Parking today, and this happened. I didn't think where I was parking was going to hurt the car. Obviously it did. What should I do to fix it? Man I feel like ****

 

Oh, it's what holds the spare tire.

 

Look on the bright side - it missed the exhaust.

Shouldn't be too difficult to beat it back and tack or patch over it.

Graham

 

I once replaced the spare tire well on a Toyota Supra because the rear window gasket leaked, the tire well below held water and rusted out. What I did was to cut the tire well out of a donor car and cut the rusty well out of the recipient car being sure to leave about a half inch overlap so that it would just kind of sit in the hole. Then I welded around the perimeter and sealed the underside overlap with seam sealer plus undercoating. After the welds were ground smooth and all was painted, you couldn't tell it had been replaced. Can't post pics because of stupid linking restrictions, but if you email me I can send a link. Don't know about doing this sort of thing on the x308, but perhaps it will give you some idea.

 

I wouldn't think it would be bad enough to go to an extreme of replacing the entire well. That can likely be very easily repaired by any competent body shop, welding the seam back together once it's put back in line with some hammer persuasion. It's not nearly as vital to structural integrity so it's not going to be something to worry much about, so much as getting it sealed back together.

 

OoooH, ouch.
It'll weld up ok, seam sealer on the inside just to be sure no water gets in there, and a bit of colour for cosmetics, be just fine.

 

Thanks guys, I really do appreciate it! Happy to hear it can be welded. Trust me, I didn't mean to do it.

 

If that is under seal the easiest way to remove it is with dry ice. Dry ice in a plastic bag held against the US with a jack stand, it needs to be there for a time before it starts to shrink and crack off.

 

Went to two body shops today. The first guy who I've used in the past to paint some parts on my Vette, told me the whole tub has to be replaced. He also said that you can't weld it because the material is plastic like.

Second shop told me, yeah I can fix it by welding it. Bring it next week if you can. Guess I'll take it to shop number 2.

 

Odd, it does look plastic-like. That tub is steel on my '98 (I've had to drill through it a few times). What year is your car?

 

2002 Sport

 

it's just thin formed sheet metal with the undercoating applied to it. It's not tough to weld as long as you have someone that is good with thin metal. A lot of guys use the wrong welder settings and end up burning through the metal.

 

wow, thank you! Very good info. I'm going to ask around more tomorrow.