Rust Bubbles - Any cost effective repair solutions?

[EcoAuto]

There's no arguing with the value of paint and body work, the satisfaction of driving a shiny new looking car, and the high cost of doing business.. especially if you're in a high cost of living region and need to cover rent, labor, workman's comp, insurance, environmental and hazmat expenses.

The problem for 02 owners, is it's difficult to rationalize spending $4K or more to eliminate a few minor rust blemishes. The fact that most of our cars are valued somewhere between $5K and $15k makes paint/body work a difficult expense to rationalize. That market value accounts for the majority of our 02's. For a higher-value collector car, sure it's well worth the money to keep it looking it's best. But with most of our 02's, we use them as drivers, no show cars, and the cost of cosmetic rust / paint work probably won't come back to us.

Of course, the alternative, to let the cars rust away, is not a good option either.

[Mike Self]

I've field tested fixing small rust holes (yep, it'll be a hole when you poke at it) with POR 15 paste. clean out the hole and force the paste into the hole until it's slightly below the surrounding surface; let dry thoroughly, the sand the are and use a little filler to smooth it down. Filler is a lot easier to sand smooth than POR 15. Spots I fixed on the fender lips of my 87 E30 have made it through two Ohio salt winters and are still intact. Not as permanent as a good welding job, but a lot easier.

And that door corner rust is indeed coming from the inside. I did a Roundel story many years ago on preventing rust on 2002 bodies, including those door corners. Drop me an e-mail and I'll see if I can find a copy 4U.

cheers

mike

[wegweiser]

BMWs it seems will never be "investment" level cars. Hell! Even the vaunted 507 (of which only 260+/- were produced) command FAR lower prices than their more plentiful (and miserable to drive) Mercedes Benz contemporaries. It's simply the nature of these cars....too many survive, too many have been butchered by poor repairs and inexperience. Too many have been cobbled together. That's the double edged sword of loving "affordable" cars like ours....they often don't get the care they require to stay healthy because they're not "valuable".

If you try to justify your expenses with one of these things by relating it to some later day resale value, you will simply drive yourself nuts...or slip slowly into deep depression. You're better off making the car what you want and simply loving it for what it is...and what it isn't. They're impeccably well made, durable, fun, and thrive on being simply DRIVEN.

Do what makes you happy. Enjoy it. If the ratio of stress to enjoyment sways the wrong way, sell it. That goes for all things IMHO. practical and fun things made with care should be used...but not used UP.

Paul

[EcoAuto]

Nicely said Paul. Totally agree. I owned an Austin Healey 3000 between 1989 and 1996... most of those 7 years on my back underneath the thing. Talk about a car that stresses you out and makes you nuts!!!! I sold it finally, and even though I lost $15K, those years I spent bringing it back from the dead are memories I'll always cherish.

[wegweiser]

you get it ...completely.

paul

[ziff73]

yeah, I see what you're saying now about the shops reputation, costs, etc.... I guess I just was thinking about the car value vs the cost. (why most of us do the work ourselves)

but just to confirm, were we talking $4k to repair the little rust bubbles or a repaint? For a repaint, it seems like it would be a low/middle of the roadish price, rust bubbles, it still seems like a lot..ah, what do I know, the value of money changed so much for me after having a baby!

Although, I feel like an honest shop would have come up with options for the owner, knowing full well that it would be a tough pill to swallow spending that much. Sounds like a shop that didn't want the work and gave a 'go away' estimate.

My last memory of a nice paint job was a 308 GTSi that my dad had resprayed in the 80's for like $10k or something... I'm a few decades behind! ;-)

btw, that Ferrari pic is AWESOME... that paint job gave me goose bumps, just from the little picture!

[ahlem]

I'd try this...

http://www.fvcc.edu/academics/careertechnical-programs/certificates/auto-body-technology/

[Guest Anonymous]

I aggree with CD, if you cant afford it at the moment

[thehackmechanic]

I wouldn't want to spend four grand fixing those rust bubbles either.

I'm in this same boat with my not-quite-a-rat-rod '73. There are rust bubbles coming through beneath numerous molding pieces, but if I hit any of them with a grinder, the car won't be a 20-footer anymore; it'll be a 50-footer. No easy answers to this one.

So what you do depends on which you value more.

If you value the appearance of the car (the pretty paint), don't touch it. Just try to keep the car dry. The rust won't spread much if the car isn't driven in the rain and is stored in a dry garage.

If you value arresting the rust where it lies, chase it down the rabbit hole. Hit it with a grinder. This WILL produce holes in the panels, but you could follow Mike's suggestion of treating the hole with POR15. You could go halfway and try to find someone who will spot-address the rust spots without painting the car. The odds, though, of completely eliminating all rust on the car with this approach, though, are slim to none.