To drill or not to drill........ Arg

[OVERKILL]

OK, so I think I mentioned this last year.

I park the M5 for the winter. This year, if luck allows it, it may actually get the garage (there is interest in the Capri from a friend, engine is likely going in a 20's or 30's Chris-Craft, don't ask

)

But my garage is not insulated, heated....etc. It is old. My house is old. Everything is old. Turn of the century brick home with a detached garage.

I have a small rust spot (that IndyIan has seen) along the bottom edge of the rear passenger-side door. And there is a small spot on the seam on the inside of the front passenger-side door.

I am going to get these fixed by Ford, and if they cannot guarantee me that it won't come back, I will replace the doors. They are the only spots on the entire car. The bottom is immaculate, as is the rest of the body.

That being said, I've considered getting it Krown'd. It doesn't get winter driven, but this IS Canada. There is salt in the air and on the road when it first comes out in the spring, and there very well may be some on the road before it goes away for the winter. My concern is having it drilled. While not "uber rare", being one of 10,000 cars produced from 1998-2003, it is rare enough that this is of concern to me (holes in the body).

I COULD have it sprayed without the holes, but the job wouldn't be as thorough. And I don't know if I would be as confident in the results. Having the holes drills ensures that the INSIDES of every panel on the car has a coating on it. It would stop any corrosion that is there in its tracks and for that reason, I am considering it.

What are your thoughts?

-Chris

 

[Trajan]

Originally Posted By: OVERK1LL

Having the holes drills ensures that the INSIDES of every panel on the car has a coating on it. It would stop any corrosion that is there in its tracks and for that reason, I am considering it.

-Chris


Reason enough IMHO to do it.

 

[Dave Hess]

Drill the holes, its a 12 year old car.

Not a Picasso painting.

 

[Donald]

I had both my vehicles done with CarWell which is the same as Krown. They are 12+ years old. They drilled holes in the doors, tailgate and took the rear lights out and drilled holes there to get in the back quarter panel. The holes are not on exposed surfaces and are not close to the bottom so very unlikely they would cause a problem. And since they stick the wand through the hole, its bound to get extra Krown on the hole. Have them shoot a little extra Krown on the hole before its plugged. Wipe the excess off after the plug is inserted if it bothers you.

 

[OVERKILL]

Originally Posted By: Donald
I had both my vehicles done with CarWell which is the same as Krown. They are 12+ years old. They drilled holes in the doors, tailgate and took the rear lights out and drilled holes there to get in the back quarter panel. The holes are not on exposed surfaces and are not close to the bottom so very unlikely they would cause a problem. And since they stick the wand through the hole, its bound to get extra Krown on the hole. Have them shoot a little extra Krown on the hole before its plugged. Wipe the excess off after the plug is inserted if it bothers you.


I'm no virgin to the process, we've had our vehicles done since the early 90's. I'm just having a hang-up on putting holes in the body of the car

 

[SLCraig]

I would get it KROWN'd for sure.
I have had all my cars done every year. The stuff is boss.

 

[JHZR2]

Drill baby, drill!

 

[OVERKILL]

Originally Posted By: JHZR2
Drill baby, drill!


So I'm being a neurotic baby? LOL

 

[Trav]

I was in a similar dilemma with my GTP also not a rare car but its flawless and i didn't want to drill holes in it.

The problem is any hole drilled is bare metal and it doesn't take much for rust to start.
I removed the rocker panel covers inside the car and sure enough there is access to the rockers with a long wand.

I removed the inner panels from the sides of the back seat and gained access to the rear quart and rear of the rocker.
Removing the door panels gave me access to the doors and removing a couple of screws from the front fender liners got me into the inner fenders.

Lot of work sure but now its coated and no holes. I used Cor-Ban 22 which is used in the aircraft industry and passes a 4000 hr salt water test. After 4 yrs its still intact and zero rust.
I used a gallon on the car spraying through a decent gun with wands.

This one is identical, made in Italy.

http://www.jegs.com/p/Eastwood/Eastwood-Professional-Undercoating-Gun/1937358/10002/-1

 

[fdcg27]

You can repair the doors and they'll remain rust free for as long as the rest of the car does.
You can also spray rust treatment in through existing openings, which would probably provide pretty good coverge.
Most of the rust happens at the bottom of the doors, so a decent application made through the drain holes would probably work pretty well.
If you're really ambitious, the interior door trim can be removed and the insides then treated as much as you'd like.
There are no guarantees on rust repair, though.
Unless you can get a good price on rear doors from a yard, replacing them is probably an unecessary expense that may not leave you better off two years down the road than you are now.
If you are concerned about the car's relative rarity, replacing orginal parts is not the way to enhance its future value.
To a savvy buyer, original is always better.
Also, I suspect that this car will become more of an electro mechanical nightmare as it ages than a collectible, although BMW is trying to catch up to Mercedes in supporting its older cars still in use. Model specific parts will be hideously expensive, though.
I'd just garage the car for the winter and not put it back on the road in the spring until a couple of good rains have washed away the salt.
There is probably no need to use rust treatment on a car that won't be winter driven, and the blooms of rust you're seeing are probably the fruit of previous winter use by a prior owner or two.

 

[OVERKILL]

Originally Posted By: fdcg27
You can repair the doors and they'll remain rust free for as long as the rest of the car does.
You can also spray rust treatment in through existing openings, which would probably provide pretty good coverge.
Most of the rust happens at the bottom of the doors, so a decent application made through the drain holes would probably work pretty well.
If you're really ambitious, the interior door trim can be removed and the insides then treated as much as you'd like.
There are no guarantees on rust repair, though.
Unless you can get a good price on rear doors from a yard, replacing them is probably an unecessary expense that may not leave you better off two years down the road than you are now.
If you are concerned about the car's relative rarity, replacing orginal parts is not the way to enhance its future value.
To a savvy buyer, original is always better.
Also, I suspect that this car will become more of an electro mechanical nightmare as it ages than a collectible, although BMW is trying to catch up to Mercedes in supporting its older cars still in use. Model specific parts will be hideously expensive, though.
I'd just garage the car for the winter and not put it back on the road in the spring until a couple of good rains have washed away the salt.
There is probably no need to use rust treatment on a car that won't be winter driven, and the blooms of rust you're seeing are probably the fruit of previous winter use by a prior owner or two.


Well it only had one other owner

Car came from Alberta. May have been winter driven out there, I don't know.

Now your logic sort of aligns as to the direction I was originally going to go: cans of Krown, go to town through as many openings as I could. But I don't think I'll get the same amount of panel protection as getting it drilled would provide..... ARG!

 

[fdcg27]

I think you'll get enough panel protection for the way you use the car.
You don't need to treat for use as a sand car at the beach, and you can always renew your applications every year.
I'd not drill holes and really go the full route unless you really intend to go play in the snow.
You don't, which I think is a sensible thing, so I wouldn't drill any holes.
Remember, too, that cars do rust even when not winter driven.
It sounds like you have very mild rust for the age of the car, and German cars usually do have very solid bodies, unlike, say, Italian or British ones.
My vote is don't drill.
Not needed for the way you intend to use the car.

 

[DBMaster]

Seems to me, living in Texas BTW, that the mere existence of additional holes in the bodywork would enhance evaporation. Perhaps it would be an insignificant level. But, any level of increased evaporation inside enclosed metal surfaces would, to me, help reduce corrosion. So, IMHO, if the holes aren't visible, drill away!

 

[Donald]

The wand they used at a CarWell shop was about 3' long. I would guess it gets into most of the places. I am sure if I looked hard I could find the holes, but they are sure not obvious.

 

[Duffman77]

I have seen old cars restored thoughout all stages first hand. Seen turds from barns and fields turned into gems. Seen things 10x worse than a hole repaired in bodywork. Bottom line is holes can be very easily filled down the road at the time of a repaint and the car is not that rare.

 

[OVERKILL]

Originally Posted By: Duffman77
I have seen old cars restored thoughout all stages first hand. Seen turds from barns and fields turned into gems. Seen things 10x worse than a hole repaired in bodywork. Bottom line is holes can be very easily filled down the road at the time of a repaint and the car is not that rare.


I do believe I made that quite clear with this statement:

Originally Posted By: OVERK1LL
While not "uber rare", being one of 10,000 cars produced from 1998-2003, it is rare enough that this is of concern to me (holes in the body).


I realize that a car with a production run of 10,000 isn't incredibly rare. My issue is that this car is rare enough TO ME that I don't want to be randomly drilling holes in it if it can be avoided. And the opinion of some members here is that adequate rust protection can be applied without having to do that.

While I realize that holes can be filled and rust fixed, I'd like to avoid doing much of both of these going forward with this car. The idea here is realistic avoidance of corrosion balanced with what is necessary in terms of modification to the vehicle (read: holes) to facilitate this.

 

[Duffman77]

Modification does not have to correlate with devaluation was my point, its not like you are drilling into a Boss 429. And the car is not old enough to have significant value in monetary terms.

If you ever watch the high end cars that roll over the block at Barrett Jackson, 98% of them are restored and the old cars with original paint tend to command less money. From a value perspective your car is no where near that yet and by the time it gets there (in terms of age) it will need a restoration to have the value that you are worried about.

 

[OVERKILL]

Originally Posted By: Duffman77
Modification does not have to correlate with devaluation was my point, its not like you are drilling into a Boss 429. And the car is not old enough to have significant value in monetary terms.

If you ever watch the high end cars that roll over the block at Barrett Jackson, 98% of them are restored and the old cars with original paint tend to command less money. From a value perspective your car is no where near that yet and by the time it gets there (in terms of age) it will need a restoration to have the value that you are worried about.


Fair enough.

 

[Astro14]

Originally Posted By: Duffman77
Modification does not have to correlate with devaluation was my point, its not like you are drilling into a Boss 429. And the car is not old enough to have significant value in monetary terms.

If you ever watch the high end cars that roll over the block at Barrett Jackson, 98% of them are restored and the old cars with original paint tend to command less money. From a value perspective your car is no where near that yet and by the time it gets there (in terms of age) it will need a restoration to have the value that you are worried about.


That's not always true - unrestored cars are becoming so rare that for some makes (Packard, Duesenberg, certain rare Jags and Ferraris, etc.), an unrestored example is actually more valuable than a restored one.

But I don't see this car in any of those categories...not in our lifetimes...too many were built to make it rare...until, perhaps 50 - 70 years from now, when only a dozen are left on the road...

So, you should take the steps to ensure that YOU can enjoy it while it is still on the road...and forget the consequences on restoration and/or future value...

 

[Planb]

It is easy enough to gain access behind the interior panels by simply removing them. You can also drill under the door sills, so you can hide the holes with the sills. Strategy is key in hiding the wounds. If you don't drive the car in winter you most-likely will not be spraying it every year so the trouble might be worth you effort... you can also drill the holes yourself instead of the hack doing it at the rust proofing place, if that sort of thing makes you feel better. Before you do drill, go and ask what size of holes they drill so you can snap those little covers in place.