Has anyone seen or heard anything about this alleged recall/TSB about rear wheel well rust?

http://www.carcomplaints.com/Ford/Es...el_wells.shtml

 

I am starting to get rust on the edges of the rear wheel wells where the seams are on my 2008 FEH (just starting to show on the outside).

I was wondering if installing fender flares would help slow it down. I tired internet searches but no one seems to make a compatible flare kit for an Escape. Has anyone else had any luck?

 

If the rust is just on the outer surface, you should clean out the rust and touch up the paint before installing flares. Otherwise you will just trap more moisture under the trim and speed up the rust.

If the rust is from the inside, it will be a lot worse than it looks like from the outside. It requires bodywork to fix properly. Again, fender flares will just delay the area drying out and so make the rust worse.

But if you just want to cover up the rust, fine with me.

 

As for the flares, I Ebayed "fender flare 2008 escape". There are all sorts of them. Cheap too.

 

I had the same issue and decided to have the dealership order a whole new side panel/wheel well to take care of the issue. Those of us that live in the northern parts and have true winter conditions may have salt induced rust issues.

 

I just ended up putting a decal over the area, it's the evil monkey from family guy glaring and pointing at the gas cap and he's sitting on grass so the grass breaks up the roughness of the bubbles underneath and makes the brown of the rust blend in at the lip. I had them take it all the way down and along the whole edge.

 

Awesome!

 

If you don't mind me asking, how much did a whole new side panel cost you?