ErikFlipside

Next week I'm starting the prep work for getting my car repainted. There are a few rust spots that I would like you folks to take a look at and give your opinions on. Every time I read a rust-related topic on here, I always picture the rust on my car being worse than it actually is, but I'd still like to know whether or not I need to cut this stuff out or if I can just sand/grind it out and treat before applying the body putty, primer, and BC/CC. Oh, and when I say "treat," I mean use Picklex20 to clean all the rust away, then apply Rust Bullet.

There are a few spots, so I'll walk you through them. I wanted to keep them at a relatively high resolution so you could see more details, thus helping with your assessment of each spot.

This first picture is above the windshield weatherstrip/gasket, driver side. Not too bad, right? I think if I can remove the gasket/windshield and sand/picklex20/rustbullet it over, it should be taken care of.


Front driver side headlight. A nasty crack but I think it can be sanded out and treated without any future problems.


Passenger side headlight. Looks like light surface rust. Sand out and treat.


Moving back along the drive side, we find this happy little fellow festering away on the rocker panel. This is the most severe of any rust on the car. Does this look like it needs to be cut out, or could it be sanded out and treated? To me, it just looks like surface rust but I'll have to sand away the paint next week to find out how far along the rust has progressed.

Alternative view of the same rocker panel rust spot.


Further back we find the beginings of the standard Honda cancer spots. Not too bad though! My 94 LX is WAY more chewed up than this. A good sanding and some treatment should take care of this.


Moving around the back to the passenger side rear wheel well, we find a few more spots, similar to the driver side. Looking for opinions here.

Close-up detail

Underside shot


I didn't even know these things could rust...?! Any suggestions on what to do here?


And for the finale, a little up-skirt shot of the passenger side front wheel well. Nothing much to see here. Just a little light surface rust that can be sanded and treated.


So what do you think of all that? Not too bad? For the wheel wells, I'd like to sand, treat and fill them in so water and salt can't sit up against the metal. I'd love to hear any preventative measures you guys might know about as well.

Thanks!

reactone

I think that once you start probing some of those areas with some sanding it will reveal some small holes or really thin metal. Some minor patch panels may be in order, but you could probably bang them out of some flat sheet and weld them in.

Tyte-S

I would try grinding the rust on the Rocker panel. See what you can eleviate using that method.

ErikFlipside

Thanks for the quick replies, fellas! I have a feeling both of you are right- some spots can be ground out and some spots might require a small patch. Of course, I won't know for sure until I get down to the metal!

honda_joe

Don't forget to open the trunk, lift up the carpet, and check the inside wheel wells. Thats where the nasty cancer comes through first.

kojack_0

i thought side moldings were made out of plastic?
lol.

ErikFlipside

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by kojack_0 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">i thought side moldings were made out of plastic?
lol. </TD></TR></TABLE>
That's what I thought too!!! I have no clue why there would be rust there but I'll find out once I pull the trim.

ErikFlipside

Can someone walk me through the process of removing the rear interior so I can check the inside of the rocker panels? I'd really appreciate it!

boostatic

just take everything outta the trunk..the fabric liners..and all that stuff..if it went through u'll see the rust inside on the very sides on the trunk..which are right next to the quarter panels..i was jus lookin at mine today..im gonna have to cut and weld mine...

ErikFlipside

Thanks. I pulled out the trunk carpet and the interior quarter panel trim along with the backseat. I'm glad I did because there was a little bit of surface rust forming on the inside of the passenger side rocker panel and wheel wells. The hardest part of treating those spots was getting that really sticky crap (seam sealer?) off. I had to use a bunch of C-60 solvent to degrease the area so the Rust Bullet would adhere. For the record, I am amazed how easily Rust Bullet goes on and how well it covers.

I have a ton of pictures from the past two days, so I'll post those up as soon as I can. Oh, and I did have to cut out a bunch of sections before applying Rust Bullet. In about an hour, my friend is going to weld in some new metal at the driver side rocker panel. That was the biggest hole. After it cools, I'm going to Rust Bullet the inside of the rocker panel then the outside. The other holes in the rear wheel wells have already been given two coats of RB, so I just need to fill them with fiberglass mat and Duraglass.