Rust repair

Being 12 years old, it's worth probably next to nothing. Is it really worth it?

Doki ( snipped-for-privacy@gmail.com) gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying :

With all due respect, no. You know what you paid. They're not necessarily the same thing.

I've just bought it, so I know what it's worth. A clean MK2 GTi doesn't really depreciate, and a tidy one is still a stonking car. Fixing the rust is much more sensible than letting it rot away.

Doki ( snipped-for-privacy@gmail.com) gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying :

OK - so you know it's not worth doing financially. Fine.

Respraying the rear wing on a metallic hatch? Blending in to faded paint? Not going to be cheap... Wild guess? Probably half what you paid for the car. At least. Assuming it's just a simple bit of prep.

I'd say that's debatable. Fixing it now is a lot cheaper than getting the rear quarter panel replaced at a later date.

Paid not much more than that for a much bigger repair on my Ka...

There is a difference between fixing it sufficiently to prevent it falling apart, and making a nice looking job of it. Financially the most sensible course of action is to do it well enough to prevent problems, but not to worry about the looks. Now if you want to spend more to get it looking nice, you can, just don't pretend it's for financial reasons.

cheers, clive

Obviously, making it look half decent is why I'm going to get someone else to do it. If I didn't give a f*ck, I'd just slap some hammerite on it and be on my merry way. However, unlike half of .maintenance, I'd actually like to drive a car that looks alright ;). And tidy golf = worth more than a golf that's been bodged together. GTis tend to be the sort of thing that people who give a toss about the looks of their car buy. If I wanted a shed, I'd have not destroyed the Mondeo ;).

Doki ( snipped-for-privacy@gmail.com) gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying :

If it's just a minor scrape, then spend an hour sanding it back, priming it and painting it. It won't be *perfect* but it won't be bad.

Guess what? The work's the same. To do it properly, the whole wing's going to have to be stripped back and painted. To get it to *match*, they may even have to redo it.

you'll probably be able to find someone to do a half decent job for £100-150. To get the panel properly matched - an insurance type job - will likely be more like £300.

Sometimes, and I mean only sometimes, those paint in a spray can cans from paint suppliers can give a good match if you can get a good finish. It's not really the best time of year for diy spraying though.

Now, if you were edd china the car would have a bare metal respray, complete new interior, new bumpers, new..............