Rust repairs

[PositronicRay]

MB? Rust bubbles on rear wheel arch. Local trusted bodyshop says grind off rust, treat, filler and paint quarter. It'll look good, all their work does, but guarantees the rust will reappear. Is it not feasible to make a long lasting repair?

[paintman]

Cutting out the rusty metal, welding in new & then refinishing.

MIGHT get a result by stripping both sides & painting inner & outer but it's difficult to get rid of rust.

Have a look, but often with a rear arch the outer panel & the inner panel come together & it could be trapped between the two making it even harder to get at.

Edited by paintman on Saturday 14th October 12:33

[PositronicRay]

paintman said:

Cutting out the rusty metal, welding in new & then refinishing.

MIGHT get a result by stripping both sides & painting inner & outer but it's difficult to get rid of rust.

Have a look, but often with a rear arch the outer panel & the inner panel come together & it could be trapped between the two making it even harder to get at.

Edited by paintman on Saturday 14th October 12:33

Yes, quite a snuggly fitting wheel arch liner so difficult to see with a casual glance. He did say that welding a piece in would introduce another corrosion point.

[Smint]

Try and find a small bodyshop who's moved away from insurance work and instead has taken on working on older cars (often with regular customers who themselves have little or no interest in modern), they may prefer and enjoy that type of work so take more time and trouble over making it a longer term fix, plus once the job is finished putting some anti rust treatment on behind before refixing covers etc.
I've had good results with such a shop.

[PositronicRay]

Smint said:

Try and find a small bodyshop who's moved away from insurance work and instead has taken on working on older cars (often with regular customers who themselves have little or no interest in modern), they may prefer and enjoy that type of work so take more time and trouble over making it a longer term fix, plus once the job is finished putting some anti rust treatment on behind before refixing covers etc.
I've had good results with such a shop.

Exactly the type of shop I've been to, no insurance work, no courtesy cars, no online presence, word of mouth and the same owner/driver for 37 yrs,

Edited by PositronicRay on Saturday 14th October 14:59

[Smint]

Good, well found.

[Chubbyross]

PositronicRay said:

Smint said:

Try and find a small bodyshop who's moved away from insurance work and instead has taken on working on older cars (often with regular customers who themselves have little or no interest in modern), they may prefer and enjoy that type of work so take more time and trouble over making it a longer term fix, plus once the job is finished putting some anti rust treatment on behind before refixing covers etc.
I've had good results with such a shop.

Exactly the type of shop I've been to, no insurance work, no courtesy cars, no online presence, word of mouth and the same owner/driver for 37 yrs,

Edited by PositronicRay on Saturday 14th October 14:59

Yep. Once found a bodyshop like that is a pleasure to deal with. I have couple and no longer fear getting the odd ding here or there. Big insurance shops, I’ve found, are completely impersonal and you never know what job you’ll get.

[SteBrown91]

These sorts of places are often used to offering the cheaper option to people as that what they want. If you make it clear you are willing to pay for a full cut out and weld jobbie then they may offer to do that.

However there could also be a chance they don’t want to do the faffy work and want to stick to the easy stuff so aren’t suggesting it to you

[MrSmith901]

If all the rust is cut out from the inner and outer arch, with new metal welded in and then it is all rust proofed, it should be a permanent fix.

[PositronicRay]

This is a pretty tidy 15 y/o merc cabrio, purchased as an additional (summer) car, I doubt it'll do more than 3k p.a.

The object is to keep it looking good for as long as possible. Even concurs I'll never be worth a fortune.

It doesn't owe me much, so happy to spend a few bob, but its not a case of unlimited funds.

With this in mind I'm going to smarten up one wheel arch and enjoy the car.

I'll be treating the lip of another arch with hydrate 80 (surface rust, no bubbling and only visable when on your hands and knees)

Edited by PositronicRay on Sunday 15th October 10:00

[Slowboathome]

I had similar on my old Yaris.

They cut out the bubbling bit but said the rest of it was rotten too - it wasn't obvious where to stop cutting stuff out.

[V8covin]

MrSmith901 said:

If all the rust is cut out from the inner and outer arch, with new metal welded in and then it is all rust proofed, it should be a permanent fix.

Tell me then, how come brand new cars go rusty when they start with clean metal,often galvanised ?
Mercedes of that era all rust,badly,as do many other brands.
And yet you expect a repair to never rust.That's expecting rather a lot don't you think