Rusty Saab Tailgate - Advice?

Mar 26, 2008 8 Replies

Hello.



I am after some advice of what to do about some rust that is appearing on the tailgate of my Mother's 2002 Saab 9-5 Estate.



It looks like the plastic trim next to the rear light has rubbed its way through the paint and the rust has set in:



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to jpg of rear of car) I haven't ever tackled rust before, but I have been given the go ahead to treat this as long as it looks half respectable. By the time mother is finished with the car, small paint blemishes on the tailgate are going to be the things least detracting from its value.



I want to banish the rust, stop it coming back but it doesn't have to be an invisible repair.



Assuming it's simple enough to get the plastic off, would removing the plastic, angry grinding my way to shiny metal, priming and painting with a spray can approximation be enough or is it worth applying something like Kurust?



Of course, if getting a man in costs £reasonable - i.e. less than say £80 - I'd consider that. Do the mobile dent people deal with stuff like this? Last time I spoke to a bodyshop about fixing a bent door, they quoted me about £300. I bought a scrap door for £30 and spent half a day fitting it myself. I guess its down to finding an establishment that understands what wavelength I am on.



Opinions please.


sand blast, zinc primer, filler, undercoat, colour, clear coat

Doesn't it have like a 10 year anticorrision warranty thing?

[...]

It may well have. Sadly, there are so many limitations on such warranties, they are next to useless.

For example, it is usually necessary for the car to have been main dealer serviced in order for a regular "corrosion inspection" to be carried out, any paint repairs must have been carried out by an "approved repairer", and only perforation of structural parts is covered!

Chris

That'll be worth checking though. I'm fairly sure it hasn't perforated, but it may have been Saab serviced (at £400 a time) for most if not all of its life.

I managed to have the edge of the roof channels repainted on my 7 year old A3 under warranty: They had very very small (easier to feel than see) bubbles, right on the edge of where the roof/side panel is of the channel. It wasn't dealer serviced by then either.

SWMBO has a Lupo that has similar, tiny bubbles, but the dealer wasn't interested.

Both cars have (technically) the same VAG 10 year anti-perforation warranty.

I think it depends on the dealer greatly.

If you don't have a sand blaster, a dremel with wire brush or grindstone (go gently) might do. An angle grinder will go through that in no time.

The hardest bit will be getting a colour match.

Sandblast or wire brush using an angle grinder or the likes. IME dremels don't have enough power. Acid etch primer, not zinc, preferably the two pack kind (not got isocyanates in so it's not as poisonous as 2 pack topcoat, but you do need one of those disposable 3m charcoal masks). Then some primer and top coat and clear. IME you can get fairly good results using Halfords type paint in a pen jobs. The colour match is never quite perfect, but it'd be alright. OTOH on my old Golf I found out that there was a colour of hammerite that was almost an exact match...

For a good as new repair, then the lower half of the tail gate is going to need repainting en-masse after sand blasting the affected area, treating with an acid primer and a light fill. You will not get anything like a match on that localised area.

Tim..

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