Disclaimer: bold is for ease of reading, not yelling.

The rust is behind the FRONT mudflaps ONLY. The flap must be bent forward ever so slightly and carefully to view it. The portion where it rubs is at the top of the rocker at the curve.

I hope that was a better description, I see now my orginal description left a bit to be desired.

 

Those of us from winter climates are used to this sort of thing... any place a penetration has been made or something added on that can rub is where the inevitable rust first shows up. This is why I cringe at the thought of ever drilling a hole or adding anything on to my vehicle. Such modifications are asking for trouble. Though in FL I am surprised its a problem for you.

 

The mud flaps may have been part of the reason that rust devoloped there but not the only reason. You may have hit something with your mud flaps (or your mud flaps caugt something while you were driving which forced it back) which caused the mud flaps to dig into the paint. There seems to be too much wear for a mud flap alone to cause this. I have had mud flaps in other cars that I've owned and never had this problem. Granted I took the time to clean behind the mud flap (just bend the flap and hose off the area).

 

Took the car in today and the service writer was a bit pushy at first when I told them not to touch the car if they expected me to pay. Once they drove it around back then the service tech comes and gets the writer, the writer in turn tells me they have to go to the service manager to get his input. Later the writer comes back to tell me they now need the district rep to look at it. The writer could see I was ready to boil over and actually changed from his pushy attitude to a bit more sypathetic mode. Actually I think I scared him a little (haven't shaved and look a bit like a poor beach bum). I told him I could fix it myself but was really curious as to how they would handle it. He told me he was just the middle man and not the decision maker.

Later after talking to him some more I did mention the car went out of warranty while I was overseas and that my original plan was to get the extended warranty as I never originaly planned to own the car over 36k (that's right Terry, I've never had a late model car over a year). He of course said that changed everything, and of course I said I still was curious as to how they would handle it if I had decided not to get the warranty. My mother already said she won't be getting another Honda (she wants an Avalon next)

This afternoon I mentioned to my father how they handled it and he said it was textbook perfect and they did exactly what they were supposed to do so that has helped me calm down a bit. My father was a service manager for 10 years and turned down the district manager position (Mopar), he was also president of the service manager guild for the southeast tri-state area so I trust his judgement 110% whether I agree or not.

The lot attendent stopped me as I was leaving and asked why I had a sign on the dash "DO NOT LET IDLE OVER 45 SECONDS". I then told him I was obsessive about mileage and letting the car idle killed mileage. Next before they let me go a young tech came up and asked what I brough the car in for and if anything was wrong with the IMA. I showed him the rust and said the IMA is great in it. He asked quite a few questions specific to MY car and bid me farewell. As I was leaving I noticed an identical HCH around back with a surf rack, pretty sure it had to be his car as he fit the sterotype but he never mentioned owning one.

To sum it up, I'm going to go ahead and get my extended warranty and let them fix it. They did print out and make note that I've NEVER had them perform ANY MX on the car. I made note that I have performed each scheduled MX myself ON-TIME and have all my receipts saved to prove it, I also have my ASE certification (I know who cares) so why would I pay someone else to work on my car.

LIVVIE: I've had mud flaps on other cars and never had this problem either. I doubt very seriously that it caught anything since the wear is essentially even on either side and you can see where it was an abrasion, you can see the wear pattern. The only thing I could think of was BECAUSE I did just as you said I may have bent it to clean behind it which I have done regularly since the car was new. Maybe it isn't designed to be moved at all in either direction and I stretched the plastic which in turn is the reason it bent enough to dig into the paint. I never bent it far though, just enough to spray back there and take one layer of a towel and swipe behind it.

 

Ok... If you have the same wear pattern on both side then I agree. The mud flaps may have been installed incorrectly or the bending issue may have started the problem. By any chance, do you live near salt water. I know you live in FL but how close to the beach. Just seems odd that you have rust and not drive in an area where roads are salted during snow storms.

 

I live about a mile from the beach, normaly rust isn't an issue though - plus the car has ALWAYS been garaged, very seldom has it ever been outside.

They're going to fix it soon since I'm going to get the extended warranty since I don't trust the Honda CVT too much even though I am a nut about changing the fluid way ahead of schedule, I never considered rust to be an issue. I would chunk the mudflaps but my house up in the country is almost move in ready and it's on a dirt road so I need to keep them.