Rear Arch Rust on S2000

Interested in the replies to this, i have this crap all over my s-class now. Unsure whether to just leave it and let the bodywork gradually die, try and fudge it myself a bit, or what. Not sure its worth spending money on a car worth what...£4-5k at a push now? :(
 
In the past i've sanded / wet sanded, treated to get rid of the rust, sanded again, prime / colour then top coat. I just used Krust iirc did the job.

Its not a hard process in hidden areas but paint matching at home on a wing etc could be "interesting".
 
Conanius said:
Right.

So, i've got a bit brave, and im gonna try and sort it myself. I've bought replacement arch rubbers to go over the lips, so my plan was.

Sand down the rust,
Paint with some sort of suitable paint (I have some hammerite rust eating silver paint that I used on some rust in the engine bay)
Put on waxoyl/something suitable
Put arch liners back on.

That I recon should buy me some time. I dont really have the money to get it done to the correct standard now, so it seems mad to spend a few hundred and need to redo it in similar timescales as to if I do it mysel for 50 quid.

So the question is, what bits do I need ?
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That will definitely buy you some time at least. Thats what i did on some rust that appeared at the bottoms of my rear doors. The seam sealer had perished and had allowed water into the door so rust had crept under the paint and it was flaking off. Luckily it hadn't crept to the outside of the door too badly.

What i did was remove any flaking paint and sand back the rust to bare metal. This would be ideal but there were pitted areas that are impossible to get back to bare metal so i just did the best i could. Then i cleaned off the dust and applied a few coats of Krust. Apparently Krust is rubbish and there are far better products out there so i would advise using a better rust converter.

I then used some Hammerite No1 rust beater priming spray, a good few coats of that. Then i painted over with Halfords spray cans in the colour of my car.

It held up for a good 6-8 months and just came back in 1 small area where the pitting was. I think if you don't have any pitted areas yours could last a lot longer. But this only takes a few hours work at the most so even if it does only last 6 months its not hard to redo it again.
 
Jez said:
The S-class having rust popping up? Unfortunately not, Merc's of its era suffer from it terribly :(
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No, what you said about spending money on a car worth *only* 4-5k.

If the mechanicals are good, of course it's worth spending a few hundred pounds to get the bodywork in good order.

OllyM said:
It's a Cat D I think?
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I forgot about that but surely if he comes to sell, Cat D or not, a good condition car will demand more of a premium than one covered in rust.
 
agw_01 said:
No, what you said about spending money on a car worth *only* 4-5k.

If the mechanicals are good, of course it's worth spending a few hundred pounds to get the bodywork in good order.
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It will no doubt cost thousands to get arches replaced or whatever needs to be done, then most of the car resprayed to blend into the pearlescent paint etc

Not sure its worth it, condition does not make much difference to resale value, most people buy the car they go to see regardless as they are not picky or notice imperfections, and feel pressured into the deal having gone to the hassle of coming etc. Whether or not i get it fixed its value wont be heavily affected.
 
Jez said:
It will no doubt cost thousands to get arches replaced or whatever needs to be done, then most of the car resprayed to blend into the pearlescent paint etc

Not sure its worth it, condition does not make much difference to resale value, most people buy the car they go to see regardless as they are not picky or notice imperfections, and feel pressured into the deal having gone to the hassle of coming etc. Whether or not i get it fixed its value wont be heavily affected.
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You may be able to get the rust sorted under the mercedes bodywork Warranty - different garages have different criteria for accepting claims (some want FMBSH other dont) but i think the S Class came with a 30 year bodywork warrenty?
 
Trust me, ive tried that :) Ive spent thousands keeping the MBSH too (until recently when i found out that the corrosion cover isnt worth the paper it is written on)
 
Ive read a few threads on the MBCLUB forum listing 'the more friendly' dealers when it comes to rust repairs - might be worth a read (especially if you do have MBSH) many people on there have managed to get their cars repaired - that said it was the final straw that put me off buying a CLK
 
Good luck with doing the work Conanius. Was this agreed to be a one off occurrence (previous repair as Simon suggested?) or is this actually a problem with some S2000s???
 
amigafan2003 said:
Easily sortable:-

Old rusty arch:-

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v25/amigafan2003/100_2763.jpg

One session of angle grinder, naval jelly (google it), lead filler and a a rattle can later:-

[IMG]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v25/amigafan2003/100_2784.jpg

Did the same job on my old Sierra, took 7 years for the rust to re-appear. Lead filling is the key. I'd be suprised if you could find a bodyshop that does lead filling nowadays though.

If you use plastic/fibreglass fillers, the rust will be back in a few years. Then again, if you only spend £30 on materials and a day of your time, would you mind having to do it again in a few years?[/QUOTE]

That's impressively blended for a spray can.

I'm inclined to agree that the arches should be repaired, not replaced, if it's done right it will last more than a year, much more.

You could always just sell it now though, someone will overlook that, and if it has a new enough MOT, it will be too late to come crying by the time they do notice it getting bad.

Also, Italian bodywork for the win! I have stone-chips in my arches with bare zinc exposed. :cool:
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