O/T: Talking Cars Tuesday; rust never sleeps edition.

Submitted by JFW on March 26th, 2019 at 10:36 AM

So, I'm just curious out there. How many people have venerable cars with alot of veteran experience that are suffering from Car Cancer? 

Has anyone had any luck fixing or repairing? 

MGoJeep (XK)has some rust on the back hatch that I'd like to fix this summer. But all of my rust repair experiences in the past seem to fail. Even when I sand like a mother then coat the metal in acid and end up with what looks like a clean slate upon which I can prime and paint. 

Wait 6 months and its back. Sometimes worse. 

 

Inflammable Flame

March 26th, 2019 at 10:51 AM ^

Living in the North, got kind of used to rust. I know a few guys who do body work that have had success with por15 but I personally leave the fine finishings to them. I'm built for power not finesse! 

bringthewood

March 26th, 2019 at 10:59 AM ^

I have had several rust buckets. The problem is you often cannot get to the bottom/inside portion of the panel.

I had a Chevy Colorado truck with a rusty bumper. I bought a used rust free bumper on eBay and rattle can painted it to match. Worked out great 

I also crunched my rear tailgate and found a supplier in Detroit that was selling painted tailgates for not much money - they had stacks of them in all the OEM colors. I think they may have been on ebay or Craigslist.

A hatch seems like it might be an expensive replacement but might be worth checking around.

 

mgobleu

March 26th, 2019 at 11:01 AM ^

I've got a couple of spots just starting and also wondering what I can do. Just two super small bubbles a couple millimeters across, but once the shit starts it feels like only a matter of time before my truck does like spider man at the end of Infinity War.

The Mad Hatter

March 26th, 2019 at 11:02 AM ^

The cancer on the rear wheel wells of my 02 Infiniti has metastasized over the past couple of years.  Mrs. Hatter calls it the ghetto cruiser now.  I ignored it for too long and now if I want it fixed it's probably going to cost more than the car is worth.

I still love that car though, even with 200k miles.  I was thinking of trying to repair it myself, despite my complete lack of experience doing body work.  I mean, how much worse can it look even if I fuck it up?

redjugador24

March 26th, 2019 at 11:06 AM ^

If it's just getting started and small spots (stone chips for example) sand the rust away and put clear nail polish on it.... then can come back and use a color match paint pen.  This is great for tiny spots, but I've never had much luck once a rocker panel, wheel wells, or bottom/inside of a door panel starts to go.  

Boner Stabone

March 26th, 2019 at 11:28 AM ^

My 02 Cavalier had a rough winter and there is a lot of rust along the bottom of the doors and it is spreading rapidly (probably stage 4).  I have 220,000 miles on her, but I want to get a couple more years out of her if I can.

The Mad Hatter

March 26th, 2019 at 11:37 AM ^

Speaking of rust, is galvanized steel really that much more expensive than whatever garbage most car makers use today?  In the early - mid 00's I had an Audi 90 (1990) with over 250k miles on it.  Car spent its entire life in Michigan.  Galvanized steel body.  Almost no rust other than a couple small surface spots.  Ever since then I've wondered why every car company doesn't use that steel.  I'd pay more for it.

KO Stradivarius

March 26th, 2019 at 12:01 PM ^

I am a sheetmetal guy...galvanized steel has been widely used for a few decades at least, but not on 100% of parts, just the outer panels, underbody, wet areas, etc.  

Problems arise due to poor water management/sealing, e-coat coverage, stone pecking, increased use of hot-stamped high-strength parts that cannot be galvanized, etc.  Corrosion is a worthy opponent.    

Recently, cars are made with more mixed metals (boron steel hot-stampings, aluminum, magnesium, etc), which brings galvanic corrosion into play.  I'm curious to see how the new aluminum F-150's, Expeditions/Navigators perform. The aluminum body shouldn't rust...unless the joining techniques allow for galvanic issues.   

KO Stradivarius

March 26th, 2019 at 2:00 PM ^

Technically aluminum doesn't rust like ferrous metals do...it oxidates.  It will form a white film (and maybe form pits), and this layer also can prevent further corrosion.  But we're mincing words.  My point was that it should not form perforations, etc.  Paint flaking off/bubbling may occur but nothing like the orange rust and large holes you see in steel sheetmetal.   

JFW

March 26th, 2019 at 1:48 PM ^

To be fair, the rust issues I'm dealing with aren't as bad as the ones I dealt with on the cars of my youth (late 70s, early 80s). My Mom had a '79 Mustang as her DD that was 'Ziebart'ed and it rusted way worse in 6 years than my ford has in 13. 

But yeah, it is interesting. I hear the 944's lasted forever. The sheetmetal guy's comments make sense. 

The galvanic question is really interesting. I hope they'd have figured that out. The aluminum F-150's have been around long enough you'd think they have. 

UMxWolverines

March 26th, 2019 at 12:30 PM ^

You're better off just buying a new hatch and getting it painted. You might be able to find someone that gets rust free used parts from down south like I did with my door for my truck. Spray some oil in the cracks once a year and you're good. 

xtramelanin

March 26th, 2019 at 12:31 PM ^

JFW, additional/supplemental thread might be: best methods of rust-proofing? 

a couple comments

1.  the 'cheap' (read: redneck or hillbilly) way to restore rusted pieces is to saw them off, spray auto foam to match the shape, sand, coat in paint matched to your year/model.  this is for junkers, looks better than rust, quicker/easier/cheaper than bondo.

2.  some rigs are worth preserving. i get after them with a real body shop.  for instance, our monster van would be real hard to replace.  i had them do a fair amount of work on it 2 yrs ago - just starting to get some little subterranean rust spots showing up again.  its an '08.  will have it in this summer to get touched up.  JFW, if you have a rig that's worth the trouble i suggest you try olsen's in TC for the work. a grand or two in preventative rust work every other year or so is way less expensive than car payments.  

JFW

March 26th, 2019 at 1:53 PM ^

That's a good point. I'm cash poor at the moment (just started the braces payment) but I'll give them a call. My trying to fix this may just end up in wasted time. 

I had Olsons work on an old ZJ I had that got T boned. They did a great job (of course, that was almost 20 years ago...)

wolverinebutt

March 26th, 2019 at 3:47 PM ^

When my cars get a rust spot I just retouch it up every spring.  Rust never goes away but the car will then its someone else's problem.  

If you take no action rust make you regret it.   

UMProud

March 26th, 2019 at 5:40 PM ^

My daily driver has nearly 200K miles and runs like brand new ... I should buy a new car but it's hard to get rid of a perfectly good vehicle.  Every spring I tell myself this and every year I keep it another year cause no car payment = the_win.

I'd like to just have the rust spots cut out, bondo, sanded & painted nothing fancy...where is a low cost / decent place to get this done?  Have zero interest in doing this shit myself!