ARB rear bumper rusty mess after 3 Midwest winters (1 Viewer)

[linuxgod]

FWIW I have sliders and a front bumper, both steel, and neither has rust like this. I'm driving the same roads you are in the winter, generally speaking. The amount of rust on that is not normal. Definitely call ARB

For comparison, the diamond plates (which were PC'ed) on my sliders have seen 4 or 5 winters and have some very light rust, and any scratched/scraped spots on my front bumper will start to develop some surface rust if I don't touch them up, but I wouldn't expect to see that level of corrosion for a decade, or more.

+1 on doing fluid film or similar just before winter starts, even if you do wash the undercarriage regularly. @GoISU has done my rig several times. (I used ~4 rattle cans of FF this year as I didn't get out to his place in Wheaton this year, which worked ok but definitely not as good application as he's done). My truck is not spotless underneath but it looks surprisingly good for >5 winters in Chicago. FF won't help protect your bumpers though, as it's greasy and would end up on your pants every time you brushed up against it.

 

[UCrazyKid]

How often do you wash your car in the winter? Do you touch up any rust in the spring? That seems truly outrageous as Chicago salt isn't that bad. Ive never seen a Cleveland or Minneapolis truck look that bad that quickly and their use of salt greatly eclipses Chicago’s.

I have an "unlimited" car wash membership and go once or twice a week in the winter. They also do the undercarriage wash. I haven't done the touchup paint work. The front bumper is fine, no rust except small areas where there is damage from hitting rocks on trail, etc.

I have two suspicions, first is the shape and aerodynamics of the vehicle cause a lot of grime to build up on the back bumper so I think it gets it worse. Also when I clean the rear window with the sprayer (Rain X winter (orange), I wonder if it is somehow more caustic, as I find it also get "stuck" on the back bumper due to the circular draft there. The second suspicion is just that there was an issue with the metal used in construction or the powder coat process when the rear was manufactured. I'm considering this again, because the front bumper is totally fine and I assume they use the same materials as there are both ARB and were purchased and installed at the same time.

No matter what the cause is, I'm going to have to have it repaired before it gets worse. Thanks for the suggestions all in how to go about it. Whatever way I go, I'll have to have a shop or independent fab do the work as I don't have the space, time or tools.

 

[Lester did that]

I have a front bar too. No rust on it. I have one of those unlimited car wash subscriptions and have it washed, including underbody one or twice a week during winter. I’m the second owner, ARB doesn’t transfer warranties so I’m SOL

I really don't know what to say with that issue? Salt and brine is what I'm used to dealing with and that is above and beyond in three years. If you installed a heavly used bumper that is 5 years old maybe? If the powder coat is not damaged it should stay pretty solid? I've had a lot of trucks with steel bumpers not powder coated and they looked like that after 7-9 years with no maintenance.

Its a solid bar but I don't know what the cost would be to remove everything, sand blast, powder coat and reinstall?

 

[CanadianRockyCruiser]

On my 100 series, my front bumper looked like that after about 7 years. I stripped it down, used metal prep to attack the rust, then primered, painted and clear coated my ARB. I then applied 3m film to it, which kept it in good shape for a long time.

The factory coat that ARB uses is garbage.