very very very nasty feedback. Ask why, because they stole my Ambi Pur. In the last service they stole my Chevrolet metallic key chain, and now the Ambi Pur. This after re-iterating the service advisor about these things being accidentally left in the car.

Made the payment and I start the car to leave for the day. Boom, the battery is Dead. I again walk back and call the service advisor. He says that the battery is 4 years now and need to be changed. I give him a hard slam asking till the day I left at the A.S.S it was super, with no indications of a dying battery, and in 3 days it went dead. Clearly showed the abuse the car went through in the last 3 days. Must have switch on music player while working on the car. Not very uncommon, but very pathetic to say the least.
He calls some guy with another battery, jump starts the car, and asks me to not switch off the engine till I reach home. I do the same with less that 5 litres of fuel in tank, thanks to 8 litres of fuel vanishing from the tank over last 2 days at A.S.S.

So overall the headache comes to an end, but not without sour experiences.
This was my last visit to Kropex Chevrolet, Bangalore. My next try-out would be Trident Chevrolet, and later Bosch or Carnation or any other FNG.

PS: Ohh, yes, how can I forget the funny and shocking thing that I saw !!

The customer invoice mentions as Accidental repair and Warranty claim, and the amount mentioned is Rs.0.00.
However, I had to sign a few documents (like Chevrolet copy, A.S.S copy, Job Card, etc). And while signing those I saw the amount charged for this job, under the header - Painting Charge. Guess - Rs.14,999/- !!!
So Kropex A.S.S charged Rs.14,999/- to Chevrolet for carrying out painting on the rusted door panels. Lets say, this entire job costed Chevrolet Rs.14,999 !!

[Mortis]

Some good news atleast. This loose beading is a major design flaw. The only solution to this is what I have done. I have put silicone sealant under the beading and pushed it flat against the paint. No more gap. The area will get protected even more because Im planning to fit door visors so that I can crack the windows and allow the car to vent now that summer has come.
My parking spot in the building has been shifted from the old one under a tree to an open spot so it gets heated up a lot.
But the bright side is no more bird crap to clean off

[Soumyajit9]

Originally Posted by Mortis

Some good news atleast. This loose beading is a major design flaw. The only solution to this is what I have done. I have put silicone sealant under the beading and pushed it flat against the paint. No more gap. The area will get protected even more because Im planning to fit door visors so that I can crack the windows and allow the car to vent now that summer has come.
My parking spot in the building has been shifted from the old one under a tree to an open spot so it gets heated up a lot.
But the bright side is no more bird crap to clean off

The only reason that I can think of, of the beading becoming loose is heat and exposure to natural elements. In my case the car is always parked in basement of either my apartment, or work or malls. So must be a design flaw or product quality issue.

Pasting using Silicone sealant ? Wouldn't that affect the paint underneath, in the longer run ? Any specific product / brand (silicone sealant) you could recommend me ?

I was looking at buying a pair of new beadings to replace these completely. Did a search on AliExpress, EBay and the newly opened Automotive parts section on Amazon.in. No luck. They have stock of standard rubber beadings, and beadings for more common cars, but not for Beat / Spark.

Don't want to go back to C.A.S.S as they would rip me off for the beadings. Sad, Chevrolet doesn't sell parts over the counter. :(