Rear Arch Rust on S2000
- Thread starter Conanius
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I don't have 'credentials' but I do know a great deal about bodywork. More relevant than that though, I had exactly the same thing happen to my car. I cheaped out and had it 'repaired', the rust came back within a year. Next week I'm having new quarter panels put on.
Those arches are well and truley salvagable.
it looks like the rust has crept in from the edge under the paint, rather than come through from behind. So i don't think there is any extra hidden rust, which is often a problem with arches.
So i reckon, grind out the rust, use a sanding disc or belt sander rather than a wire brush. wire brushes sometimes just polish the rust rather than remove it all.
use a rust treatment on any remaining nooks and crannies.
weld in a bit where it has rusted through.
after it has painted i would use an anti rust wax treatment, like dinitrol or something similar (not waxoyl, that's rubbish). spray it on the edge of the arch where the water got in before.
you said it had a plastic cover over the arch, so that should hide where the wax is.
This won't last forever, but then neither will new arches
it looks like the rust has crept in from the edge under the paint, rather than come through from behind. So i don't think there is any extra hidden rust, which is often a problem with arches.
So i reckon, grind out the rust, use a sanding disc or belt sander rather than a wire brush. wire brushes sometimes just polish the rust rather than remove it all.
use a rust treatment on any remaining nooks and crannies.
weld in a bit where it has rusted through.
after it has painted i would use an anti rust wax treatment, like dinitrol or something similar (not waxoyl, that's rubbish). spray it on the edge of the arch where the water got in before.
you said it had a plastic cover over the arch, so that should hide where the wax is.
This won't last forever, but then neither will new arches
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Soldato
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I suppose it depends on the cost of new arches. I can get mk1 mx5 rear quarters for £88 each so it would be foolish to repair my arches when they get done later this year. If you can't get decent parts at decent prices, they are very much repairable. £200-£400 depending on the body shop. The higher price also won't guarantee the best work so ask around - I have found this to my cost that different body shops have hugely varying levels of overall quality.
Soldato
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What car is that Dreadi?
Soldato
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The quarters are cheap, but the quote I got to fit them wasn't! Apparently there is a lot of work involved, It was suggested it would be £500-600 a side.
Caporegime
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Yep, due to how the 5's rear quarters join at the bottom and around the inside edge of the door its quite a task to make them fit and look correct.
I had this exact rust problem on my Mk2 5, wasn't happy that the car had started rusting but the japs don't seem to protect things as well as the Germans for example.
I had this exact rust problem on my Mk2 5, wasn't happy that the car had started rusting but the japs don't seem to protect things as well as the Germans for example.
The amount of work to cut out a complete arch, weld a new one in, prepare the surface and respray to a decent standard will absolutely dwarf the cost of arch repair panels. It's a fairly skilled job as well since it's easy to create lots of distortion when welding large flat panels like rear quarters.
There is absolutely no reason that the existing arches can't be repaired to a good standard that will last. Done badly then they would be lucky to even last a year.
Soldato
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Dreadi that look like my old Prelude! except maroon 
My arches looked like the 1st picture until i started sanding back and had quite a few little holes were the rust had gone through quite badly. Unfortunately Honda's have a habit of rusting inside out.
The corner will be allot worse than it looks, the 2nd and 3rd pictured areas will easily be sanded back.
My arches looked like the 1st picture until i started sanding back and had quite a few little holes were the rust had gone through quite badly. Unfortunately Honda's have a habit of rusting inside out.
The corner will be allot worse than it looks, the 2nd and 3rd pictured areas will easily be sanded back.
VAG and BMW are good but if anything Mercedes is worse than any of the japs.
This is some arch rustage:
I would say those arches are salvageable aslong as they are done properly. Is there any sort of bodywork guarantee on these?
Well OK, there are better materials than steel but they would cost far too much to use on mass produced cars. I guess what i was meaning was i wish steel didn't rust
.Well OK, there are better materials than steel but they would cost far too much to use on mass produced cars. I guess what i was meaning was i wish steel didn't rust
So do I! To be fair, most modern cars with galvanised bodies don't rust, or at least nowhere near the amount that older cars did.
Has it ever had a replacement rear quarter? seems odd as mines rusty on one side but thats due to a replacement panel sometimes in the past. The otherside is mint still