obviously my quarterpanel has rusted through...it wasn't that bad (visually) until the guy replacing my fuel pump chipped the big chunk off but here it is now. Is there really anything i can do without getting it completely repaired and repainted. obviously that would be the best looking, but frankly im sitting on debts now and i just want imput to see if i can do anything to just make it look less visible. I know most people would just advise to fix it, but i know there are millions of little tricks so tell me what you got! sorry the pics have some glare

edit=theres also some rust through below by the tire where the splatter starts, i think most of the rust has come through because of gas getting spilled, it'll kick back sometimes at the pump

 

There is no "little trick" for that. You are looking at having to cut out some metal(perhaps a whole new quarterpanel), and weld new metal in. And yes, it will need paint.

 

any other suggestions than the obvious? I'm new to body work so i don't know much, but i know it would take a while to completely repair the section. is there anything i can do now to at least cover up the spot a little? its kindof a downer to have a huge whole in the side of your car

edit-the day after i started the thread, i chipped the huge chunk of bubbly paint you see in the picture, so now there is a hole right through the panel

 

If you have a fist sized hole in your quarterpanel it's time to put a new one on. There is no easy, quick fix for that. You have to remember rust is like cancer there is no easy cure.

 

I think i might be phrasing this the wrong way. I'm also exaggerating on the size of the whole too-its not quite that big but its noticeable. I realize rust is an enormous problem with our cars, especially any cars in the northern region. I simply started this thread to try to get some feedback on minimizing the appearance of the obvious whole in the side, NOT fixing the problem. I realize to actually fix this i should replace the panel or weld in the whole, but i'm not going to be able to do that for a while.

What I'm looking for advice on: anything to help minimize the look of the rust/whole -obviously a temporary fix

What I'm Not looking for: people telling me i need to replace the panel/cut it out - thanks, but no thanks I realize what is needed to fix it

 

i guess you are looking for someone to tell you to put a sticker over it or something?

 

fill her with bondo then get some touch up paint in your color, its a horrible thing to do but is that how you want to "fix" it?

 

If you grind down the rust as much as possible, and use a rust converter primer, it may stay hidden for at least a year. I recomend duplicolor for paint, at the lowest end of the scale, nothing cheaper.

ps, careul grinding around the gas tank.

 

Alright, to answer what you are looking for advice on: Yes, you can go out and get some of the rust converter primer stuff and paint over it with touch up paint, but that would just be a waste of money and effort (not to mention that the hole will still be there). It will fall of after a month or two, and you will have to do it all over again. The rust converter is good stuff, but it cannot work miracles.

To answer phrase two(or what you are not looking for): Sorry dude, but cutting the rust out or replacing the quarterpanel is your only option. It would be different if it were only surface rust, but once it gets bad enough that there is a hole all the way through the metal it is screwed. Just face it, it is gone.

 

Well if we're looking at a cheap fix here, wouldn't a fiberglass patch work? Sort of sloppy, but with enough sanding and some decent prep work, it'd certainly look better than it does now.

I'd say cut out all the bad metal, prime it really well, use a sheet of fiberglass to carefully cover the hole, then sand the crap out of it till it's even with the body (or sort of) and use bondo to smooth that out. Its a ton of sanding and prepping, and it'll still be a patch, nothing else, but it might hold longer than just tossing bondo over it.

 

That does not make sense to me. If you go ahead and cut out all of the bad metal, why the hell would you patch the hole with fiberglass instead of welding a new piece of metal in there?

 

1) The resulting hole looks pretty small, a bit too large for sensible use of bondo, but maybe a little small to actually weld something in there.

2) I am assuming he doesn't have easy access to a welder, and purchasing one or having someone do it for you costs $$.

I can't speak for everyone here, but not all of us have good welding skills, if any at all. I know I certainly couldn't weld a small piece of metal to the quarterpanel without it warping and bending pretty bad. For that matter, I wouldn't trust myself welding anything that is going to be seen. Floorpanel maybe. Quarterpanel? No. Again, I can't speak for the author of this post, but I'm just offering an alternative to paying someone else to do body work.

 

I do not know how to weld either, but I know of 3 or 4 sources near me that would more than likely patch up a hole like that for less than $50 (provided I pull the interior out in that area so that they could get to both sides). More than likely, you guys have similar sources, you just need to look for them.

Edit: Duh, I was not thinking about the gas filler neck being behind there. So removing that would be a little more work, but at least it would be fixed right.

 

See, your right about it getting fixed right. Pull the gas tank cut the metal out, and patch. But depending on your knowledge and abilities you may be able to do only very little of that on your own.

I could pull the tank, cut the metal, prep the metal, and then just get someone to weld it in for me. But I'm assuming nothing.

The unfortunate other problem here, is there are precious few spots on the quarterpanel that can be accessed from the inside of the car, as its part of the unibody.

In the end though, it does either come down to being sloppy and cheap, or somewhat expensive and right.

 

Well, I guess what I am trying to get at is this: I am 33 years old now, and over the years I have learned some things. When I was younger, I tried doing cheap fixes and things like that, and now I realize how big of a waste of time and money they were. Sure, the OP can go ahead and slop some fiberglass patch on the area, but from experience it is not going to look that much better (sorry, but it just won't. especially when the guy said he does not want to do any paint work). And I can guarantee you that it will not last. Getting a new patch of metal welded in that spot may be a little bit more expensive and time consuming , but it will be worth it in the end.
Or, on the other hand, if you are bound and determined to put forth minimum effort into maintenance, and not willing to exert any type of effort into doing the job right, and this is the way that you treat your vehicle, it does not make any sense to mess with it at all, because it WILL be a parts car soon.

 

I don't disagree with the right way to do it Jimmy. But the author of this thread has stated he can't afford it right now. And I think to encourage him to do something is better than just telling him the only way to do it is something he can't afford.

At the same time though, as I think about it, what's the plan for this car in the future, once money gets less tight? I think everyone here will agree that you need to put the elbow work in now to stop the rust. Cut it out, prep the area, get that rot off.

The question then becomes how soon you can afford a little bit of work to be done on it? Don't put bondo or fiberglass on the car if your just going to turn around in a few months and truly repair it, because then you'll have given yourself much more work.

Honestly, I'd say do all the prep, figure out how big the hole truly is, then check back with everyone. It might be something you can temporarily hide while you collect funds, or it may be something you'll need to somehow patch now.

 

Odds are i'm gonna take a bunch of crap for this however i will throw it out there anyway, grind out as much of the rust as you can, get as much clean metal as possible, then get some fiberglass cloth and por 15. do the metal prep as the por 15 directions state, then apply a coat of por 15. One of the nice things about por 15 is it can be used as a substitute for resin in your fiberglass. So give your por 15 time to set up, soak the cloth in por 15 then stick it on over your hole. once it hardens your gonna need to put some primer and bondo on it and sand it smooth. Its not gonna be great, but it is a temp repair, the metal won't rust anymore, and when you can get it fixed you can sand out the patch and get it fixed for real. Ofcourse everything the other guys said about welding a patch in there is correct, and i completely agree, this is not a substitute for metal, but if you can't afford a big repair this is a patch until you can do something about it, and it can be done pretty easily and the steps don't need to be done in one day so if you need to drive the car you can in between steps. I look forward to the bashing i am about to recieve.

 

thanks for the imput guys, I'm not sure if i'll really do anything for now...I'm thinking about just treating it to stop the rust from getting worse, but now that i explore the car more, a lot of the rear end has a decent amount of rust.
Once i come out of the debt i think im gonna spend some money on the performance side first before I worry about the hole too much. I think eventually i want to fix up all the rust and repair/repaint the entire car. Thanks for the imput, I know it just kills some of you to not do it right, right away, but like others thought, I have no welding experience and I'm not going to fix the entire car..yet