I reserved a couple of hours to do a touch-up on a small rust spot below the passenger door. Well now, wasn’t THAT optimistic!

On the first paint removing poke, the punch I was using to chip with went right through the rocker panel. It wasn’t surface rust - the car was rusting from the inside out! (….groan). After just a few moments I realized it was time for the dremel. Those of you who’ve played with this scenario know that no matter how much it hurts, you just keep sanding until ALL the rust and blackened steel is exposed. Here some pics of what was revealed. Ouch! So a two hour task turned into a two day project, with prep work, bondo and intial sanding on the first; and finishing bondo, sanding and three layers (many coats) of paint on the second. The results are clearly amateurish up close, but at least I know that I’ve delayed further corrosion for a little while, and I don’t have to look at that tiny, annoying rust spot anymore when helping some sweet pretty lady into and out of the car.

Something I found curious was that the rocker panel area seemed to be filled with what almost looked like sand, yet I could find no entry point for it. After removing as much metal as I could and busting up all the junk inside the rocker, I vacuumed and blew out as much of the junk as possible. Then I saturated all of the inside I could get to with rubberized, corrosion inhibiting paint. I sure hope that makes a difference.

Of course, I DRIVE my car. Kitty's rapidly approaching 195K miles. So, despite the build quality of these cars (quite good in my opinion), I guess having some routine evidence of her aging isn't to be totally unexpected. I'll have a body shop pretty-up my work some day in the future.

 

Well that's a new one, these must be the worst rusting cars of the modern era.

 

I don't know about that, RD. It's been the only rust of note so far. Other spots have just been a little surface rust at the fender corners, but the paint at those locations is going to be sand blasted off the car sooner or later, so I don't think there's a quality issue with that. Probably just "Old Man Time" letting me know he's still alive and kicking.

 

What a pain.
I've seen perforations around door closures due to water getting trapped by the door seal, but that looks to go much lower down. From what I understand the rear wing is only bonded to the inner arch: the bond fails allowing water and mud to get in where it never dries.

I believe that it's double-skinned there and not reachable from the 'bung' in the rear wheel well. I'm wondering if it's possible to get between the skins from inside by removing the rear side panel. I never thought to check when I had the interior apart to replace the headlining.

TBH I think the build quality is patchy at best given these are high-end cars. There's a lot of out-of-sight metal that's only got a thin paint coating (like inside the front wing).

If they use salt on your roads then it's only a matter of time

I do hope it turns out to be localised..

Mike

 

Thanks Mike. That's an interesting idea. I should check the fender well. I only searched beneath and in front of the rot looking for a point of entry. You're right - it could have been building up from behind and above. I'll give a good look-see next time I have her on the lift. Maybe I can remove the fender liner for a good cleaning and treatment.

 

I have my rear side panels off at the moment and hoped to see into the rear arches etc, but access is blocked by the rear window regulator and I didn't fancy removing that just so I could have a look.

 

All NA MX-5 Miata's rust there, too. Even Texas cars. Water & salts get into the rockers from the rear wheel wells and top drains.

 

great news! I must have a talent for picking them too - miata (eunos to me) here as well..

 

Mmm. Don't think I'd want to disturb that in a hurry either.
The ragtop might be somewhat different as I believe there's a longtitudinal strengthening tube running behind the sill.

From what I remember the coupe doesn't have anything behind the side panel: just wish I'd taken more notice when I took them off.
I will next time, which won't be long since the headlining has just started to let go again.

Not enough adhesive this time rather than disintegrating foam, but still the same PITA

Mike

 

'Well that's a new one, these must be the worst rusting cars of the modern era.'

far worse are low end Fords especially KA and Fiesta. My wifes 2000 Fiesta need the seat belt anchor point welding after a failed MOT at 5 years old. I regularly see a 2008 VW MPV with rear wheel arches with more daylight than metal. Of the luxury car market, if you check the user forums,the name Jaguar rarely ever crops up but Mercedes are always getting slated for corrosion. Jaguars are not that bad ,its just that the XK8 is getting on for 20 years old and to be fair, you can only ever slow down the spread of rust, you can never stop it. Mother nature will always win in the end.

 

So True. All the wrinkles on my face and grey hair agree!

I really think I may have lucked out actually. This car spent its first 5 or 6 six years in the Pacific Northwest, and then 3 more in New Hampshire(!) before coming to me in Maryland. That this corrosion incident seems to be isolated is pretty good news I guess.

But sooner or later it will return, and given its location, I have no idea how it will be handled when metal needs replacing.

 

I think it's true to say that .............


The convertible has an additional tubular strengthening "beam" which runs from front to rear - you can see the ends in the wheelarches.
On all cars, from the front wheelarch to the centre of the car, there's a single steel skin BUT from the weld, about half way along under the door - it is double skinned. The weld is just visible to the extreme left of Scardini1's second photograph.
From here to the rear, there's a small gap tapering from 0mm at the weld to about 10mm at the front of the rear wheelarch. Here, there's no weld, just sealing compound which, over the years, loses flexibility and therefor adhesion between the two steel "layers". It's a perfect place for mud and water to collect and do their worst.
There's a guy here in the UK who makes replacement outer skins for that area from the weld to the rear wheelarch so there's a solution this side of the pond. Probably less common in the US where rust doesn't seem to be quite such a problem as here in the wet and cold (and salty road) UK climate !

 

Say David, If you should happen upon that place's information would you post it somewhere for us? Maybe the Non-OEM Parts thread? Here as well of course. When the time comes, I'd be more than happy to order a custom fitted piece and hand it to the body shop.

 

I suspect they are all made by the same guy (I have his details but he is not really a "retail supplier") - repair panels are available from a couple of different sources here in the UK including :


Jaguar XK8 XKR (X100) Body Repair Panels Rear Half of Sill | Jaguar XK8 and XKR Parts and Accessories


I realise that the rust on your car is slightly outside the area covered by these panels but the information may be useful for you.
Cheers,
David.

 

As written by David
In the Midwest we are considered the rust belt, They dump salt here just like in England. In the winter in the garage, I swear you can hear the salt eating your car up.