I'm the owner of a 2008 fx4 with 100k on it and there is some rust forming around the fuel door. I realize there was already a post about this same thing a few months ago, the reason i writing is because the body shop i took it to said the easiest fix would be to buy a aftermarket chrome or black fuel door with the outer ring which would cover the small spot of rust after they cleaned it up. They said without the outer ring they would have to paint a good portion of the 1/4 panel in order to properly blend the paint in and would be more costly than just buying a replacement door(with outer ring). Finally i've searched just about everywhere i can imagine online with no luck in finding an aftermarket fuel door with the outer ring. Lots of them have the apperance of an outer ring but it just on piece and only replaces the fuel door itself, I guess i'm just hoping someone with the same problem has rather found a door with the outer ring and could point me in the right direction. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

I had a 2004 f150 with that same problem. My fuel door was actually rubbing on the recess that the fuel door fits into. Wore the paint away, and it began rusting. Unfrotunately the only way i know of to truly fix this, is to re align the fuel door, and sand and paint the bedside. I actually work at a bodyshop, and thats the way it should be done. Shop around at different shops, a quick sand and repaint shouldnt be too bad. My shop would charge around $200-300. Again i dont know if that fits your budget tho

 

I actually just did mine the other day. I first had to take out the fuel neck and the plastic that's that holds the fuel door itself. in order to get the plastic fuel door and the surrounding plastic that holds the fuel neck you have to disconnect the metal fuel pipe and the tiny metal breather tube from the tank itself..it sounds like alot but its not the tiny tube has a plastic quick connect to the top of fuel pump and the fuel neck has a hose clamp to a rubber hose at the frame rail. then when u get that done there's 3 of bolts on the plastic cap itself to undo. then turn the plastic fuel cap itself the whole assembly and finagle it out of the fuel door opening. when this is all off you have enough room to sand all the rust and mask off skinny line around the fuel door opening. The rust on my 2005 was about a half inch below the fuel door opening so I made a perfect half inch circle wider than the opening around the entire opening with 1/4 masking tape the same tape you would use to mask out flames etc... Then I sanded/scuffed the masked off circle to get the primer and paint to stick with 320 or 400 grit sand paper and scuff pad. Then I use rust reforming primer 3 coats.. While the primer is still sticky I took a spray can of that dupli color kevlar truck bed spray on bed liner paint (black) and applied 3 or 4 coats of that makeing sure the paint was tacky b4 each coat. When you apply the final coat take off the masking tape immediatly but be careful. The bed liner paint is kinda rubberized so if u let the paint dry b4 u unmask it, you'll peel some of the paint with the tape so unmask as soon as you apply last coat. The bed liner paint looks like crap when its first applied but dont worry it looks great wen it drys trust me. And be sure to only do light coats from a good distance with both primer and paint. Practice on cardboard first to see how the bed liner paint sprays u mite have to give your self a good 12 inches or more distance from your painting surface. Mine turned out great and it looks clean and profesional. Ill post pics when I get home from hunting. I got one pic in my albums so far to give you an idea. Any questions dnt b shy and I only spent about 20 bucks all together..

 

thx CJS F-1 really appreciate this, and can't wait to see the pics

 

One thing I forgot to add I had found a plastic cereal bowl that I used to help me make the perfect circle around the fuel door opening and I traced it with a pencil onto the truck

 

Had the exact same problem, paint started peeling all the way down the bedside, ended up getting the entire bedside repainted and it was pretty spendy. Had the whole truck buffed and waxed at the same time and I think I payed like $600 total. But DAMN it looked good when he finished. Bed liner idea is interesting though!!

 

just added all the pics of my rusty fuel door problem fixed.. check out the album on my profile page.

 

heres one pic of what it looks like finished