New England Rocker Rust :/

[Desaevious]

Rust, an enemy of cars our age. I had some rust on my side rocker and has gotten worse over the winter and I regret not having done anything to fix it before hand. With nice spring on its way, fixing this now would be best, not that I put it off until now. So looking at the rust I think it might be just surface rust because it hasn't eaten all the way through the rocker but I'm still not positive how to assess the damage. Anybody have any suggests what I can do to repair it?

Although these aren't the quality best pictures, my Kodak Easyshare shit the bed recently so I had to rely on my LG Voyager's camera. Still not bad overall.






Any input is appreciated...I've had this E30 for a year and a half and it has treated me well. With only 105K on it and having gotten it for free I'd love to save this before it becomes irrepairable. Thanks! :p

[JasonC]

Thats part of the fender not the rocker ;). It's easy enuff to fix, pull the fender and cut out the rust. weld a new piece of metal in, do your body work, then paint it. Don't even have to paint the whole fender, just paint it below the bodyline there above the rust.

[Hartge_H27]

but take care of it soon so it doesnt eat into the rocker.

[sticksdaman]

Thats part of the fender not the rocker ;). It's easy enuff to fix, pull the fender and cut out the rust. weld a new piece of metal in, do your body work, then paint it. Don't even have to paint the whole fender, just paint it below the bodyline there above the rust.

OR take the easy way out and buy another fender

[Desaevious]

Thanks again Jason. Well thats nice to know that it isn't the rock and its just the fender...I didn't think the fender went down that far but I hadn't checked realoem yet. The diagram (which I can't hotlink) shows its only held in by one screw...that can't be right is it? Or is it welded in/tacked in in any other area? There's an older E30 in a parts yard in Southington that could work as a donor but I'd like to know how to get off the new fender before I head down.

[Schniddy]

Thats part of the fender not the rocker ;). It's easy enuff to fix, pull the fender and cut out the rust. weld a new piece of metal in, do your body work, then paint it. Don't even have to paint the whole fender, just paint it below the bodyline there above the rust.

Easier said than done.

[AlarmedBread]

There are 8mm screws along the front of the door and in the engine bay that hold the fenders on, pull them off, assess the situation and clean things up, maybe hit it with some fresh undercoating to keep it from coming back. Grind the bottom of the fender, see how big the holes are, if nothing too serious, just grind, use duraglass and undercoating. Not the 'right' way to fix it, but 9times out of 10 if you start cutting and welding in new metal, it will just increase rust potential. Avoid doing that unless you're putting in big pieces, in which case just get a new fender.

[peter_x]

Note: Besides the bolts, there is also some caulking holding the fender to the hood area, it seems like it's one piece until you begin to rock it back and forth and it will start to separate. It took a hard pull on mine to break it off.