Rust

[x060x]

I'm looking into picking up another car but just recently found out it has some rust in the rear wheel wells. Apparently it's not showing up in the paint on the panels but I'm still waiting on some pic's to confirm so we'll see. I was told it's about 3" to 4" on one side.

How hard is it to get this rust off... is it an easy fix, expensive? If I buy it this car it's going to be in a dry climate where normally cars do not rust. So if it does get fixed, is it likely that it could come back or will I never see it again because of the dry climate?

I'm on the verge of buying it as it's exactly what I want but now with this whole rust issue I need to make a more informed decision.

I never dealt with rust on cars before so if I missed anything else worth mentioning or asking feel free to throw it out there.

[l4zy415]

Usually when there is rust, they cut the infected metal, and put in new metal. Then the spray primer or bondo, then paint it over. But if you never had that done, go around to different body shops and ask how much they charge to remove the rust.

[skatman]

Originally Posted by x060x

I'm looking into picking up another car but just recently found out it has some rust in the rear wheel wells. Apparently it's not showing up in the paint on the panels but I'm still waiting on some pic's to confirm so we'll see. I was told it's about 3" to 4" on one side.

I would stay away. If there is rust on the rear fenders, there is rust other places that is not showing yet. These cars rust from the inside.
In dry climate you have ~3 years before other rust shows up and ~5-7 years before it's really a loosing battle.

[jerzylgnd]

I cut the rust out of my left rear quarter and welded and bondod it. If I had the same paint as the rest of the car, you wouldn't even know.

[stephen]

It depends on how much rust there is.

If it's just surface rust it may be adequate to grind most of the rust off with something like a rotary file, treat it with phosphoric acid (Naval jelly is a paste form of this), wash and dry it, and use a rust preventive primer, then fill it with bondo or similar filler.

For more extensive rust it may be necessary to cut out the rusted metal and weld it up.

[x060x]

Got some pic's and it doesn't look too bad but what do you guys think. Hard to tell what's really going on under that touch-up paint. Price-wise what's the worst case scenario, will the rust come back once fixed?

Left Rear:





Right Rear:

[the65dartguy1]

That dosent look real bad at all. But as previously mentioned, where there is some rust you can see there is more you cant. I would take a real close look at the car top to bottom, or if its remote, pay a third party to check it out for you. Lots of rust sux, as anyone who has lived in the north can tell you. What I particularly hate tho is the all of the hardware for suspension, brakes and steering becomes impossible to work with if the car has seen about 5 or more winters. Thats what its like up here in NY at least.

[skatman]

Originally Posted by x060x

Got some pic's and it doesn't look too bad but what do you guys think. Hard to tell what's really going on under that touch-up paint. Price-wise what's the worst case scenario, will the rust come back once fixed?

Left Rear:





Right Rear:

Pretty standard... these are rust throughs from the inside. If you remove the rubber wheel arc guards you'll see that there is more of this under them that hasn't shown up yet.

[jerzylgnd]

Well at least your car dosen't look like this

[BlackholeWaltz]

i got some rust on the back wheel area too.
it was the same on the legend i had b4 the 1 i got now as well.