I’m now living in North Africa and own a Kia Carens (insert Karen jokes here!) made in India. Overall seems like a fine car for what our options are but I’m dealing with quality issues as a 2023 with only 23k KM. I live close to the ocean and the sun is intense so I ceramic coated it when I bought it and its garage kept. I have some body and paint experience and can tell I’m running into issues however. The factory paint is thinner and the clear coat scratches easily. That’s not my focus on this post.
It was rusting at the fuel pocket where it meets the quarter panel. Warranty covered it. Jury out on quality of repair but it passed the eye test. I havent pulled the liner to check the backside of that repair. Recently the windshield washer pump got clogged. So while diagnosing that I pulled the fender liner to find this. Rusting at the seams in the wheel well. I’m guessing Kia is going to balk.
So…Process for stopping/treating the rust then sealing it? I’m likely going to have to do it myself with limited tools/access to brand specific products. Buying a car was such a process here it might honestly be less effort for myself to pull trim and wheelhouse liners and apply products etc than to deal with buying another car. May have to undercoat it too. My desire was to keep this car long term. But I’ll admit I am second guessing if it is in fact worth doing all this just to run into other quality concerns as it ages. Open to suggestions.
It was rusting at the fuel pocket where it meets the quarter panel. Warranty covered it. Jury out on quality of repair but it passed the eye test. I havent pulled the liner to check the backside of that repair. Recently the windshield washer pump got clogged. So while diagnosing that I pulled the fender liner to find this. Rusting at the seams in the wheel well. I’m guessing Kia is going to balk.
So…Process for stopping/treating the rust then sealing it? I’m likely going to have to do it myself with limited tools/access to brand specific products. Buying a car was such a process here it might honestly be less effort for myself to pull trim and wheelhouse liners and apply products etc than to deal with buying another car. May have to undercoat it too. My desire was to keep this car long term. But I’ll admit I am second guessing if it is in fact worth doing all this just to run into other quality concerns as it ages. Open to suggestions.
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