Salvagable rust

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Andrew1972

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Hi I bought this 07 MDX with 80k on the cheap ($17k) back in 2011 knowing some dicey body work here.

Now at 200k 8yrs latter this reliable/trouble free vehicle has severe rust in this dicey area. I am unclear it will pass NH state inspection and the safety. I can move the entire rusty part(soft) slightly by hand.

Thoughts ?

359ADDFE-C4C0-4F9C-9394-ABC6E675BD9B.webp
 
It's an older vehicle in the salt belt. MDX's are nice, but it sounds like it's not your "forever car". If it fails inspection, grind, cut, sand away all the rust you can, build up gaps with wire screen, fill it with bondo, hit it with spray paint and get it past inspection. It'll rust out in a few more years again, but you'll have gotten your money's worth out of it by then.
 
You need to pull the plastic rocker cladding off, there might be no rocker panel left. Its repairable but will take a lot of mig welding of the inside panels then fit the outside ones. Not an easy fix but not impossible if you have the time and skills, to pay a shop to do it you may as well scrap it or sell it for parts.
 
With rust, what you see is just the tip of the iceberg. With 200k, it's a $2,000 truck needing over $1000 in repairs. Slap some bondo on it to pass inspection and drive it till the doors falls off.
 
It looks like there's nothing solid to build upon on that fender area for a hack DIY spray foam, mesh and bondo job.

The proper repair as Trav mentioned would be the only real fix, but wow that would be a lot of work for this vehicle.

For sure does NH fail you on rust through? I didn't think that was a thing anywhere anymore.
 
I did work on my corolla to fix rust in same area. Removed all rust, sprayed inside with rust proofing spray and filled with spray foam. Follow by cutting the spray foam off once dry, covered with body filler, sand, prime, paint and clear. So farits held up okay. (Only been a year) but its a cheaper idea, if u just plan to extend its life a few years.
 
That doesn't look like salvageable rust to me, that looks like a disaster. You can't beat rust even when it's half of what you've got - so if you can find a body shop to handle it - they're going to find a heck of a lot more once they get in there. And I'm finding that some body guy's won't even touch rust anymore...it's a dead end street...they do the repair, next year it comes back and the customer isn't happy.

Like someone else said...put a bandaid on it and find someone in NH that isn't a real stickler with inspections.

And next time Fluid Film or do some sort of rust prevention service, yearly (you can do it yourself for cheap). I live in NH, the amount of salt and brime that's needed to get through a winter around here is absurd. I have a 80 mile daily round trip commute into Massachusetts...I must collect ten pounds of salt on my vehicle every sole day, from November to April.
 
Last edited:
Originally Posted by madRiver
Hi I bought this 07 MDX with 80k on the cheap ($17k) back in 2011 knowing some dicey body work here.

Now at 200k 8yrs latter this reliable/trouble free vehicle has severe rust in this dicey area. I am unclear it will pass NH state inspection and the safety. I can move the entire rusty part(soft) slightly by hand.

Thoughts ?


https://www.autorust.com/

Phone is 401-944-4444, address is 275 Niantic Avenue, Cranston, RI.

Bring it to them. They have seen it before and can fix it for about a third what most shops charge. They might even have pre-made patch panels...they do for common problems on many cars.
 
To get a NH Inspection Sticker that hole needs to be covered for sure.
I bet the rocker is rusted through on the outside, behind the cladding.
I would definitely look underneath at the back side of the rocker panel and inner wheel well for holes as well.
Any rust through into the cabin will fail for potential to allow CO to enter.
Rust through on a non opening to the cabin will fail for potential to cause injury to others.
Unless you are willing to spend a fair amount on this, either a quick hack patch or a lenient shop is the answer.
 
Originally Posted by slacktide_bitog
Krown your next car
smile.gif


I agree. Prevention is the most efficient way to manage corrosion.

I would consider your car consumed. Unless you have a lot of free time on your hands, move on to another car. If you do have a lot of free time, consider using that time to rustproof your next car.
 
The car spent its first 4 years parked basically oceanfront outside by first owner in a small town called (Manchester by the Sea)It also towed and launched smaller boat.

It does not owe me anything but drives and runs well. Hoping for more life as I know it's worthless.
 
Originally Posted by Fifth87
To get a NH Inspection Sticker that hole needs to be covered for sure.
I bet the rocker is rusted through on the outside, behind the cladding.
I would definitely look underneath at the back side of the rocker panel and inner wheel well for holes as well.
Any rust through into the cabin will fail for potential to allow CO to enter.
Rust through on a non opening to the cabin will fail for potential to cause injury to others.
Unless you are willing to spend a fair amount on this, either a quick hack patch or a lenient shop is the answer.



I know you are right about this...

But why does this rust constitute a failed inspection ??

I could understand if it were part of the frame of the vehicle or some part of the suspension rusted bad...

Guess they are doggone strict about everything up there.
 
Originally Posted by demarpaint
It's bad, and will be very expensive to have done correctly.

Wrong...Auto Rust Technicians.
 
Maine (similar) requires fenders so you're not a [censored] spraying water everywhere (pardon the pun) and rocker panels so you aren't breathing CO.

You could glob "tiger hair" bondo with fiberglass on this for this years sticker.

It would not be much work though to cut it out, get some "tin" like flashing from Lowes, Pop_rivet it to the remaining metal. To make the curve, cut slits every 2 inches so you can "fan" it around the corner. Then cover this mess in fiberglass. This'll get you ~3 years instead.

IDK what your rockers are like, the picture doesn't show. But when your inner fender liner gets a perforation, you get mountains of tire flung slush and salt in the inner rockers which really wrecks them. When your rockers do fail, you'll get several dozen pounds of soggy sand that fall out with them.
 
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