Under body rust

Any recommendations on taking care of underbody rust? Is there a forum thread on taking care of it? (Searched and didn't see it.) Most of the body shops in the area say they only do collision repair. I put the car on jackstands and one size the side skirts/rocker panel is in need of work. Do people take care of that themselves?

03 Golf TDI.

Thanks,

-M

I've had rockers and other rust repaired on three TDIs. But you're right, most body shops want no part of it. Doing it properly is pretty involved, and expensive. Look for a shop that does restoration work, they may be willing.

Typically rockers on these cars rust because dirt has accumulated behind the fender liner and trapped moisture. Clean it out regularly and the rust will take longer to appear.

Can you weld? if so, you can do this yourself, its a bit of work. Check out Birdmans restoration.

There are tons of videos on youtube about body repair. if you have time and some of the right tools, you can do it, there are also quite a few shops you can take it to. My experience with shops is that if your on a budget, having different shops do the stages of work is best, metal body shop, then take it to paint and do all the prep. You are going to have to find shops that dont advertise and are small, like you said, those body shops only do insurance based collision repairs. The insurance on cars, killed the every day body shops. I see your in DC. i am about 1 hour north east in hagerstown/frederick, R&F bodyworks is decent at body work but take the paint to someone else if your picky. Otherwise thats who i recommend. If you dont have a welder, i do, a very nice one your welcome to use if you have a place to store it indoors during use, i can help you out a bit here and there if you want.

They quoted me 4700 to repair all my rust- i have LOTS OF IT, and a full respray.

I have it on both of my 02 golfs behind the front fender liner. Its a really poor design. Even if you clean it out, it will come through eventually. These cars are almost 2 decades old though. I think that they've held up quite well considering the age and the fact that they aren't trailer queens. We are getting to the point of time that we are at restoration age, just like I had to do floor pans in my 70 bug. It needs to be cut out and rewelded in. Fenders need to be replaced and there is a fix for the fender liner (I've not done it) where you put like a 1/2" spacer between the lower screw that holds the liner on so the dirt just falls out.

Been there, done that!

http://forums.tdiclub.com/showthread.php?t=480567

I had both rockers replaced and painted last year at a local body shop.

Price was about $2,500 in total as I recall. They also coated the inside of them with oil where you can’t get paint into effectively.

I have had my fenders replaced by vw free of charge on my Cars because of the insulation problem causing rust at the lip of the fender about 7 years ago. Given the design of the way that the fender liner traps all the dirt and leaves that fall down through wiper area, I just don't think there is a permanent solution. I clean mine out several times a year and I'm starting to get the paint bubbling above the rocker.

Namakan said:

I had both rockers replaced and painted last year at a local body shop.

Price was about $2,500 in total as I recall. They also coated the inside of them with oil where you can’t get paint into effectively.

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I paid $2,100, but I also had pulled my fenders and hood (and reinstalled). New fenders (I bought) and rocker sections (I cut out of a parts car I picked up) and hood were painted. Body shop used some chemical bonding stuff to adhere the end pieces of the rockers in order to inhibit rust formation: they coated the insides before the end pieces were installed.

UhOh said:

I paid $2,100, but I also had pulled my fenders and hood (and reinstalled). New fenders (I bought) and rocker sections (I cut out of a parts car I picked up) and hood were painted. Body shop used some chemical bonding stuff to adhere the end pieces of the rockers in order to inhibit rust formation: they coated the insides before the end pieces were installed.

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They probably used Por-15 which is great stuff. But the problem is that it is always moist in that area down there with junk like leaves and dirt that hold the water.

I cleaned mine on a regular bases and I have absolutely no rust. Yes the drain off the windshield goes down by at the back of the fender and leaves get in there and it does not drain.

I installed a spacer between the right side fender liner and the wheel well for better drainage, and it works quite well. Leaves don't get stuck as much. I used the POR 15 on that same side fender and it seems to be holding up very well after almost two years. The insulating foam had caused the paint to bubble. Both ideas are from this forum.

VW never learns. My 15 has foam above the wheel like my 05. As if that weren't enough, there is a piece of foam from the top of the fender to the bottom, facing forward, opposite the door hinges.

I ripped it out and it was soaked half way up. It likely had about a cup of water in it. All the foam I could find is now in the dump. Maybe mine won't rust???

POWERSTROKE said:

They probably used Por-15 which is great stuff. But the problem is that it is always moist in that area down there with junk like leaves and dirt that hold the water.

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If you're getting stuff INSIDE the rockers then there's a much bigger problem! But, yes, on the OUTSIDE of the rocker caps there continues to be the susceptibility. I recently cleaned this area on the wife's car (second time in three years) and there was, again, a ton of crap in there We're fortunate here (PNW) that we don't really have the rusting issues like elsewhere: my car spent its first 15 years of its life in Minnesota.

A note here: the rocker end caps are replaceable parts and are available from VW for an amount that might be the lowest of any part on these cars! It's an obscure part (I don't recall being able to find the part on-line in the available databases), but a good VW parts person should be able to track them down.

ianfar said:

VW never learns. My 15 has foam above the wheel like my 05. As if that weren't enough, there is a piece of foam from the top of the fender to the bottom, facing forward, opposite the door hinges.

I ripped it out and it was soaked half way up. It likely had about a cup of water in it. All the foam I could find is now in the dump. Maybe mine won't rust???

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VW ain't the only one that seems to retain problem design/manufacturing. Ford has an engineering checklist somewhere that mandates for a way to allow water inside the cabin: cowling filling up and allowing water into the cabin; upper rear brake lights on trucks, and so forth- a friend has a 2014(?) F150 which is meticulously maintained and he was cleaning in the rear compartment area and noticed a bunch of water, yup, leaking upper brake light (my 1993 F250 leaks all over the place- it's been an on-and-off-again "hobby" of mine for some 5 years now on trying to eliminate the leaks- I'm about 90% there now).

What did you have to do to remove the foam on your 2015?

Mongler98-- Thank you for the offer.. I don't have welding experience. I'll check out the body shop you mention in Fredrick and see if they can do it and the price. --M

A good tug did the trick! You have to remove the inner fender plastic behind the front tires, just enough to get your hand in.