Dodge Grand Caravan Sliding Doors Are Scraping Instead Of Sliding
We all work hard to keep our vehicles looking as nice as possible. After all, we spend a significant amount of money to find a vehicle which is a smart fit for our families and our needs. And there is nothing more annoying than seeing a paint chip or a swirl when you are trying your best to take care of your ride.
But, imagine scraping your paint every time you open your manual sliding door. Imagine going back to the dealership to have this addressed repeatedly, having your door painted, touched up and even having panels replaced. This seems to be happening with several Dodge Grand Caravan owners who have the manual sliding doors. In the past month, we have seen several similar claims involving Dodge Grand Caravan sliding doors come through the 1 800 LEMON LAW hotline.
If you are experiencing this problem, it is very important that you take pictures of the damage and continue to bring it to the manufacturer authorized dealer if the problem is not being fixed. Sometimes, the dealer may repaint the door without fixing the problem and unfortunately, this could lead to the same situation occurring again.
If you find that you are having paint problems with your Dodge Grand Caravan sliding door, drop us a note to tell us about it. We will review your situation and see if and how we can help.
February 27th, 2013 at 4:49 pm
my 2005 dodge grand caravan great vehicle, but in the last year the rockers and rear wheel wells have began to bubble and rust out from the inside out… now being told to fix could cost me 3,000.00..
today I looked at the same vehicle on a lot and noticed the paint is doing the same thing… so its not just my van issue…
March 26th, 2013 at 2:19 pm
I am having this problem with my 2012 Grand Caravan. Told to bring it into the dealer for pictures. Hopefully they will fix without incident.
May 22nd, 2013 at 11:29 pm
We have a 2005 Dodge Caravan…and on the driver’s side back wheel well…it is beginning to rust from the outside in.
We believed something had been thrown from the road…and dented it…but when we took it into a collision shop…they said…it appears to be the paint…and the whole back panel would have to be replaced.
Then we took it to the dealership…and they said in order for them to see what was causing it…they would have to take it off…etc.
Then when driving into a parking lot we noticed another 2005 van…with the same problem in the same place…so there is something going on here!
Now it is the only rust spot on our vehicle…but we are watching it get bigger everyday…so we don’t know what to do at this point in time!
October 9th, 2013 at 7:47 am
I have a 2006 Grand Caravan with 88,000 miles and I too have bubbled spot in front of the rear wheel wells. Is this something that could be a manufacturing problem?
October 18th, 2013 at 3:19 pm
@David: Due to the age, most likely no. But you reach out to the NHTSA car complaint database at http://www.safercar.gov and see what they say.
October 19th, 2013 at 11:46 am
I totally disagree with you…our van is in mint condition and without rust except for this one spot. Age does not surface itself in just one spot…defect does.
Just this week I saw another on the road…with rust in the same spot!
But thank you…for the link.
April 16th, 2014 at 1:57 pm
My 2005 Dodge Grand Caravan has the same wheel well rust issue. Originally i was told to seal the two metal pieces that come together around the edge of the wheel well – that did not make a difference. I put a mirror under the van and there is a bracket welded to the inside of the wheel well that i suspect is leaking water into the wheel well and this area is not undercoated. I am having my mechanic check it out. And yes i am seeing the same year caravans with the same rear wheel well rust.
September 1st, 2014 at 5:30 pm
to those who may not have noticed, this rust pattern has been an ongoing issue since at least 1999.we are on our 5th dodge grand caravan, but the 1999 and 2005(and two of our friends) have all had this malady and it tends to be bi-lateral and the start of the rust moving ever forward to the sliding doors, front doors, rocker panels etc.
September 10th, 2014 at 8:20 am
Well our 2005 Grand Caravan is doing the rust out thing as well just a matter of time before the body leaves the van wheel wells sliding doors….
seems nothing we can do………..THANKS CHRYSLER
October 13th, 2014 at 9:17 am
I have a 2014 Dodge Grand Caravan. Paint meter detects thickness of 6.5 to 7.9 uM on sliding doors. Had car new. I’m told this is too thick because thickness should be 4.5 to 5.5 um, and car may have been damaged at factory, and repainted. Anybody know if what’s really going on is Chrysler put extra primer on newer vans to address paint issues appearing on this website?
Bob
August 24th, 2015 at 9:28 am
We also own a 2006 Dodge Caravan which has major rust issues
on the sliding side doors and quarter panels.It appears that Chrysler has had a major e-coat primer processing problem on
on these vans because I see the issue on other 2006 Caravans.
We were also told that the five year paint warranty has expired
and that nothing can be done.Keep up the good paint processing
work.
September 6th, 2015 at 4:24 pm
My 2005 grand caravan has exactly the same paint bubble rusty issue at the same spots. The same for my previous 1999 caravan.I have since watched the grand caravan on the road, for more than 20 I observed, all of them had the same rusty isdue. One was maintained spotless but right above the wheel, I saw the bubble. I do not see the isdue on my toTata it Honda cars, even they are older. I did not see it in the old ford winstars, it is definitely the manufacture isdue. Since 2006 Chrysler had a newer design on caravan, did anyone know if the 2006 and beyond model has the same isdue? I love the performance and spacious of caeavan, but the rusty will make me think twice if I will still go for another one.
January 8th, 2016 at 8:38 pm
I have a 2008 Grand Caravan. It has quite a bit of rust in the same spots most of you had noted. Is there anything we can do about it? Seems like every Caravan on the road has rust in the same place. Thoughts?
September 12th, 2019 at 12:01 am
we have a 1999 grand caravan and have started to notice it has quite a bit of rust in the sme spots that most of you have said yours was.why is the dealership not being held responsibile for this????? Are we just supposed to deal with it ourselves, i think NOT!!!!!!
April 23rd, 2020 at 1:39 pm
Just bought a 2005 from my son. Checked to see if there were any avenues for assistance with this. The rest of vehicle even for it,s age is wonderful. With all of comments I see that there has to be an issue in manufacturing process. I would love to be able to pass it on, but can’t see that happening with bad paint, 3000.00 is totally out of range.