Ok, I'll admit, this is actually on my 4th gen Camaro, but it's a general question. Last summer these rust spots showed up, and have been getting worse since. Problem is, looks like it's coming in from BEHIND, it's not just surface rust! The rocker panel is rotten in places too, but I'm not as worried about that. It's this rear quarter mess that has me more concerned because it's more unibody related. Can this be fixed, or am I screwed since it's already come through from behind? I don't know how to weld yet, so it might be a big problem and expensive to get fixed. Any good options besides cut and re-weld?

 

And the wheel well pinch welds!

 

Take a thorough look around and under the car for more rust signs. If you have other spots you are finding I wouldn't fix them unless it was a z28 or trans am. Early fourthgen are starting to hit bottom prices and becoming more prevalent in wrecking yards. All while Thirdgen has finally begun to appreciate in price.

My 92 was an Illinois car and developed rust the same way in the same spots. Once it's in the body seams it becomes, more than one body seam I'm talking, it's questionable whether it's defensable to fix it as opposed to buying a roller or rust free car.

 

I did all that last summer. There was surface rust on a good bit of the seat pans, so I hit it with rust converter and under coated it. The only other places where there was more serious rust was a dime sized hole beneath the rear seat pan, (which I rust converted and filled with jb weld metal putty) and the outer wall of the rear hatch well was rusted pretty bad underneath. Other than that, it's not all that bad considering it has 184k and 17 years of Indiana winters on it. But I'm not looking to do any build or anything. I have a 92 Formy and 07 Mustang too. The Camaro is a 98 with the 3800, best car I've ever owned. Had it for over 15 years, and it's started every single time I've turned the key except twice when I let the battery run down. Awesome, awesome car and I hate to see it die a slow death from rust if I can save it. My real regret is that I didn't undercoat it right away as soon as I got it. I kept putting it off and putting it off, now I'm crying the tears of regret.

 

Regular v6 Camaro daily driver with that many miles I wouldn't take any drastic repairs to it. Drive it until it costs more to fix then it's worth or sell it whenever. Any car that is driven in snow should be undercoated and retouched every few years. My 92 wasn't and that is the reason for its death. Now you know too.

 

Agree, but is there anything I can do to slow or stop the rust that's already on it? That's my question..... I slopped a lot of rust converter as much as I could into and around the wheel well pinch welds last year, but it's tough to really get it in there, and converter isn't the end all solution either.

 

My first outing I dealing with rust that bubbles up was to sand the paint off, grind it down and repaint it. The panel is only 18 or 20 gauge so you can't grind much off before it just needs cut out and a patch welded. My car developed rust again in 2-3 years. Same area. My opinion has been now to cut it out and weld in a patch or if you can get at it from behind also grind both sides clean and repaint.

 

A lot of the rust is from salt entering places that you can't reach via liquid and powder form. For instance, water enters the rocker panels and other places where the metal is sandwiched together (like the outer wheel wells) via capillary action. Then the salt attacks it summer and winter. They have been using more aggressive chemicals than in the past which doesn't help anything.

As far as I know, cut and weld is the only way to fix it.

 

That's kind of what I was afraid of. It's interesting though, I don't think my 07 Mustang has those pinch welds around the wheel--the sheet metal is just folded over to the inside. I guess better technology, better ideas a decade later? My thirdgen has them of course, but thank God they are about 99% clean. Car spent years in Arizona. The new aluminum body F-150's seems like an interesting idea. Other than expense, I don't know why that hasn't been done before. My Mustang has an aluminum hood.

 

I am not a pro, but I'm dealing with rust myself in my thirdgen.

Is the back side visible? If so, I'd get a wire wheel, or whatever you think is best, and try to strip it down. If you start stripping and shiny metal comes through, then you know it's not come from the back

Use a wire wheel on rust, don't just hit it with a converter.

 

Yeah, I've got a wire wheel, I was going to use it to hit some minor surface rust under my thirdgen. 4th gen was on the list next, but that's gonna be a harder job because there is more rust on it. But yeah, I was planning to do that. However, the first pic in my OP is rust coming through from behind, I know it for a fact--it's a weld between multiple pieces of sheet metal. Last summer I had to dig it out. There was a rectangular slit parallel to the wheel well curvature. When I scraped it out, it was about 3/16" wide and maybe an inch long, and very symmetrical. It was clearly a junction where there had been a 90* bend connecting the outer skin in front of the wheel, and the wheel well itself. I hit it with converter and filled it with jb weld metal putty just like I did the hole in the floor pan. It held up for a few months, but eventually rusted through again as you can see in the pic. Funny thing is, you can reach around behind it in the well and there is no hole on the back side. It's as if the corrosion got BETWEEN the sheets somehow and rusted outwards? I suspect it matriculated from the upper well and ran down. I could be wrong, but really don't know, it's an odd place for rust to break through, I don't know that I've seen it before on other cars. But the problem is, I can put a wire wheel behind the area pictured in front of the tire, but there are two pieces welded together there with a space in between if I'm not mistaken, and you can't get inside there with anything. The pinch welds themselves you also can't get into with just about anything. But rather than being round, as you can see in the pic, they are taking on a "stop sign" shape because of the rust that's deforming the metal between the welds.

 

BTW, this is the car I'm talking about. See why I want to save it? LOL

 

The rust has progressed into area's that are not easily accessible. The only thing you can do now is try to slow it down until a comprehensive repair can be made (cut off and weld in new).

Wire brush, apply rust converter, touch up with rattle can primer and clear gloss. Try to keep the car dry, and don't ever drive it on salted roads.

I've seen many times where people wire wheeled and just slapped bondo on and painted....only to have the rust and bondo crack a year later.

Good luck

 

Sounds about right. Problem is, not driving it in rain and snow isn't really an option around here. I NEVER drive my thirdgen in either one, it's totally off limits. That leaves the Camaro and Mustang to get me to work in the winter. Gotta drive it, no choice. But what you said here is pretty common sense, it's what I was leaning toward anyway. I'm going to check into at least getting a welding certificate, and when I can afford a welder, I'll be ready to do my own repairs. This wouldn't even be an issue for me if I knew how to weld. There's a great tech school about 8 miles from my house that has an awesome program. I want to be able to do sheet metal repairs like this, exhaust, and sub frame. You know how it is, there's just too many things in our car world that require metal work, gotta learn it asap.

 

Unless you want to weld as a second job or career you can pass on the certifications, no pun intended. You only need a basic welding class and most of those are offered to the community as no credit or a pass/fail. High school will sometimes teach them at night for adults too.

 

Well, the reason I said certificate was that I was told at Work One that they sometimes give assistance if you want to go for the certificate (not that I approve of government moochers..). I'll check out that tech school maybe Monday and see what they offer. It's closer than most of the high schools around here anyway. They may let me audit some classes. IDK.