Hi all,
I have a 1995 Honda Accord EX. I just bought it and it is sweet. 5 speed, 107,000k, Gold/Tan Exterior w/ Leather Interior. There is no rust at the moment, but I see tiny bubbles forming on both rear wheelwells and I AM PETRIFIED because I know the reputation of these cars rusting in that spot. There are also a couple of these tiny bubbles forming on the driver's side of the hood. You can see what I mean in these 2 pics of the wheelwells:

http://i276.photobucket.com/albums/k..._Wheelwell.jpg

http://i276.photobucket.com/albums/k..._Wheelwell.jpg

As you can see, the bubbles are tiny at this point, but I love this car and I want to;

1. Stop the bubbles from getting any worse.

2. Prevent any more bubbles like this from forming.

How can I do this?

I read some posts about removing a rubber strip from inside the wheelwell and coating that area with motor oil. Has anyone tried this? Does it work?

Thanks!

-Ryno

 

No, it won't. The only way to stop corrosion (oxidation) is to grind out the already corroded material, refinish the panel and seal things up so that water doesn't have a chance to accumulate anywhere.
The typical Honda rear quarter (behind the rear wheel) issue is normally caused by the movement of the rear bumber cover against the quarter panel. Anyplace that water can find a bare, unpainted surface will be susceptable.

P

 

yep, unless you have some money to get body work done ASAP, your car officially has cancer.

 

too late, you have rust. If the paint is bubbled then there is very little good metal left behind it.

the ONLY solution is to cut/grind it out. Personally, i'm not even a fan of the grinding down to bare metal.

removing the plastic strip is a good preventive thing to do.

this thread has a full blown quarter replacement with a lot of pics. that is one way to do it
https://honda-tech.com/forums/showth...highlight=rust

you can also just replace the wheel arch, which may or may not be easier.
http://www.tasauto.com/Product/Browse.aspx?d=308&p=1

If you have no experience doing body work and don't know anyone who does, you may not want to DIY it.

Also, do a search in the paint and body forum, there is a lot of good information over there.

 

If you're like me and don't have body work skills or the money to get it done, then you'll either live with the rust or sell the car.
I'd sell the car.

 

wow!........................... so positive.


It looks pretty bad from the picture, but I dont see the need for a "full blown" quarter panel replacement. Either way though you will need a bit of body work and paint. There is really no way tell tell just how much rust is there until the paint is removed to get a look at what your dealing with.
Maybe the previous owner cut a few corners while he was fixing the problems with the car before he sold it. More often than not you get cheap bastards that just want to "cosmeticaly" fix the car and leave the hidden problems for someone else to discover.

 

Seriously, I'd sell it if I were in his position. He said he just bought it, maybe he can break even. Then he can find another car with no rust, start over.
I'm just offering one possible route.

 

What you've got is not a difficult repair, but you've got to do it properly or it will return.
In your case (I only looked at the first picture) the plastic wheel well molding is the culprit. It allowed water retention to occure up under the pinch weld and it started from the inside and worked it's way out to the point that it became visible.
This failure is quite common in Rust Belt cities because of the road salt used for snow removal.
If the rest of the car is cherry, get it professionally repaired. Seal the pinch weld molding with silicone sealer when you reinstall it and make the commitment to find a car wash that rinses the car's chassis also.

My '97 makes it to a car wash at least once a week in the winter

P

 

I'm in the midst of replacing one of my rear fender wells as well. It does stem from those stupid rubber strips. It rots from the inside out therefore your looking at having to replace not just the outer fender skin but more than likely part of the inner wheel well too. Mine was bad enough that water started to leak into the trunk.

I have some pics of my progress so far. I will be posting an update at the end of the weekend on what it takes to replace the inner well and outer skin.....without having to spend $300+ on a complete OEM rear quarter and inner fender. That is a waste of time and money if you ask me. A good body man should be able to replace that with two pieces of formed sheet metal, a few tack welds and some seam sealer to finish it off.

 

maybe go to a junk yard and try to find a quarter panel the same color. That may be difficult to do, but worth a shot.

I had a black del sol with the same problem. I just lived with it for 2 years until I sold it. It never really bothered me that much. The rest of the paint on the car wasn't in the best shape anyway, so I figured as long as it didn't hinder the mechanics of the car, why spend the money fixing it.

 

Sadly, it's totally normal.. Yet sad and unacceptable.

The only way you can see the whole picture is to strip the rear inside of your car to have access to this area. Chances are your metal is already rotten. You could slow down the process by making sure everything is dry and coating this thing with oil and grease (inside). And of course, removing the rubber strip that goes around the fender, cleaning everything, and keeping it greased to make sure no water stays trapped.

For repairs, you may want to deal with a good bodywork person, taking care of rust is a really bad/boring/hard thing to do.

 

Thanks guys for all the replies....wow that's ominous!!

I have to be honest....I don't know alot about it, but after reading the replies I felt like you guys were looking at different pictures than me. To me the bubbles looked really small. My thought was to attack it more from a preventative standpoint to stop it from getting worse and prevent other bubbles from forming by being proactive about getting frequent washes and treating the undercarriage. Is that not possible? I am ok with it as long as it doesn't get any worse in terms of how it looks on the exterior. Can't I just treat it from the inside?

I have been researching this since....last night (I'm a rook forgive me) and I read about solutions like rust bullet and por15 that can be painted directly onto the rust. I was thinking I could paint Por15 on the inside of the wheelwell to isolate the rust, stop it from spreading and protect that area from moisture. Does that sound like it would work? Has anyone treated this type of rust with one of these products?

Removing the rubber strip from the wheelwell sounds easy enough from the post I read, but I am not a mechanic. This is an excerpt from the post I read:

First: On the lip above the rear wheel is a rubber strip. . .pull this off; it allows moisture and debris to be caught in the seam between the quarter panel and the inner wheel well. You want this seam to be able to dry out. At the garage, we call these rubber strips "rust strips" because they cause rust.

Has anyone done this? What tools will I need? Are there any pictures available? I don't want to be removing the wrong the piece??

Thanks again

-R

 

Like we have said above if you see blisters that means the rust is forming from the back side in these areas. It has already made it's way through the metal. There is actually no metal left that can be saved in these direct areas. You may be able to slow down it's spread into the metal around the areas by using one of these miracle rust products. But I have yet to see one that works like they say they do. It's just a matter of time. The rust will keep spreading unless you cut it out. These products may add a bit of time, 1 year maybe 2 but from the ones I have tried they only mask the problem and the rust process still continues even under these coatings.

2 years ago I used a grinder to get rid of as much of the rust as possible. Then used a Rust to metal chemical that was supposed to turn rust into a solid. I used it as directed and it did turn any rust patch that was left into this hard black substance. I painted over it like the directions said too and this is what it looked like only 2 years later. And for the last year this car wasn't on the road.



Yes I did it and you don't need any tools you just pull it off. Start by getting one of the ends off then just pull. You pull off in buy pulling it in toward the car not downward. If that makes any sense...lol

 

The pinch weld molding has an embedded spring strip which clamps the molding to whatever lip it's applied to. It's a simple matter of just pulling it loose.
If you follow the route you're proposing, you'll be doomed (DOOMED I SAY) to chasing rust until you sell the car. It has to be completely removed, sealed and repainted.
There is a reason it's caused cancer. If you don't get it all ("out to clean edges" as doctors would say), the oxidation will continue.

P

 

thats 100% right on the money.