1998 white gti rust.. hatchback door

Are you sure it is worth worrying about? A hack body shop could patch it and paint it so it'd look good for a year or so (say so you could trade/sell it).

A *good* shop could replace the hatchback door with a *new* one, paint it and it would look good forever (or a really long time).

But the car is 8 or 9 years old... Do you really want to spend this kind of money on it? A quality repair will be expensive.

well I got the car very cheap due to the rust. How much do you think it would cost to either repair the rust or get a new hatch door put on? It also may pay off for when i sell it

Might be easier just to buy an unrusted hatch from a junkyard and install it yourself, I found one for my '84 GTI for cheap (but that was years ago!)

nate

Actually check the corrosion warranty from vw. I'm not sure if it's transferable from the original owner to subsequent owners but VW usually warranted most models in the 1990s for like 10 or 12 years w/no mileage requirement. See what the warranty says (should be in the car w/the manual...assuming u got those). If it's still covered, make it VW's problem.

I was quoted $200 from a junkyard recently for a pristine MK3 golf hatch - mine's also rusted, seems to be common on this model. I believe it's about $350 (prices both CAD) new from the dealer.

Then there's still painting, and putting the glass in.

I'm planning on making it a winter project.

the glass is easy unless it is glued in. It uses a conventional gasket in A1s and A2s for sure. Just get some 16AWG stranded wire and some soapy water, wrap the wire in the gasket, set window in place, pull wire out, et voila. push on it a few times to set it in place and that's all there is to it.

nate