[Musikmann]

Hello friends,

I just noticed some rust bubbling up on my rear passenger side fender lip right above the tire. The paint is still intact and there is no mud caked on the inner fender behind the rust spot. I checked with a good local body shop and they want almost $800 to cut out the rusted area, replace somehow, and paint the quarter panel. They put no warranty on rust repair.

I'd like to stop or at least slow this down until I can find someone to repair it properly. Does anyone have a suggestion as to what I can do in the mean time?

Thanks in advance,

Dave aka Musikmann

 

[duncan1437]

in canada, Krown rustproofing is a huge company which oilsprays cars with a light oil...no wax, rubber, sticky substance or other additive, just a light oil. their retail aerosol product is known as Krown T-10 or KL-73. you might call them to find out if/where you can buy it in the USA.

http://www.krown.com/

http://www.krown.com/products/aerosol-products/t40-rust-inhibitor-lubricant/


failing that, you might spray wd40 as an interim temporary measure

http://www.saabcentral.com/forums/archive/index.php/t-79009.html

maybe spray in the wheelwell (once a week), in the area behind the rust bubble.

good luck

 

[Bob Lincoln]

That won't stop it, the bubbled area must be addressed or it will progress rapidly.

 

[Musikmann]

Thanks for the suggestions guys. My next step is to find a shop that can fix it for less money. Times are too tough for me right now to afford the best place in town. That was the almost $800 estimate I mentioned in my thread starter.

 

[Bob Lincoln]

I'd fix it myself, cut away the bad, form new sheet metal from galvanized steel sheets and rivet/epoxy the new metal in. Then the protective primers and paints.

 

[SM86K]

I guess I'm out of touch with the cost of doing bodywork these days. $800 seems like a lot of money just to fix some bubbling. I doubt anybody could guarantee that it wouldn't rust again but I would at least think they could warranty it for at least 6 months to a year. I'd be curious to know which method they would be using to fix the problem. Some places will just grind it down to bare metal and patch it up with bondo. It may hold up for a little while before starting to pop out again. If it's just surface rust I'd have it sandblasted. Although this could make things worse if the metal is weak. Cutting it out and welding in new metal would probably be your best bet....provided it's done right. You also have to remember that the paint probably won't match the rest of your car because the rest will have faded.

I'm not sure which car you've got.... but if it's one of these EEKs from the 80s or 90s, you're probably going to spend more money then the car is worth. If the rest of the car is solid and you're planning to keep it for awhile, and there's no other major problems, then maybe it's worth doing.

Personally, I'd just grind it down myself and use some filler. You can buy the cans of rustproofing and do it yourself. I used to get my 86 Reliant rustproofed at Walmart here in Canada. It was cheap and the stuff was pretty good.

 

[Bob Lincoln]

I bought my 93 Daytona for $850, knowing that the rockers were filled with bondo and it needed a lot of repair. I paid $3200 to have the interior stripped; inner and outer rockers cut out and new ones fabricated; rear quarters cut and new metal welded in; bottom sandblasted, painted with epoxy rustproofing, and Ziebarted, and interior reinstalled. Forty-two hours of labor. It was worth it, because it gave me a solid car for $4,000 that will last many years.

 

[george w]

The rust is most likely coming from behind and is also most likely to be in a larger area that is currently visible. It's also possible that some of the structure or sheet metal behind the damage is also rusted to a similar state. The body shop probably knows that there will be more work here than meets the eye and has priced accordingly.
I would take the time to carefully check the other side of the car in the same area to make sure that rust hasn't started there as well. Another good place to check is to get down on your hands and knees and check the inner bottom lip and inside bottom of the doors near and under the weatherstripping. If the doors are bubbling or rusting then the rest of the car will likely require rust repair in the not too distant future and you have to plan accordingly.
If the rust appears only to be localized to this one spot then it may be worth the cost of repair. If you find rust starting elsewhere then it may not pay to do anything other than a patch and Bondo repair to get by for now.

 

[Musikmann]

I appreciate all the responses.

@ Bob Lincoln: As always, thanks for your suggestion.

@ SM86K: yes their quote was to cut it out and welding in new metal. It is a 1994 Acclaim.

@ george w: the doors in those areas have been rusting for a couple of years. for some reason, the front doors are affected much more than the rears.

Plan: I'm going to watch the fender area for a while. IMO there is no urgency.

 

[SGspirit]

Gravel and dirt accumulates on the inside top of this lip, holds moisture and so tends to rust out before other places on cars. This is why when I wash cars, I always flush off the inside of the lip around the rear wheel wells. If you have rust appearing on the outside surface there, it means the metal has rusted all the way through from the inside. Where the paint isn't bubbling yet, it will be sooner or later as the bubbling is the last stage as the rust works its way through. Another place that holds grit etc. is the top of the weld flange around the gas tank. It's pretty hard to flush off, though.

 

[SM86K]

I went through all this with my Reliant. I loved the car and it had been in the family since new. It was a low mileage car but hadn't been kept rustproofed since new. I basically replaced everything on the car due to age. It had some body issues. Had both rockers replaced, rear quarter panel patched (below gas flap), and trunk floor pan. Then I discovered the front floor pan needed a couple patches. Had those fixed. Then I started getting water leaking into the car from the firewall. Discovered a small hole between the strut tower and firewall. By the time I got through fixing the car up.... it was like new. Gave it a complete paint job. This was about 11 years ago and the entire job cost me about $1000. I don't regret spending the money on the car because at the time I was unable to afford a new one. However, I don't think I'd go through it again. I'd either look at buying a rust free southern car or find one around here that wasn't rusted away as bad.

Labour is very costly. Some bodyshops won't even want to touch your car unless there's big money to be made. Seems a lot of them are now focused on doing collision repairs.

I think the key to keeping these old cars in good shape is to keep them rust proofed. I've got a 10 year old Ford that's been kept oiled since new. The thing is spotless with no rust anywhere. I wish my old Reliant had been kept the same way.

 

[SGspirit]

Probably you should also consider ever being in an accident in any car that, on top of not having more modern features such as airbags, proper headrests, and stability control; may also have structural deficiencies caused by less apparent rusting. We tend to only consider the repair costs of maintaining an older car compared to a newer one, as opposed to less easily evaluated risks.

 

[mopark]

It cost my friend around 70.00 to fix a bubble spot on his neon..There was no hole yet, so I just ground off the rust down to bare metal, sanded it smooth, then applied the body filler, threw on some primer, and then some of that zinc primer. Sanded some more and Painted it. but of course it was the small corner of a trunk lid, if your going to do a big job then I would follow the above answers, just cut weld and then ya...


my 86 Reliant K was redone 4 years now and it still is holding up fine, but of course it never sees winter....

I went through all this with my Reliant. I loved the car and it had been in the family since new. It was a low mileage car but hadn't been kept rustproofed since new. I basically replaced everything on the car due to age. It had some body issues. Had both rockers replaced, rear quarter panel patched (below gas flap), and trunk floor pan. Then I discovered the front floor pan needed a couple patches. Had those fixed. Then I started getting water leaking into the car from the firewall. Discovered a small hole between the strut tower and firewall. By the time I got through fixing the car up.... it was like new. Gave it a complete paint job. This was about 11 years ago and the entire job cost me about $1000. I don't regret spending the money on the car because at the time I was unable to afford a new one. However, I don't think I'd go through it again. I'd either look at buying a rust free southern car or find one around here that wasn't rusted away as bad.

Labour is very costly. Some bodyshops won't even want to touch your car unless there's big money to be made. Seems a lot of them are now focused on doing collision repairs.

I think the key to keeping these old cars in good shape is to keep them rust proofed. I've got a 10 year old Ford that's been kept oiled since new. The thing is spotless with no rust anywhere. I wish my old Reliant had been kept the same way.

I got an 89 buick century that i use as my daily, and it was undercoated when new, all I had to do was fill in some spots on the doors..otherwise its in good shape for being 24 years old.......