Help!!! paint flake

ekam · 30 Mar 2012 at 16:57

Noticed some rust under my wheel arch and the paint is slightly flaking away from the edge of the wheel arch any idea what i should do??

here are some pictures

http://i44.tinypic.com/20azynm.jpg

http://i43.tinypic.com/6ej0xd.jpg

really appreciate any help

pepsilol · 30 Mar 2012 at 17:48

What type of arch is it? Does it have a lip at the back? If so then grinding it down will be useless as the rust will come back.

The permanent fix is new panels.

ekam · 30 Mar 2012 at 18:14

pepsilol said:
What type of arch is it? Does it have a lip at the back? If so then grinding it down will be useless as the rust will come back.

The permanent fix is new panels.

i have no idea

wassap · 30 Mar 2012 at 18:15

Looks to have been painted before, and not properly on the underside of the arch.

To do a half decent job, you need to remove the paint and see where the rust is coming from, then use some rust preventor and paint it up again, theres no easy fix tbh.

ekam · 30 Mar 2012 at 18:18

wohoo said:
Looks to have been painted before, and not properly on the underside of the arch.

To do a half decent job, you need to remove the paint and see where the rust is coming from, then use some rust preventor and paint it up again, theres no easy fix tbh.

i see, its just one of those things that has to be done..any idea how much?

pepsilol · 30 Mar 2012 at 20:02

Rust preventor isn't a guarantee.

However that job around £135.

ekam · 30 Mar 2012 at 21:19

pepsilol said:
Rust preventor isn't a guarantee.

However that job around £135.

ok then, is it best to go to a vw garage or an independent garage? vw will most likely rip me off....

pepsilol · 30 Mar 2012 at 21:32

I take it you're planning to keep it long term?

ekam · 30 Mar 2012 at 22:23

pepsilol said:
I take it you're planning to keep it long term?

yes

a few years

Gamefreak501 · 31 Mar 2012 at 10:42

Had this happen to my first 1981 Spitifire and my 1996 Ford Escort.

I ended up finding loads of filler on the rear Spitfire wings and there were huge parts missing after I took out the filler and back to no rust. Much much worse than what you have there. I ended up filing the back wings smooth and putting black gaffa tape around it so it wasn't a problem or danger to pedestrians. Black gaffa tape and dark green paint don't go too well. I didn't keep it long after this, seriously bad bodywork.

The Ford Escort was more like what you have there. First it starts off as bubbling, then the metal starts losing it's shape as it gets more and more corroded.

I ended up rubbing down to the bare metal first, went up and round the wing to 1" to see if there was any more rust and then threw on some rust treatment stuff before a skim coat of filler to shape it again, lots of sanding and using primer paint to cover it up.

Fortunately the rust wasn't too bad and I still had the lip left. I had to get rid of the Escort though because a check found the sills were gone and the common problem near the battery box (soggy passenger footwell anyone?). Sorting these out was going to be more than the car was worth. I think I was quoted £200 to sort out the battery box issue and hundreds of pounds for the sills to be done.

Kind regards,

David