Rusting above wheel well

[pete6032]

I have an 18 y/o Civic and it's starting to rust above the wheel well, just a little bit at this point. Car only has 130k miles on it so it will last for quite a while still. I've never dealt with rust before. What is the best course of action to take?

 

[RLGL]

Leave it alone! I have a '96 F150 that has 125 K on it with lots a rust. You should be more worried about brake lines etc than the body.

 

[repoman0]

Leave it alone! I have a '96 F150 that has 125 K on it with lots a rust. You should be more worried about brake lines etc than the body.

Can confirm -- currently getting the brake lines along with many other suspension and rubber bits replaced on a ~15 year old car that recently started to show some body rust. The brake lines were nearly rusted through -- my mechanic is using some copper alloy ones that won't rust again.

Still, nothing wrong with getting the cosmetic stuff taken care of too. You can have it cut out and a new piece welded in (pro way) or just try to grind it down and hit it with Ospho followed by paint and clear. I'm getting my cosmetic stuff taken care of after all this brake line and suspension nonsense -- car only has ~108k miles.

 

[mindless1]

The vehicle uses strut towers on all 4 corners yes? Is the rust anywhere near a strut tower mount point?

If so, then for long term structural integrity do not let it go or it will spread, at a minimum wire brush or sand away the rust and put a liberal amount of primer on it. Color coat that if deemed unattractive, or if the primer isn't rusty metal primer.

If removing all rust produces holes, fill those with fiberglass reinforced body filler, and a support mesh if needed, or even weld in new metal if it's that bad or the area flexes and later causes the body filler to come off.

Rust on an F150/etc body-on-frame vehicle's body panels or wheel wells is not necessarily the same problem in that most can rot away and not sacrifice the structural integrity much. The strut tower areas on unibody vehicles routinely flex. Metal flexes. Rust doesn't.

It would be easier to assess with pictures, others may be right that it is not significant if not near the strut towers.

 

[ondma]

Yea, had to trash a minivan I was driving because the strut tower completely rusted away. The top of the spring strut assembly was actually just resting on the firewall of the vehicle.

 

[BonzaiDuck]

The other posters are addressing a potential safety issue pertaining to the strut tower, which (if I remember) would be part of the uni-body. At this point, keep in mind that my experience with Civics was extensive, but they were models preceding yours by 22 years. If your rust is occurring on the fender and not the uni-body, read on. Otherwise, good advice has already been posted.

When I bought my '79 Civic, I purchased rust-proofing for doors and other parts as an option. Later, my front quarter-panels began to rust along a weld seam toward the rear of the tire -- a cosmetic problem, mostly.

Here's a link to JC Whitney, where I'd once purchased a driver-side fender/quarter-panel for about the same price specific to a '79 CVCC Civic:

2001 Civic DX fender

Of course, it means a paint-job, if only for the fender. Look for welded seams on the inside of the new fender, and treat it with the rubberized-undercoating you can buy in a can before putting the fender on the car.