Driver side fender of our older car (Subaru Impreza, 1993, FWD) is corroding with an amazing speed - what was a barely visible spot a year and a half ago has now become an apple-sized hole with rust spreading as far as 5 inches from it. Kinda unfrotunate since other things appear to work OK and the car has only 70 Kmi on it (single owner and regular maintanence).
One thing I find somewhat strange is that there is no rust whatsover anywhere else on the car. The fender that has rust all over it is actually not "native" to the car. The car was 1 year old when there was a minor accident which resulted in the replacement of the left fender (by dealer, at the other party's cost). It certainly has no practical implications now, 9 years after, but I am just curious - is it possible that something about the way the new part was installed ended up causing it's premature corrosion? If yes, what do I need to know/do in order to avoid this possibility in the future?
Additionally, I have some practical questions: What is the most cost efficient way of dealing with it? My intention is to keep this car as long as it runs OK and costs less in repairs that half the payment of the new car. I can see few possibilities (but don't have knowledge to choose between them): 1a) Ignore the rust. As the "epicenter" of the rust if right behind the wheel and this part of the fender does not seem to cover anything of importance or serve any significant structural role, one may just hope that it will be slow enough to reach catastrophic proportions only when the car starts falling apart. 1b) Same as 1a but with the rationale "wait all the way until it wears off to the point it simply has to be repaired". 2) Try to find someone who'd do some crude welding job - cut away everyhting than might be rusted, and stick in place anything that will not within 5 years or so. (I don't care about easthetics in this case - any piece of metal and any paint/coat is fine with me as long as it does not continue to rust; but is t feasible?) 3) Have body shop to install a used fender instead of the current one. 4) Just buy and install a new part.
Just trying to learn and make an educated choice! Thanks for helping out!
DK