UGH!!!! Rust

[Don M]

Just saying, before anyone trash talks my having the Camaro undercoated and it still rusting, I had the rustproofing done SEVEN years ago and just this winter, the car developed some surface rust on a lower seam in a rust-prone area. I can live with that.

I found some rust starting on both the wife's Escape (rear hatch bottom seam) and the Camaro (driver's door bottom seam).

The weather is far to cold and crappy to fix the issues now, so I'm researching fixes.

So far, the plan is to clean off the rustproofing (on the Camaro), then wire brush the area, spray OSPHO (phosphoric acid solution) and let it convert the remaining rust and cure for 24 hours. Then take POR-15 and paint over the OSPHO-converted rust. On the Camaro, I won't have to use any touch up paint since the car is already black. On the wife-mobile, there is no undercoating to take care of, so it's just wire brush, treat then POR-15...I already bought a small spray can of touch up paint for match her car (so she doesn't have to look at the repair...even though SHE would never see it...she hasn't seen the rust yet either.

So that's my plan...does any one have any better ideas or products? I'm going hog wild on You Tube looking at rust converters and "Paint over Rust" products. I already have OSPHO from when my wife's Jeep rotted out and we welded some floor panels in, and I can get POR-15 from Summit Racing down the street, but I am open to suggestions and ideas.

 

[Klasse Act]

Is a used door from the south an option?

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[Don M]

Is a used door from the south an option?

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Not really, LOL. The Wife is (SUPER) cheap (her cheapness with money let me buy the Camaro in the first place, so I'm not complaining about that). And (at first) she is going to be upset that I'm spending roughly $100 in materials, but once she realizes HER (new to her, less than a year) car is also in need of rust repair, she'll be OK with it. But there's NO WAY on this green Earth I could talk her into a new (used) door that I would likely have to get painted and installed by a shop.

 

[2black1s]

Many years ago, I did a lot of rust repairs when I worked in the autobody industry in Ohio. Rust at seams, like the door seams, is a tough one to fix.

The problem is you have 3 layers of sheet metal sandwiched together. If you can see rust at the edge of the seam where the door skin is wrapped around the frame, you can be nearly 100% certain that the rust initiated between the layers of sheet metal. As such, cleaning and "converting" the accessible/visible rust is only a partial repair. It will help cosmetically in the near-term but unless you address the rust buried in the seam it will continue to corrode.

For a more permanent repair the seam needs to be peeled apart to treat the rust within the seam.

The cause is moisture intrusion into the seam. Theoretically, the rustproofing should have prevented the moisture intrusion into the seam but there are many reasons that may not be the case.

Whatever level of repair you do, a thorough sealing of all the joints (inside and out) of the seam will extend the longevity of the repair. You need to eliminate any future moisture intrusion into the seam.

 

[Desertnate]

A little different slant to the problem.

What is the rust warranty on your Camaro or the wife's car? A quick Google search shows its 6yrs/100K miles on GM vehicles for this MY. Not sure what it was when you bought either car.

 

[Don M]

A little different slant to the problem.

What is the rust warranty on your Camaro or the wife's car? A quick Google search shows its 6yrs/100K miles on GM vehicles for this MY. Not sure what it was when you bought either car.

I'll have to check on the wife's car, but mine was 6 years/100,000 miles from the date of ORIGINAL PURCHASE. Which means it expired on me a a while ago

 

[Don M]

After doing a bit of research and some recommendations, I think I'm going to use This stuff, which I can pick up from Summit Racing, which is about 2 miles from my house.

I've also started spraying a few coats of OSPHO on the area a few days ago to hopefully slow the corrosion down a bit until I can fix it properly in a month or so.

@2black1s ... On the Camaro, the seam where the rust is IS opened up about a 1/16th inch, plenty of room to get some wire brush bristles in there to clean it out.