I have an approx 3" x 1" area under my passenger side left fender that has rust. The rest of the fender seems fine (looked best I could). It's out of eyesight and can only be seen if I lie on, or get almost on, the ground.

The car never gets wet - I wash it once, maybe twice a year. I want to clean this up and POR-15 it before I wash it again.

I'm not home now to take a look, but I'm pretty sure I can reach both sides to coat it. I figure with a pint of the silver POR (my car is silver), and no one will notice the repair since it's out of basic line of sight.

Wire brush, scortchbrite and use the marine clean, etching primer and go to town?

What do you guys think?

http://i549.photobucket.com/albums/ii382/REMIX1968/IMG_0622.jpg

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I'd leave it as is

That screw in your picture must be doing something....like holding 2 metal pieces together?
If you cannot get fully to both sides of each piece of metal, your not going to hold back the rust there.

IIRC....the silver POR 15 wants you to put down a coat of the standard black coating first before applying the silver. And the chances of POR 15 silver matching your silver are VERY VERY slim. They sell a tie-coat primer that goes over the black and allows you to paint over it with your car color. I personally have never used this primer though......

When I get home, I will take a better look at what I can and cannot get to. Like I said, the car doesn't get wet and I doubt my 1-2x per year wash will affect it much if at all. I just wanted to cover this spot "just in case". Those pics were taken in April 2009, and it still looks exactly the same.

RMX

I agree with Andy. Until you're ready to fix it correctly, IMO, you're wasting time & money. That looks like rot, not rust. POR 15 won't help that.

The only way to fix that properly is to remove the fender to see what's on the inside of the fender & what's underneath that paint. Plan on cutting out that bad metal & welding in fresh steel.

Finally, it's just my opinion, but If you plan on refinishing your car with a nice paint job, POR 15 has no place on properly prepped body panels.

Okie doke, guys. Appreciate the input. I will just leave as is for now. No point in tearing the vehicle apart - actually my biggest worry would not be patching the panel but getting someone competent to match the paint. Would seem a shame to paint the whole side of the car for a small rust/rot spot.

RMX

Okie doke, guys. Appreciate the input. I will just leave as is for now. No point in tearing the vehicle apart - actually my biggest worry would not be patching the panel but getting someone competent to match the paint. Would seem a shame to paint the whole side of the car for a small rust/rot spot.

RMX
Just paint the patched area. A little mismatched silver would look better than rotted metal.

I would at least go to Harbor Frieght, get the non toxic rust remover, kill what you can see(turns the rusty metal dark gray/black). Throw some primer or rattle can rustoleom on it if needed. Stop the rust you can see at least. Down the line do it right.

Just paint the patched area. A little mismatched silver would look better than rotted metal.

Well, you really cannot see it unless you're on the ground, underneath the car and looking up. I'm just concerned about having someone blend the silver...

This was the big reason why I wanted to clean it up instead of using a patch panel. It's one of those things I only know about (well me and all of TeamChevelle). LOL.

http://i549.photobucket.com/albums/ii382/REMIX1968/RUSTSPOT.jpg

RMX

I'd try that por patch stuff, it's alot thicker, I think it comes in a tube.
The only problem, I can think of is the rust may already be under the paint, and up part of the lower fender.

if you chose a good painter they should be able to match the silver if they caint you dont want to use them

The rest of the paint job appears relatively new.
Do you suppose that was a little rust spot that got bondo and painted over?

Has water been collecting behind the outer fender and rotting it from the backside? If that's the case, it will happen again.

I suppose I would pull off that fender and fix what's behind it as well as I could.
Then carefully mask off the removed fender, protecting as much of the good paint as possible.
Wire brush or similar all the rust off, then prime and paint the little spot.
Hopefully the affected area will be so low you won't need to pay a painter to match color.

if you chose a good painter they should be able to match the silver if they caint you dont want to use them

I will keep that in mind next time I'm at a local car show and will ask around...I personally don't know a decent painter around here.

The car is relatively rust free - had the seats out, the carpet out, the package tray out and the sail panels out in the past month and was really scared at first. I found little to no rust everywhere I poked around.

I did notice that leaves and gunk seem to accumulate at the bottom of the fender in this area. I'm assuming when the car gets wet, so does the crud and it stays wet for a while, thereby rotting the bottom where my rust issue is located.

I'll be doing my annual oil change possibly tomorrow and will have the car on jackstands. I will make sure to get up there as best I can and take a look.

RMX

Rust in the lower front fenders on GM A body cars is caused by the accumulation of years of debris between the layers of poorly protected sheetmetal that rust from the inside out.
If you open the door and examine the area with a bright light, you'll no doubt see more rust along with the dirt, leaves, needles, etc that hold the moisture against the metal causing the problem.
Flushing out the crap and heat/air drying will help to prevent further erosion as will coating the insides with POR-15. Fixing it involves cutting out the damaged metal & replacing it with new then properly coating it so that moisture cannot get next to the metal again.

Dan

Go to you local paint / body work materials supplier and see if they have Mar-Hyde Rust Converter... This stuff is pretty good at stabalizing issues like that.

Get a small handled wire brush and get the loose stuff off, then brush on the Mar-hyde.
It goes on milky white, and then turns black. I usually just use an acid brush to lay it on. You can prime and paint it too, or since you're in a dry location, just leave it as is.

Also, if the paint supplier has a color matching system, they can scan your car and then mix you up a spray bomb for about $30. For such a small spot so low on the fender, you should be able to touch it up yourself. If nobody sees the rust stain now, then they certainly won't see a light dusting of the correct color down there. Even if you blend the lower 1/2" of fender, it would likely be hard for folks to tell.

Thanks, fellas. This place is such a great resource.

RMX

Okay here's an update. I took a flashlight and looked down into the fender where this rust issue is occurring. Seems like eventually I'll need a fender. I figure this rot is too high up to use a patch panel...I won't really know unless I get the fender off, and that's not something I'm interested in doing right now.

I did manage to find a clip buried waaaaaay down at the bottom of the fender. I suppose this is why it's missing a bolt and has a screw instead (see pics above).

Driver's side seems fine.

One question, though: how dos one go about getting those leaves out? My hand is too big and so are all the attachments to my vacuum.

http://i549.photobucket.com/albums/ii382/REMIX1968/IMG_2470.jpg

http://i549.photobucket.com/albums/ii382/REMIX1968/IMG_2472.jpg

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Might go to the home/hardware store with your vac hose & see if you can make an adapter that will fit on there and reduce it down to a small perhaps plastic water pipe size (may take several adapters) May also find some small flex hose in the water plumbing section. Using a small plastic something for a pestle, you can break those leaves up in to small pieces. May also be able to get compressed air in there to blow the stuff forward. If you can, loosen the inner fender down there to try to give the junk an exit.
While you are messing around in the fender area, you may want to also check you battery tray & the areas below it. It's a common place for corrosion. You may get to the point of removing the tray and at that point you should go ahead & remove the entire inner fender so you can get into that pesky leaf collection location, clean, neutralize & POR-15 it.
Nice little weekend project...


Dan