Rocker rust dilemma

Scratcher

Veteran Member
Joined
Jan 19, 2011
Location
Grand Rapids MI
TDI
2004 TDI BEW Wagon
Okay, so I ordered fluid film. Only drawback is that I cannot paint over it. So that whole area (In the pics) would need to stay open.
 

Zak99b5

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Apr 30, 2021
Location
Albany NY
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2003 Jetta TDI
Okay, so I ordered fluid film. Only drawback is that I cannot paint over it. So that whole area (In the pics) would need to stay open.
Or, after liberally spraying the fluid film, you could pop rivet sheet metal to cover and then paint that. Best if you left a way to respray more fluid film up in there every year or so.
 

Mass. Wine Guy

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May 21, 2001
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Ipswich, Massachusetts
TDI
5-speed, 2015 Golf S 6-speed manual; 2015 Golf Sportwagen SEL 6-speed manual
At this point things are so bad that you have to start somewhere. Start soon or you’ll run out of good weather.
 

wonneber

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Oct 12, 2011
Location
Monroe, NY, USA
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2014 Jetta Sportwagon,2003 Jetta 261K Sold but not forgotten
Lol the only inspections here in NJ are for the gas cap and to make sure your CEL works and hasn’t been disabled…..the rest of the car could be falling off , but as long as the CEL works……your good to go..
They don't check tires brakes, and lights anymore?
Do they still have drive through inspection stations?
 

csstevej

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north nj
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2001 golf tdi 4 door auto now a manual, mine, 2000 golf 2 door M/T son's,daughters 98 NB non-TDI 2.0, 2003 TDI NB for next daughter, head repaired and on road,glutton for punishment got another tdi 2001NB,another yellow tdi NB , added an 06 NB DSG
Nope…….they still drive your car through and the only thing I see them check for with a camera is if the cat is removed.
 

Prairieview

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Too close to Sturgis 'ithole
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On much SMALLER rust areas, I have used Rust-bullit from Summit racing. The stuff solidified the rust and stopped advancement. But, in surface area.....it is apples and bananas compared to your carnage.

Let it keep going and put a fake dinosaur in the back seat and pretend you are Fred Flintstone. Gotta love dat Betty!
 

Scratcher

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Jan 19, 2011
Location
Grand Rapids MI
TDI
2004 TDI BEW Wagon

P2B

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Toronto & Muskoka, Canada
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2002 Jetta, 2003 Jetta, 2003 Jetta Wagon
Bondo mesh and fiberglass rust repair on wagon hatch.




Not even close to perfect but not bad considering there were fist sized holes above both taillights and several smaller ones along the bottom of the glass. The owner (my better half) deemed it acceptable ;)

Ask me in two years how it lasted...
 

fatmobile

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Jul 16, 2019
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north iowa
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an ALH M-TDI in a MK2, a 2000 Jetta, 2003 wagon
I think the rustoleum he is talking about is their rust converter.
Not just covering it with paint.
I use eastwood rust converter, there are others like osphocoat but eastwood makes a nice thin shell
and seems to work with the epoxy primer I cover it with.

Fluid film is good stuff. It needs to be reapplied yearly at least if it's in a wheel well or someplace exposed to wheel splash.
PB blaster has surface shield, CRC has SP400 and another marine grade corrosion inhibitor, LPS has #3, T9 boshield, rustoleum might even have one.
There are several makers of lanolin based wax coatings that self heal.
I use them for a coating after the rust is repaired or before it gets bad.
 

Mass. Wine Guy

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May 21, 2001
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Ipswich, Massachusetts
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5-speed, 2015 Golf S 6-speed manual; 2015 Golf Sportwagen SEL 6-speed manual
The Fluid Film is good for coating a surface you don’t want to have rust. For the fiberglass fill repair, you still need Corroseal, Rust Mort or a similar product prior to applying the filler.

I got lots of inspiration from this guy’s clips. You can at least get a sense of how to approach it:

 

dieseldonato

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Mar 10, 2023
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Us
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2001 jetta
Well from my reading on the subject a few years back it seems there are VERY mixed reviews on the stuff. A quick google search brings up a ton of recent reports of failure as well. Not sure how you’ve not heard of this.
Maybe it is just super picky about prep, but I wouldn’t waste my time on it from the horror stories I’ve heard. Especially not as advertised “Paint Over Rust.”
When it goes wrong, whether that be a result of incorrect prep or not (I’ve heard it both ways) it fails big time.
on both my 73, and 79 the frames were needled scaled and wire wheeled before application. No heavy rust was left on either frame. I was told years ago, heavy rust and scale needs removed, as well as properly de-greased before application. I've never seen or heard of a product that you just "paint over rust" and it works properly. Some sort of prep work is always required.

Edit, just did a Google search for failures and have to admit some of them may have actual issues and some of them clearly didn't follow any of the prep instructions.
 
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KrashDH

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Joined
Dec 22, 2013
Location
Washington
TDI
2002 Golf
The Fluid Film is good for coating a surface you don’t want to have rust. For the fiberglass fill repair, you still need Corroseal, Rust Mort or a similar product prior to applying the filler.

I got lots of inspiration from this guy’s clips. You can at least get a sense of how to approach it:

I'm glad we're on the same page.
 

Scratcher

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Location
Grand Rapids MI
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2004 TDI BEW Wagon
🤪🤪I'm overwhelmed with options now🤪😜

The only real solution is to cut everything out and weld on a fabricated steel plate. Everything else seems to be a compromise
 

KrashDH

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Dec 22, 2013
Location
Washington
TDI
2002 Golf
🤪🤪I'm overwhelmed with options now🤪😜

The only real solution is to cut everything out and weld on a fabricated steel plate. Everything else seems to be a compromise
Depends on if you want a band aid fix or a root cause solution. It's up to you how far you want to go with this. The options out there have been given.
 

Mass. Wine Guy

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Ipswich, Massachusetts
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5-speed, 2015 Golf S 6-speed manual; 2015 Golf Sportwagen SEL 6-speed manual
If you can cut out and remove as much rust as possible, grind the perimeter to bare metal and treat the whole surface with a rust product, a fiberglass fix should last several years.
 

Scratcher

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Joined
Jan 19, 2011
Location
Grand Rapids MI
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2004 TDI BEW Wagon
You can always do something later if you make up your mind to do so. The fluid film will stop the rust in the meantime. You may find it good enough, as the great philosopher Medeocraties would say
Sounds like a plan.

I'm going to unload another can of rust convertor into it. Give it a good coat of Rust oleum oil-based paint followed by the Fluid Film. Then Fiberglass over it then check it again after the winter. I have some filling to do on both front fenders and other stuff to get it winter ready.

I also have three cords of wood to split and a riding mower to maintain and repair before the fall leaves start needing sucked up.

The Salmon are starting to run too!!
 

fatmobile

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north iowa
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an ALH M-TDI in a MK2, a 2000 Jetta, 2003 wagon
And if you decide to cut, weld and paint it later, I think the fluid film can be removed with a solvent.
 

pkhoury

That guy with the goats
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Nov 30, 2010
Location
Medina, TX
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2013 JSW, 2 x 2002 Golf, 1995 F450 7.3L
Wow. Here the vehicle would be classified as unroadworthy and the police would stop you. One could face serious fines and also the insurance is invalid. Any rust spot more than 1/4 - 1/2" is recorded in the roadworthy test. This is part of the state policy to get people to buy new German cars. Even if one adds a spacer on the wheels that has not been officially approved (and one can prove it when the police do a control) a car is classified as "unroadworthy". All the EGR deletes etc. people write about lead to mega-stress here...
Anyway, I would treat the rust with a rust stopper in the hope of stopping it spreading. And then either leave it, or use it as a practice welding project when it's convenient.
As people wrote, foam is *really bad* because after a time it shrinks and water just sits in between the foam and metal/rust, making it worse.

Yes
Yes, I know. I'm originally from Scotland. With the annual MOT inspection, it would not have gotten this far without cost prohibitive welding at an earlier stage. Now I live in the land of the free where moth and rust are free to roam wherever they will!
On a side note, is it safe to assume that most cars still on the road in Europe don't have rocker rust this bad? I've been wanting to buy a TDI on a future trip to Europe and bring it back here after it's 25 years old, but my friend in Sweden stated that 20+ year old cars all have bad rust/rocker damage.
 

Scratcher

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Joined
Jan 19, 2011
Location
Grand Rapids MI
TDI
2004 TDI BEW Wagon
On a side note, is it safe to assume that most cars still on the road in Europe don't have rocker rust this bad? I've been wanting to buy a TDI on a future trip to Europe and bring it back here after it's 25 years old, but my friend in Sweden stated that 20+ year old cars all have bad rust/rocker damage.
I don't know about the rest of Europe but in the UK you would never see a car like this with a current MOT and tax disc on the road. Testimony to this is that you can buy cars at 3 years old fairly cheaply compared to the US.
The last vehicle I owned in Scotland was a 3 year old Ford Escort van with 57000 miles on a 1.8 Diesel. I got it for the equivalent of $2000!

Anyone can attend an auction in the UK and bid on vehicles. Its how I bought all my vehicles. Then I would treat them for rust and run them till they died (Usually of rust)
 

Mpaw

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Aug 21, 2018
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Europe
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Caddy 2005 1,9 105 ps; Polo 2015 90PS Bluemotion, T5 2.5 5cyl
On a side note, is it safe to assume that most cars still on the road in Europe don't have rocker rust this bad? I've been wanting to buy a TDI on a future trip to Europe and bring it back here after it's 25 years old, but my friend in Sweden stated that 20+ year old cars all have bad rust/rocker damage.
In the EU it's difficult to keep a car on public roads in such a state, so generally you can assume this - but there are garages that sell cars and do their own 'state roadworthiness tests', and they are more interested in selling than road safety. Occasionally you get cars on the market where an older person has died and the car has been sitting in a garage for the last 20 years for a very good price. Countries like Scotland and Sweden are more of a sea climate and there is more salt in the air - cars in the middle/south of Germany suffer much less rust (from about 200 miles from the sea), although they put mega amounts of salt on the road in Winter.
Best are private sales (anyway you avoid the cost of possible sales-tax) and look that it has the appropriate roadworthy certificate, ideally that there hasn't been a period in it's history without one. I don't know about all the EU countries, but it seems to me that in the republics people keep every official document they ever receive (you have to rent / buy more living space just to keep all the bumf)
 
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