Got the rust stopped in other areas few years back with the coating in this area wasn't able to stop it. The other side is about the same minus rusted through. Now to decide how I want to fix it. I don't see myself spending the $$$ to get new wheel wells welded in on a 15 year SUV with 170k, only plan on keeping this a max another 5 years. Although if there's any big repair on either the 02 or 04 one or both will go bye-bye. Structural the upper part is fine where the shock is attached. Not worried about cosmetic just keeping the weather out. Thinking fixing it country style.. piece of tin and tar or make a form and use some expanding foam. Don't know if bondo would hold up in this area that well.
Escape and rust
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Grind it down to bare metal and JB Weld a steel patch over it, Use a self etching primer, regular primer and whatever cheap car paint you can find in a rattle can and spray it from both sides then undercoat it.
If you cant get behind it to spray paint the rear of the piece first.
Be sure to seal the edges with JB Weld, you don't want to skip the paint (it doesn't have to be the same color) as primers are talc based and absorb moisture and rust starts again under it.
If you cant get behind it to spray paint the rear of the piece first.
Be sure to seal the edges with JB Weld, you don't want to skip the paint (it doesn't have to be the same color) as primers are talc based and absorb moisture and rust starts again under it.
I've also seen two different repair kits for this. one is the wheel well, the other changes or augments the shock mount itself. common problem. I helped my neighbor fix his Escape.
JHZR2
Staff member
Its terrible and terribly sad to see situations like this in vehicles you like. A 170k mini suv that youre keeping for 5 years more to me would imply something you like reasonably enough to do some fixing.
The great news is that if this is in the wheelwell, and underneath coatings, there's no fine body work, so any sort of stabilizing and patching would be fine.
I think Id personally take the risk of removing some of the in-wheelwell coating, and exploring the scope of how far it goes. Remove what makes sense, grind some more, convert (with ospho) whats harder to get to but you want to reasonably stabilize. Any interior areas that will be patched over Id then get a good wax spray (Amsoil HDMP, Eastwood, etc) and coat the internal surfaces. Then coat over with an oily coating or fluid film.
Patch with reasonable thickness galvanized steel, paint both sides with a self etching primer and then black rustoleum/rust stop paint from HD, ACE, etc. Degrease your patch before painting, you want a good job on it. If you get ospho like I noted above, it can be used to help degrease and roughen the galvanized surface. Before painting, hammer it to shape, good enough is good enough here, but because of the wash, you do want to get tight seams on the edges of the patch. Id look at JB weld and stainless pop rivits, and then some JB weld over the rivit heads for extra sealing.
Then Id coat the whole area. 3M makes an underbody schutz that is probably a better bet, but the rubberized undercoating would be OK too.
Good luck, keep us posted with pics!
The great news is that if this is in the wheelwell, and underneath coatings, there's no fine body work, so any sort of stabilizing and patching would be fine.
I think Id personally take the risk of removing some of the in-wheelwell coating, and exploring the scope of how far it goes. Remove what makes sense, grind some more, convert (with ospho) whats harder to get to but you want to reasonably stabilize. Any interior areas that will be patched over Id then get a good wax spray (Amsoil HDMP, Eastwood, etc) and coat the internal surfaces. Then coat over with an oily coating or fluid film.
Patch with reasonable thickness galvanized steel, paint both sides with a self etching primer and then black rustoleum/rust stop paint from HD, ACE, etc. Degrease your patch before painting, you want a good job on it. If you get ospho like I noted above, it can be used to help degrease and roughen the galvanized surface. Before painting, hammer it to shape, good enough is good enough here, but because of the wash, you do want to get tight seams on the edges of the patch. Id look at JB weld and stainless pop rivits, and then some JB weld over the rivit heads for extra sealing.
Then Id coat the whole area. 3M makes an underbody schutz that is probably a better bet, but the rubberized undercoating would be OK too.
Good luck, keep us posted with pics!
Originally Posted by Trav
Grind it down to bare metal and JB Weld a steel patch over it, Use a self etching primer, regular primer and whatever cheap car paint you can find in a rattle can and spray it from both sides then undercoat it.
If you cant get behind it to spray paint the rear of the piece first.
Be sure to seal the edges with JB Weld, you don't want to skip the paint (it doesn't have to be the same color) as primers are talc based and absorb moisture and rust starts again under it.
Would you prefer JB weld vs. an automotive seam sealer?
Grind it down to bare metal and JB Weld a steel patch over it, Use a self etching primer, regular primer and whatever cheap car paint you can find in a rattle can and spray it from both sides then undercoat it.
If you cant get behind it to spray paint the rear of the piece first.
Be sure to seal the edges with JB Weld, you don't want to skip the paint (it doesn't have to be the same color) as primers are talc based and absorb moisture and rust starts again under it.
Would you prefer JB weld vs. an automotive seam sealer?
JHZR2
Staff member
Originally Posted by dlundblad
The future brother in law ended up totaling his Escape out from rust.. Something about the rear upper shock mounts rotting away? Hard to tell in the photo, but it looks like it's creeping towards the shock.
Hard to tell, but good point. If mounts are weak (i.e. prone to damage/rotting), or rotted away, then theres issues...
Some makers offer shock mount reinforcements which are good especially if they arent rotted away.
If gone, then its a much bigger job to remove and weld back in the right structure...
The future brother in law ended up totaling his Escape out from rust.. Something about the rear upper shock mounts rotting away? Hard to tell in the photo, but it looks like it's creeping towards the shock.
Hard to tell, but good point. If mounts are weak (i.e. prone to damage/rotting), or rotted away, then theres issues...
Some makers offer shock mount reinforcements which are good especially if they arent rotted away.
If gone, then its a much bigger job to remove and weld back in the right structure...
The more I think about it and as mentioned it does look like it's creeping towards the shock mount. I'm going to take off the side panels on the inside and take a look, I bet that's going to show more rust. I'll stop by a few body shops close and see what it'll cost to have new ones welded in. I've read around 1200.. replacement Dorman parts are $200 and thicker gauge. It is worth that but any more than that hmm maybe not. I could buy a cheap stick welder for a couple hundred but it's been 20 years since I've did that.
Originally Posted by dlundblad
Originally Posted by Trav
Grind it down to bare metal and JB Weld a steel patch over it, Use a self etching primer, regular primer and whatever cheap car paint you can find in a rattle can and spray it from both sides then undercoat it.
If you cant get behind it to spray paint the rear of the piece first.
Be sure to seal the edges with JB Weld, you don't want to skip the paint (it doesn't have to be the same color) as primers are talc based and absorb moisture and rust starts again under it.
Would you prefer JB weld vs. an automotive seam sealer?
I am sure seam sealer will work fine, I have used JB on welded seams then sanded it down before using filler to prevent rust coming through the seam from behind.
It does a great job. In either case you will want to use this on repairs done in the wheel well before any undercoat product. Stones and sand thrown up will not damage it, you pretty much have to grind it off if you want to remove it.
https://www.napaonline.com/en/p/MSR4004
Originally Posted by Trav
Grind it down to bare metal and JB Weld a steel patch over it, Use a self etching primer, regular primer and whatever cheap car paint you can find in a rattle can and spray it from both sides then undercoat it.
If you cant get behind it to spray paint the rear of the piece first.
Be sure to seal the edges with JB Weld, you don't want to skip the paint (it doesn't have to be the same color) as primers are talc based and absorb moisture and rust starts again under it.
Would you prefer JB weld vs. an automotive seam sealer?
I am sure seam sealer will work fine, I have used JB on welded seams then sanded it down before using filler to prevent rust coming through the seam from behind.
It does a great job. In either case you will want to use this on repairs done in the wheel well before any undercoat product. Stones and sand thrown up will not damage it, you pretty much have to grind it off if you want to remove it.
https://www.napaonline.com/en/p/MSR4004
Interesting.. found this looking up cost others have paid for this repair. https://wearebss.com/ .. Basically $285 for new shock mounts and repair kit.
This thread made me watch a few youtube videos on the subject....yikes!
Get the patch panels and fix it while you still can! The Escapes in the videos I watched had the entire wheel well pretty much gone, to the point where the flange on the floor that the patch panel is supposed to weld to was also fairly corroded.
If the rust is localized to the wheel well it should be a pretty easy repair to just replace the entire panel, it looked fairly straight forward on the vids: Take some measurements, drill your spot welds, fit and prep the area and replacement panel and weld your panel in and paint it.
Originally Posted by tomcat27
I've also seen two different repair kits for this. one is the wheel well, the other changes or augments the shock mount itself. common problem. I helped my neighbor fix his Escape.
There were two videos by the same guy: one was the sheet metal replacement, the other was bolting a bracket to the frame rail to replace the shock mount, and then fabricating a new wheel well out of fibreglass. Buddy mentioned that the driver's side repair panel was a lot harder to come by, and looking on the Dorman website they only list right side panels. That's why he was doing the bracket and fibreglass method, he was working on an Escape that had both sides completely gone. OP seems to have caught it quickly and it looks like there is a lot of sheet metal left, but he might have to do the brackets and glass on the driver's side unless Ford sells a driver's side repair panel. I'm also not sure that the brackets and fibreglass would pass a safety inspection unless the inspector is familiar with the issue.
One of the videos I watched also discussed severe front subframe corrosion on Escapes and their cousins. You might want to examine that front subframe before you drop $500+ in materials to repair the wheel wells.
Get the patch panels and fix it while you still can! The Escapes in the videos I watched had the entire wheel well pretty much gone, to the point where the flange on the floor that the patch panel is supposed to weld to was also fairly corroded.
If the rust is localized to the wheel well it should be a pretty easy repair to just replace the entire panel, it looked fairly straight forward on the vids: Take some measurements, drill your spot welds, fit and prep the area and replacement panel and weld your panel in and paint it.
Originally Posted by tomcat27
I've also seen two different repair kits for this. one is the wheel well, the other changes or augments the shock mount itself. common problem. I helped my neighbor fix his Escape.
There were two videos by the same guy: one was the sheet metal replacement, the other was bolting a bracket to the frame rail to replace the shock mount, and then fabricating a new wheel well out of fibreglass. Buddy mentioned that the driver's side repair panel was a lot harder to come by, and looking on the Dorman website they only list right side panels. That's why he was doing the bracket and fibreglass method, he was working on an Escape that had both sides completely gone. OP seems to have caught it quickly and it looks like there is a lot of sheet metal left, but he might have to do the brackets and glass on the driver's side unless Ford sells a driver's side repair panel. I'm also not sure that the brackets and fibreglass would pass a safety inspection unless the inspector is familiar with the issue.
One of the videos I watched also discussed severe front subframe corrosion on Escapes and their cousins. You might want to examine that front subframe before you drop $500+ in materials to repair the wheel wells.
fiberglass kit is the way to go. you may just wanna go ahead and cut out the shock section and put in the bracket right away
you can buy the kits on ebay.
I helped my brother do the wheel wells on his and its not too bad to do.
heres the kit, shock repair kit
you can also get just the brackets and buy the fiberglass components at a local store.
you can buy the kits on ebay.
I helped my brother do the wheel wells on his and its not too bad to do.
heres the kit, shock repair kit
you can also get just the brackets and buy the fiberglass components at a local store.
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Originally Posted by Black_Thunder
fiberglass kit is the way to go. you may just wanna go ahead and cut out the shock section and put in the bracket right away
you can buy the kits on ebay.
I helped my brother do the wheel wells on his and its not too bad to do.
heres the kit, shock repair kit
you can also get just the brackets and buy the fiberglass components at a local store.
Those components are a total rip off. You could probably cut it from a piece of angle iron and not need to weld or bend it, just drill the holes.
fiberglass kit is the way to go. you may just wanna go ahead and cut out the shock section and put in the bracket right away
you can buy the kits on ebay.
I helped my brother do the wheel wells on his and its not too bad to do.
heres the kit, shock repair kit
you can also get just the brackets and buy the fiberglass components at a local store.
Those components are a total rip off. You could probably cut it from a piece of angle iron and not need to weld or bend it, just drill the holes.
Originally Posted by dlundblad
The future brother in law ended up totaling his Escape out from rust.. Something about the rear upper shock mounts rotting away?
At one point I was looking around for an Escape to buy until noticing how common and serious this is. And other areas of it are known to prematurely rust too such as the lip of the tailgate.
There's some long threads about the rusted shock towers around the internet. The OP already found out $1200 is considered high for the repair, which was a main thing I was going to mention.
Pretty sure Ford later did do a recall on the rusted shock, but only for certain model years. Maybe OP's model qualifies.
The future brother in law ended up totaling his Escape out from rust.. Something about the rear upper shock mounts rotting away?
At one point I was looking around for an Escape to buy until noticing how common and serious this is. And other areas of it are known to prematurely rust too such as the lip of the tailgate.
There's some long threads about the rusted shock towers around the internet. The OP already found out $1200 is considered high for the repair, which was a main thing I was going to mention.
Pretty sure Ford later did do a recall on the rusted shock, but only for certain model years. Maybe OP's model qualifies.
Originally Posted by maxdustington
Originally Posted by Black_Thunder
fiberglass kit is the way to go. you may just wanna go ahead and cut out the shock section and put in the bracket right away
you can buy the kits on ebay.
I helped my brother do the wheel wells on his and its not too bad to do.
heres the kit, shock repair kit
you can also get just the brackets and buy the fiberglass components at a local store.
Those components are a total rip off. You could probably cut it from a piece of angle iron and not need to weld or bend it, just drill the holes.
if you know the exact measurements that it needs to be then sure.
Originally Posted by Black_Thunder
fiberglass kit is the way to go. you may just wanna go ahead and cut out the shock section and put in the bracket right away
you can buy the kits on ebay.
I helped my brother do the wheel wells on his and its not too bad to do.
heres the kit, shock repair kit
you can also get just the brackets and buy the fiberglass components at a local store.
Those components are a total rip off. You could probably cut it from a piece of angle iron and not need to weld or bend it, just drill the holes.
if you know the exact measurements that it needs to be then sure.
The damage. Looks like the shock area is still structurally sound but who knows what the other side looks like. Going to get some prices before I rig it. Figure we'll keep it another 10 years so have a do a cost anaylsis guess you can say.
thats not real terrible yet.
my brothers was actually rusted away enough that the shock was no longer attached on the top the metal broke away from the fender.
I have seen people that have cut out the bad section of the wheel well and just welded in sheet metal or metal strips/fitted pieces in place of the metal they cut out.
my brothers was actually rusted away enough that the shock was no longer attached on the top the metal broke away from the fender.
I have seen people that have cut out the bad section of the wheel well and just welded in sheet metal or metal strips/fitted pieces in place of the metal they cut out.
Originally Posted by Eric Smith
The damage. Looks like the shock area is still structurally sound but who knows what the other side looks like. Going to get some prices before I rig it. Figure we'll keep it another 10 years so have a do a cost anaylsis guess you can say.
Is the first picture in this thread the view of all the rust from under the car?
It's hard to tell what was going on with all the under coating.
The damage. Looks like the shock area is still structurally sound but who knows what the other side looks like. Going to get some prices before I rig it. Figure we'll keep it another 10 years so have a do a cost anaylsis guess you can say.
Is the first picture in this thread the view of all the rust from under the car?
It's hard to tell what was going on with all the under coating.
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