Automotive rust repair

[El Chupacabra]

A lot of the solution is dependent on your location. When I was living in the NE rust belt nothing short of major surgery would last more than a year or two. One winter on a white car. Here in the PNW I've have the same NYS salt wheel well rust bubbles that I had on my Outback for six years with no growth. Are there a lot of rust free 20 year old daily drivers where you are or rust buckets?

In Northern Nevada - mostly rust-free. It's high desert, so low humidity climate -- with winter snows + salt but nowhere near as much salt as in the east or midwest.

My truck came from Northern Utah, where I don't think it was washed much. I've had it since 2011. It came with some rust, which I touched up a little, but ignored the spots on the rocker panels. I probably shouldn't have ignored those.

[wooley12]

Where it is is more important than where it was. Saw that with my Suby. I have a 2000 TJ from the PNW with no rust, even on the frame, due mostly to where it lived it's life. Last 10 and 10k miles years was in a high desert orchard. The soft top was cooked. Sounds like you can get away without major surgery where your truck lives. That video I posted had a lot of good Bond application tips.

[El Chupacabra]

Took awhile to get around to it, but with winter approaching, I finally did. Here's my rust repair TR:

Cutting out the bad parts -- driver's side -- I used a handheld angle grinder with a grinding wheel, but as I learned later, a cutting wheel is much faster. Lots of rust came down, along with a dead mouse. The total length of the rusted-out section on the driver's side was about 46"; at its widest, the hole was about 5" across. The inner rocker looked surprising good, however, and the cab corners were fine.



After cutting out as much rust as I could, I took a flap disc to get rid of the surface rust. Driver's side:



I painted the bare/ scuffed/ surface-rusted metal with POR-15, with a brush. Driver's side:





The passenger side was in much better shape. Did not need to cut out any metal. Cleaned up the loose surface rust and scuffed the paint with a flap disc:



Then painted the scuffed/ bare metal with POR-15:



After drying, I scuffed the POR-15 with a wire wheel on a drill, to rough up the surface and help the bedliner adhere. I bedlinered the gas door flap because it was rusting too. (Did not bedliner the labradoodle.) Masking off the parts to be bedlinered:



Applied two coats of Rustoleum bedliner with a brush. Second coat done about 90 min after the first coat. I bought two quart cans of bedliner, and ended up using only 1 quart for the entire project.



Finished the two coats of bedliner. Turned out pretty good. I still have the two big holes in the driver's side rocker here, because I hadn't gotten the rocker panel replacement yet -- I first thought I'd use mesh + bondo to fill the holes, but the holes were too big.



Passenger side, completed:



I ordered a "slip-on" replacement driver's side rocker panel from Amazon, about $35 delivered.



I cut out the part I would need to cover the holes in the driver's side rocker, with a cutting wheel on an angle grinder, then scuffed both sides, degreased, primed, and painted.



I don't know how to weld. I attached the rocker panel piece with a bunch of self-tapping sheet metal screws, along with about 1/2 tube of Loctite PL Max urethane adhesive. Ghettotastic!



Applied two more coats of Rustoleum bedliner, and done!

[wooley12]

Very nice. I always painted my rust repairs black too. On a white body, the black gave me an extra year or two to look good. That was in the rust belt.

[PlayItLeo]

Nice work, El Chup. Subscribing as my Ram 1500’s rocker panels are a rusty disaster.


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[Obstruction]

Nice work, Should last for a decent length of time. I’m considering doing this rocker repair on my 02 Dakota beater.

I’ve already done a similar repair on the wheel arches a couple of years ago. Only difference is that I used sheet metal screws and 3M Panel Adhesive & 3M applicator to attach the panels. Then I ground the screw heads off, bondoed the seams and painted.

Shit is truly amazing:

[2FUNKY]

Instead of screws why not use rivets? Much cleaner application.

[El Chupacabra]

Nice work, Should last for a decent length of time. I’m considering doing this rocker repair on my 02 Dakota beater.

I’ve already done a similar repair on the wheel arches a couple of years ago. Only difference is that I used sheet metal screws and 3M Panel Adhesive & 3M applicator to attach the panels. Then I ground the screw heads off, bondoed the seams and painted.

Shit is truly amazing:

That 3M stuff is supposed to work great. If I was doing a repair on something to keep long term, or even just something more visible than the underside of the rocker panel, I'd use that. I didn't buy it for this repair because it costs a lot more than the $9 Loctite urethane adhesive I used. (Hopefully it'll hold up.)

Re: why not rivets - that would be a smoother repair job in the end, but I didn't have a decent rivet gun, and this area of repair is hard to see unless you're looking for it - like crouching down and looking at the underside of the body. So I ghettoized it with screws.

[snowaddict91]

That 3M stuff is supposed to work great. If I was doing a repair on something to keep long term, or even just something more visible than the underside of the rocker panel, I'd use that. I didn't buy it for this repair because it costs a lot more than the $9 Loctite urethane adhesive I used. (Hopefully it'll hold up.)

Re: why not rivets - that would be a smoother repair job in the end, but I didn't have a decent rivet gun, and this area of repair is hard to see unless you're looking for it - like crouching down and looking at the underside of the body. So I ghettoized it with screws.

I did a short stint helping in a body shop and we used the 3M panel bonder for bedsides, etc (with tack welds of course). Its the shit.

El Chup, your repair job looks great, especially for a DIY job!

[XXX-er]

I gota ask why bother fixing the rust on any of the above vehicals which do not appear to be any kind of exotic collectable ?

IMO once the rust sets in she's no longer a virgin eh

[uglymoney]

Looks good. Why not rivet it together though if you don't weld? I'd be worried those sheet metal screws are going to be falling out and loosening up all over the place.

My solution to rust is to appreciate that it is its own form of beauty. Like old age and wrinkles. Age and rust always win anyway.

[El Chupacabra]

No particularly good reason not to use rivets. Just didn't have a decent rivet tool.

The sheet metal screws will hopefully stay in place from the bedliner over the top, and adhesive on the underside.

I've never done any body repair before, and don't know what I'm doing. Old truck, low value, non structural part... why not give it a try. Google + YouTube + about $60 in parts/ supplies.