Rocker panel cover corrosion

[MtHam ACR]

Searches on this topic leads to fastener corrosion and yellowing side sills. I have a different problem. . .

On my '01 ACR, I noticed last night the passenger side rocker panel cover (black trim part) is corroding from the inside, the paint is intact on the outside. This could be described as a paint bubble, but it's got the tell-tale rust 'crackle' when touched.

This rocker cover stretches from the hinge area under the door, turns, and runs up the door jamb. The spot is about 1.5" long by 3/4" wide by the back wheel in the bend where the panel cover curves up, and the spot is on the inboard side of the cover.

My guess is water is getting inside during washing and sitting right there in the corner with no way to escape. The plan is to take it to the dealer for replacement, I mean hey, the car only has ~2500 mi on it, but I have a couple of questions:

1. Is this common?

2. The cover is riveted on and attached to the rear fender at the door jamb. Seems like there is a chance of screwing something up in attaching the body panels. Any advice or "gotchas" to be aware of when disassemble- or re-assembling?

3. How is this prevented in the future (and no, not washing the car isn't an alternative

).

Thanks,
Eric

 

[Kevin ACR]

Here is what I found on mine. I have a 2000 ACR and aftermarket exhaust (TNT). With the sills off you can see an opening that runs straight to the backside of the area of the "hockey stick" that I believe your talking about. In my view the heat travels up there, especially when you park and heat soak the sill and surrounding areas. The piece is plastic, not metal, what your seeing is not corrosion its actually melting of the piece. You don't want it taken off the car, it is glued in place with the adhesive they bond the various pieces of the viper with, and it requires some physical cutting, etc.

I have heard of others refinishing the area, not me.

I decided to leave well enough alone and went for the cause. I closed up the hole with the high temp red silicone sealant and adhered a piece of side sill heat shielding material over it to keep the heat out as much as possible.

Mine has not gotten worse, so I think I got it. If you want to see how hot it gets, park the car with the door closed and come back and feel that spot in 10 minutes. I leave my doors ajar after a long run until some of the heat dissipates. Don't want any reconstructive surgery on the car, so an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure for me.

Let us know what you find. Funny thing, it only happened on my passenger side, but I altered both sides just in case.

 

[Ron]

<FONT face="Comic Sans MS">Surprisingly, you will find that idling the car for a few minutes after a long run will cool down the cats and minimize the heat soak issue on the sills.</FONT f>

 

[MtHam ACR]

Questions:

1. Why is this only occuring on late-manufactured coupes?
2. Why is it only on the passenger side?
3. If this part is "melting" wouldn't it sag (instead of rise)?
4. Why aren't other/earlier model opentrackers seeing this?

Thanks,
Eric

 

[V10 MOJO]

I love the viper as much as anyone and more than most. lets face it, its typical b*llshit half*ssed good-ol-american cheap manufacturing. im exmilitary and so is every man in the family for three generations, so im as patriotic as they come, baseball applepie, muscle cars halleluja and so on but we just cut too many **** corners on our vehicle production and this is exactly why we cant hold a stick to overall european and foreign automobile reliability and durability. Hope i didnt offend anyone in my ranting, it just p*sses me off that we've such possibility and capability in america and still come up short when we should be leadign the pack in every aspect.

 

[Ulysses]

The piece is plastic and others have had melting problems. I recall that someone actually had it replaced not too long ago under warranty but, as someone aluded to earlier, it is a bear to remove. It requires cutting and grinding of the pieces left over. It is glued on.