Rust on arch advice

[ATR84]

Hi All,

I have had my lude about 4 months now. I bought it with a little rust bubble on the arch, see below pic. Should I burst it sand it , treat it and use a touch up pen to repair or will that just make matters worse?

It does not seem to have got obviously bigger since I have had the car. I have already treated the arches and inner arches to a load of dynax in the hope it will slow or stop any rot that is there. The thing is the car is 20 years old and has already had the arches repaired once, although according to the previous owner there was no work done on the area where this bubble is because at the time (3 or so years ago) there was no rust there, it was further round the arch and the sills.

Looking closely at this bubble it seems to have spread from the arch lip to the body (where the arch protectors used to be).

It is a shame as it is the only bit of rust on the body, at the same time I don't want to spend hundreds fixing it only to have a paint mismatch or something because at the moment you really can't tell it has had any work. The paintwork match is perfect.

Any advice welcome

[vanzep]

i wish my arches looked as good as yours do
i would catch that before it spreads - take it back to bare metal with a dremel or similar
as the area to be treated looks quite small so you may be able to paint it with a touch up pen

others with more expertise may be able to help you a bit more

[ATR84]

i wish my arches looked as good as yours do
i would catch that before it spreads - take it back to bare metal with a dremel or similar
as the area to be treated looks quite small so you may be able to paint it with a touch up pen

others with more expertise may be able to help you a bit more

Thanks Vanzep. I had thought about sanding it back or something and touching it up but I may end up making it more of an eyesore, that is my main concern. If I give it to a body shop they will want to blend the paint and will probably end up needing to spray the whole arch

[MaccaIRL]

Check my thread lol

Thoroughly investigate the arches with a light when its jacked up

[wurlycorner]

Tricky one...

My first lude (also Sebring Silver ) had a very similar rust spot to that. I treated the inside of the arches with Dinitrol and left the spot as it was. 2 years later when I sold the car, it hadn't got any bigger at all - the treatment had stopped it dead. I have a horrible feeling if I'd attacked it from the outside as well, I'd have made it worse

Actually... The same is true of my green UKDM. About 8 months after I had the arches done, a spot like that appeared on one of them.
The arches were filled with Dinitrol immediately after they were repaired but I later discovered that I hadn't sorted the sunroof drains, so that side was still getting filled with water
Anyway, with the sunroof drain sorted, 3 years later, it still hasn't got any worse.

I will get that one sorted though, at the same time as a few other bits on the paint that I'm not happy with - but that will be by a body shop, not as a DIY job by myself.

[ATR84]

Check my thread lol

Thoroughly investigate the arches with a light when its jacked up

Thanks for the heads up Macca. Don't worry it's the first thing I did when I got it home the day I bought it. No sign of anything like what yours had thankfully.

[ATR84]

Tricky one...

My first lude (also Sebring Silver ) had a very similar rust spot to that. I treated the inside of the arches with Dinitrol and left the spot as it was. 2 years later when I sold the car, it hadn't got any bigger at all - the treatment had stopped it dead. I have a horrible feeling if I'd attacked it from the outside as well, I'd have made it worse

Actually... The same is true of my green UKDM. About 8 months after I had the arches done, a spot like that appeared on one of them.
The arches were filled with Dinitrol immediately after they were repaired but I later discovered that I hadn't sorted the sunroof drains, so that side was still getting filled with water
Anyway, with the sunroof drain sorted, 3 years later, it still hasn't got any worse.

I will get that one sorted though, at the same time as a few other bits on the paint that I'm not happy with - but that will be by a body shop, not as a DIY job by myself.

That's interesting Iain, if it was not going to get worse I would happily live with it, my fear is that it spreads and becomes a more expensive issue. Like I said I have sprayed quite a bit of Dynax internally through from the boot area and through from the inside of the car by removing the interior trim so I am hoping I got to the inner arches. Impossible to be sure though as you are mainly just spraying the stuff blind into the general area.

By the way, is there a guide on the sunroof drains on here? I have never checked mine, how do I get to them

[ATR84]

Right this rust bubble is now noticeably worse and spreading so I want to act sooner rather than later. Because the rest of the arch and sill is good, I am thinking an entire rear arch replacement panel would be overkill? I am thinking get a bodyshop quote to cut out the bad metal, weld in new metal, paint and obviously blend in. Would others agree with this?

[MaccaIRL]

Check the inner arch too, but from what I see there I'd just sand it down doesn't need cut out imo

[wurlycorner]

If it's got noticeably worse in that time, you have water actively getting in there.

I would just ask a body shop what they would want to do to stop it.

They might say it's as much work to cut out that area, fab up a repair patch and weld in, as it is to replace the whole panel with a pre-stamped one?