After washing my Car/Ka the other day I noticed that I have some rust appearing on the bodywork (sill?) just behind the lower corner of the edge of the door, on both sides.
Now it is a fairly small patch, would this be fairly straightforward to sort out? I imagine I wouldn't be able to get it looking "as new", but if I could do a reasonable repair for not much money I'd be happy. So, what am I looking at to do this job and what would I need? Or would I be better off taking it to a bodyshop?
Get a blunt flat screwdriver or similar and scrape the loose rust and paint away (taking care not to gouge into pristine paintwork...been there, done it, cursed). You should find out if it's rusting from the outside (good) or from the inside (bad). Assuming the former: make sure you've scraped off all the loose/peeling stuff. Apply a product such as Kurerust or similar (from Halfords). It's a chemical that "neutralises" rust. Let that do its stuff as per the instructions, then apply a coat of rust-inhibiting primer, let it dry. Then, with fine wet&dry paper in a block, sand it down smooth. This will almost certainly result in you ending up with more patches of bright bare metal. Wash it with clean water, dry it, then immediately slap on another coat of rust-inhibiting primer, let it dry. Repeat the previous step until you end up with a smooth surface with /no/ bright bare metal, just smoothed primer feathering into the original paintwork all around; practise makes perfect. Then you can touch up, or spray for larger areas, with the manufacturer's matching paint. Many paints nowadays require a final coat of lacquer. Stand back and admire your handiwork. A light cut with T-cut might be required to blend it in (since the original paintwork will be dulled with time). Total cost less than a tenner for the curerust, primer and touch-up paint, but the better part of an afternoon for the time.
Some tips:
- Don't be afraid to do it over and over again 'til you get it right.
- If you're using an aerosol can to spray, shake it up until it's well shaken. Then shake it some more. Then some more. Then some more.
- Don't spray in direct sunlight, damp conditions, evening dew, strong wind, hot weather..you get the idea. You'll get a crap finish.
- Spray lots of light coats that aren't enough to cover the colour depth, rather than one dribbling thick trenchcoat of paint.
If the rust is more serious and has broken through the metal, then things are trickier. If you can access all the rust, go as per the previous bit until you've done the primer bit. Now you'll need to fill the hole with something like glassfibre & resin, which will then require some serious elbowgrease to sand to a smooth surface for the paint.
If you can't get at all the rust (say, it's gone completely through your sill) you're pretty much stuffed - it'll need the damaged bits cutting out and welding, I'm afraid - any cosmetic treatment to the surface will make it look pretty for a few months but all the time the rust is gnawing its way through the rest of the sill from the inside.
I just did similar last month on a Ka. It was mainly on the sill bottom seam which isn't visible if unless you get on your knees. I sanded off the paint and treated the rust. I masked it, primed it and used some colour matched paint from Halfords.
The paint isn't a brilliant match but that's because the original paint in that area is so thin that the primer shows through and the bit I did is several coats think and very solid but as I said, its not visible in that position.
Ford were not interested in honouring the anti-perforation warranty. I wish I had pursued it now as it seems to be quite a common problem on the Ka and Ford need to be reminded of their responsibilities.
Think yourself lucky. Back in the seventies, most cars were complete 'rust buckets'. I had a three year old Ford Anglia (1967 vintage) and the jacking points were soon unusable because of corrosion. Shortly afterwards, the front wings were perforated with rust. The car was a load of rubbish, as were most in those days, especially Leyland, BMC or whatever they called themselves. My only memories of Minis, 1100's etc is of many wasted hours with a pop-riveter, rust removers, Cataloy & paint sprays. On the good side, catalyst exhausts and ECU's hadn't been thought of in those days :-)
Out of interest, do you have mud flaps? I've got the same thing, and reckon it's caused by gravel getting flung at it when they grit the roads or you do silly things.
Nah, they will say that it was caused by a stonechip or in my case they said that the rust was caused by moisture seeping under the paint on the seam where the paint ends. It stinks but the anti-perforation warranties aren't worth a lot.
With glass fibre it's best to leave it below the surrounding surface level and finish off with a normal plastic filler. If you can't manage to stick it on the back of the hole dent the surrounding area with a hammer and stick it on the front.
Cheers for the help. I might just give that a go. Just need to find a spare afternoon ;-). Not bothered about a seamless finish, as it isn't in the most noticeable area and is a small patch. As long as it looks OK and stops the rust, that'll do.
You're usually OK so long as you have been taking it for the annual inspection and getting remedial work done if needed. Most people don't bother (as it costs money), hence the battle to get claims settled.
I went to view an Alfa 75 (which had, ISTR, a 6 or 8 year anti-corrosion warranty) that had had quite a bit of work done around the boot floor under warranty after 4 or 5 years. So it can be done.
Any ideas what sort of cost this would be? I've got a focus and have never bothered with getting ford to sort out the odd scratch as I assumed it would be horrendously expensive.
What sort of price would I be looking at for two foot long scratches on the rear panel. A dent in rear passenger door about 2 inches diameter and a deep chip on the windscreen pillar?
None my fault - all "appeared" overnight a while ago :-( Its metallic blue as well which won't help. Are we talking a couple of hundred? Several hundred? More that a repsray at a non-ford garage? ;-)
Of course, I expect the warranty would be viod now anyway. After all, I have used the car/had a cat sleep on the roof/got bird crap on it/whatever else they will use to get out of it!
MotorsForum website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here.
All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.