What to do about rust- behind front wheel GM

[TmanP]

My Lacrosse was a little rusty and previously painted in the rocker panel area when I got it last year. So I bought paint and clear coat, sanded them down, and repainted them this fall. And they have already rusted through that. So I ripped out the insulation on the inside of the rocker panel that was trapping water and keeping it damp. Then I rinsed it out.

I was planning on spraying Loctite Extend Rust Neutralizer on the inside of the rocker panel, sanding the outside, then spraying the Loctite Neutralizer there as well, and finally painting it and then clear coating it. Thoughts? (the first pic is looking at it from the inside, with the door open)

[img:center]http://s1325.photobucket.com/user/tman81299/media/IMG_9176_zpsvytcsvnl.jpg.html[/img]

 

[Donald]

It's a never ending battle. One suggestion is to not sand after using Extend. Extend provides a hard shell to prevent oxygen from getting to the rust.

You may want to use naval jelly (or similar) to deal with the rust, then prime and paint.

Fluid Film or CarWell on the back side.

 

[Ducked]

Power-abrade with aluminium, using sunflower oil as a binder.

Once its set, spray around there with a motor oil/sunflower oil mix, thinned as required with kerosene or diesel.

Rip out the sound insulation and throw it a long way away, and look for, and fix, leaks.

 

[Ethan1]

This is why most shops won't repair rust. There's no lasting repair to be found. Down market shops will do it because they don't guarantee anything anyway. Restoration shops will do it for cars that are worth a lot of money, but it will recur on anything but a 100% trailer queen.

 

[Nick1994]

You should have gone back to the shop you had it repaired at. They should have had some kind of guarantee.

 

[oilpsi2high]

Extend can cause even further rust. It's there on the directions. It was because of that I decided against it.

The only fix I found for wheel wells is to wire wheel the rust and loose paint off, sand the surrounding area, then prime the bare metal. Paint the ENTIRE lip with color. Clear coat the entire thing. Finally, rub oil on the front and back of the wheel lip whenever you wax the car.

It might still come back, but at a much slower rate.

 

[TmanP]

Sorry, I didn't make that clear. I painted it myself, and the previous owner did the same.

 

[spasm3]

Seeing that last pic, the rust is probably on the inside of the door skin as well, so treating what is visible is only temporary.

with rust, there is what you see, but there is always more!

 

[sciphi]

Strip it down to bare metal, hit what you can with rust converter, then re-paint. After the paint has had a summer to cure, hit that area with Fluid Film every fall from now on. The FF will keep any further moisture from the area. It won't completely stop the tiny areas that couldn't be converted in the pits, but it will slow down new rust to a crawl.

 

[doitmyself]

You say rocker panel area, but it really looks like it is the bottom of the fender (front quarter panel). The rocker panel is the area below the door line.

It also appears to be surface rust, not rust that is developing from the interior of sandwich metal layers. This is a good thing. If you did not remove the wheel well liner on your last repair, you left broken areas in the paint where salt, moisture, and air could get underneath your repair, re-rusting and pushing your paint off.

The car is 10 years old. Unless you want to spend $500+ at a body shop, are "good enough" efforts in your plan?

I would remove the wheel well. Sand, wire brush, and/or sand blast all rusted areas to bare metal. Use some kind of "metal prep" to neutralize any remaining microscopic rust pits and to etch the metal.

Finish?? Any spray can primer and topcoat will probably chip from wheel debris. I would be tempted to use a textured rocker panel product, following prep and application instructions. I would "paint" at least an inch or more above that bolt head and ALL the way back to the vertical door line. It will look just a bit ghetto, but will end your rust problem.

You could use white "chip guard" and maybe also do the entire rocker panel (below door) to make it look more "factory". You could also use black, again doing the entire rocker panel below the door.

Link to a Lacross with black rocker panel: http://www.usedcarsgroup.com/used-2006-buick-lacrosse-lakeland-fl-2g4wc582561260312

Link to textured panel coating: http://www.summitracing.com/search/produ...int-finish/flat

For lack of search time, something like this, but fitting your car better, maybe not up the rear quarter panel:

 

[Trav]

Tee only way to repair that properly so it last is to media blast it on both sides then immediately prime it with a high grade DTM epoxy primer before top coating.
In areas like that I usually use chip guard before top coat and clear. Conversion coatings don't do a very good job in areas like that.

Do you own a compressor?