u/202markb

Last week I was putting a coat of wax on my gladiator and noticed some bubbling on the bottom lip of the tailgate. I’ve been using the gladiator for hauling on and off, and some of the material I’ve had to haul was a bit abrasive (crushed shell) and the bedliner doesn’t reach between the joint between the bed and the tailgate, nor does it cover any portion of the tailgate itself. So there are some scratches and paint chips that I have been watching.

From reading the sub, I had noticed that corrosion could be an issue on my truck and, living right on the shore. I was keeping an eye out for it. So these paint bubbles really caught my attention. I paid 40 something dollars for a CARFAX to see when the original sale date was, and it was on June 1 of 2021! I was only three days away from my warranty expiring! I contacted my local dealer (who’s not really local, they’re 40+ miles away) and explained the situation. They were super cool about it and told me I could bring it in that day or the next, which I did. They weren’t able to tell me, of course, wether Stellantis would accept the warranty and I wasn’t so sure given the wear that I had put on that part of the vehicle due to my use of it.

I was super-pleased when the dealer called me the day after having inspected it and said that I would be covered. I thought that all this work was just a shot in the dark. But it paid off!

Tomorrow, I’ll be bringing my gladiator and they will be removing the tailgate and sending it away so that the paint can be matched. I have to say I’m really pleased. My truck is now over five years old and has nearly 100,000 miles. Aside from getting my high-pressure fuel pump replaced at 18,000 miles under recall. (that’s how many miles it had when I first bought it) and replacing my aux and regular battery at about 45,000 miles, I haven’t had any issues that I would consider to be manufacturing-related.