# Rust patches in my boot- how to deal with it?



## minibbb (Mar 9, 2012)

I've got a patch of rust in two corners of the boot of my 2005 suzuki Jimny. My first thought was to get a bodyshop to cut out the affected areas and weld in new metal.

I then heard about Bilt Hamber Deox gel and wondered if this might help/buy me some time?

Any thoughts much appreciated!

Pics of the affected areas


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## Aaran (Sep 18, 2007)

re-circ shot blaster gun will make short work of that and keep mess down to a minimum.

looks likes it coming from under that seam sealer though so you would have to knife/scrape that away and see how far it runs. honda rot there to it normally starts on the inner rear wheel well where it meets the floor pan and its a bugger to cut out and get new tin in


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## squiggs (Oct 19, 2009)

I'll bet there's more to that rust than meets the eye. I think you'll find it's a lot worse underneath and has rusted upwards.


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## MK1Campaign (Mar 27, 2007)

That's rusted all the way through. It's probably had repair work previously to be that bad. Needs cutting out and patching.


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## DJ X-Ray (Sep 2, 2012)

That's the trouble with rust it spreads.


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## Twizz (Jul 8, 2012)

DJ.X-Ray said:


> That's the trouble with rust it spreads.


It's like cancer, once it's there you can either cut it out or slow the process. You can put like rust remover but it's probably deeper than what you can see/touch.


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## moosh (May 8, 2011)

Sadly that's rotten and will require welding to get all of the rust out you will be left with very thin metal, don't be tempted to fibreglass or fill it with body filler as it will just keep rusting and you will end up with a bigger issue.

Best catch it now and have it cut out and welded.


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## Twizz (Jul 8, 2012)

moosh said:


> Best catch it now and have it cut out and welded.


+1

Make sure you protect it once it's done so it doesn't happen again - could be due to a leak or mud etc getting stuck and rotting it.


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## minibbb (Mar 9, 2012)

Thanks everyone for the replies. Thought it probably wasnt realistic hoping a rust killer would do the trick! 

Any idea what sort of cost may be involved here? 

I have used a local bodyshop before who are very reasonable for repairs. I had another look this morning and found another ropey patch under be jack recess. Hopefully the work won't be too expensive and I nip any other issues in the bud by underselling!


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## minibbb (Mar 9, 2012)

My body shop have quoted £70 to patch three bits (under the jack as well) , underseal under the boot and fit a new door hinge to the drivers door. Not bad!


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## squiggs (Oct 19, 2009)

Patching is one thing. Curing and preventing a further spread is something different - and £70 sounds very cheap. 
I'd double check that they were going to get a job that will last for longer than it takes to get home ... you could find yourself just £70 of pocket within a couple a weeks :thumb:


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## minibbb (Mar 9, 2012)

I've used the bodyshop before for paint/panel work and found them to be very good. 

He said he would remove all the rusty bits, all localised to three areas and weld in new metal before proofing it. Sounds ok to me? I know more work will no doubt be needed in the future. If he underseals the boot area that should help prevent more issues surely?


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## squiggs (Oct 19, 2009)

It all sounds good - but for £70 - maybe too good to be true.


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## Aaran (Sep 18, 2007)

thats way to cheap for a proper fix.

by patch im going to go with " chop out the rust, make a patch bigger than the hole left and smash it with a welder then finish it with lots of seam sealer or underseal"

anyone can paint and make something look shiny. i get this battle everyday all day long when quoting people, half the time you drop the car off to joe bodyshop, they weld or patch in new metal as they call it its painted and it looks great, until a year down the line when rust is blobbing out everywhere through all the paint because they cut corners on the base metalwork.

ill give you an example (this is my current car, the guy had a receipt in the service history folder for just over £800 to have the rust sorted on both his rear arches an inner arches with the painting:



> arch looks great, previous owner was charged just over £800 2 years before for inner arches fixing and outer arches fixing!
> 
> 
> 
> ...


if you want a quick fix thats going to last for a year or two and get rid of the car then by all means have it done. if your planning on keeping the car then request its done properly, all rot chopped out new sheet fabbed up and butt welded in edge to edge.

im cheap at £18 an hour, i would not even quote or agree a fixed price on that. if guess anywhere from £180-360 quid because that there could well be 1-2 full 10 hour days work for me

dont misunderstand. i quite happily patched up my mums old 260k mile 1.4 corsa B for nowt. literally just wire wheeled out the rot. ground back to good metal and slapped a patch over the hole and seam welded it right over. it passed its mot and the engine failed 2 weeks after. it was just not worth doing or spending the money on and it was on borrowed time.

if your happy for a quick fix on the cheap do it if you want to keep the car for 10 years then have it done properly. there are people that do good work for cheap and you might have found one, but in my experience cheap = nasty. i take photos of all my work, the customer knows exactly what i have done, they have a digital record of all the work from start to finish so they can be sure that its been done right.

shop around a bit to, and try some bigger commercial places and some more classic car resto places and see what they say. its worth it just to get an idea on how they would fix it and to what extent the rust could be


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## minibbb (Mar 9, 2012)

Thanks for such a detailed reply Aaron, only just seen this. I had a mechanic over today for another job and asked him about be rust situation, he said they'd match the £70 quote too however I'd probably get the bodyshop to do it as they'll have more bodywork experience.

I get your point entirely about a cheap job probably being just that! It's a tricky one as the car only cost me £400 and was a gamble which turned out to be a good one as I love it now. I want to keep spending on it to a minimum and if I can get the job done for £70 or so I'm tempted to try it. It'll probably need more work in the future I'm sure.

I cleaned out the boot area and under the rear seats today. Under the jack recess isn't great 








But looks like plenty of decent metal to get a good patch in?

Under the rear seats 








What's going on with the drain holes?! Has someone filled those already do you think?

Is it worth me asking the guy to use a rust killer like bilt hamber hydrate 80 underneath the car once he's removed surface rust and before he underseals? Also to use it on any surface rust in the boot?


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## Aaran (Sep 18, 2007)

looks like its a fairly easy fix tbh its nice an flat underneath with very few curves and ridges. could knock up a decent patch for that in under an hour easy.

those "drain holes" are standard in pretty much every jap car i have worked on. normally they are over/ under chassis rails and give access to inside them. they are just small metal "plugs" that they drop in and glue in with seam sealer. nothing to worry about.

tbh if the car was only £400, and your only having to throw £100 at it to keep it on the road for a few more years then do it. 

best stuff i have used to kill rust (none of them rid it of rust forever) is FE123 by rustbuster. its pretty pricey but its very good. if they are chopping out that rust and putting in new metal i would probably ask that they paint both sides of it with epoxymastic 121 chassis paint (sold again by rustbuster) or somthing similar. 

its ruddy pricey but once its dry nothing comes close to sealing metal like it. you can brush or spray underbody seal over it after (most places sell it in a pot and in an aerosol) iv got my entire suspension painted with the stuff and my cars been on the road for a year now and none of it has stone chipped or gone rusty. 

again cavity waxes do a good job at slowing down existing rust, but i always see them more as a preventive measure than a fix (if you look in my pics of that arch they had pumped about a gallon of waxoyl in there and still the replacement inner arch was going rusty) just a pain if you fire cavity wax into somewhere then it needs welding as its a bugger to clean off

get some pics up once its done  

as i said there are plenty of cowboys out there that do cheap work and to substandard, but there are people that do good work for a reasonable price, its just a shame the latter are so rare lol


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## minibbb (Mar 9, 2012)

Well picked the car up yesterday, three patches welded in the boot floor and undersealed/ rust killer applied on surface rust bits.

I wasnt worried about it being painted in colour as its under the boot carpet so won't be seen (and its a v cheap motor!)








For £70 I'm pleased!


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## Rakti (Nov 11, 2019)

Aaran said:


> thats way to cheap for a proper fix.
> 
> by patch im going to go with " chop out the rust, make a patch bigger than the hole left and smash it with a welder then finish it with lots of seam sealer or underseal"
> 
> ...


Great post this. Would be very interesting to hear how long the OP's repair lasted.


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