# Wheel Arches and Bubbling



## aod (Apr 7, 2009)

My Saab 9-3 is 10 years old this year, and although I’ve paid quite a lot of attention looking after it since I bought it in 2009 (2nd owner), I’ve noticed some surface rust on the wheel arches (mainly front) recently. 

It’s not particularly bad, just a few spots, but I’d rather sort it out now before it gets worse.

What’s the best thing to do in this case?

Also there are some areas on the body where there is ‘bubbling’ – is this rust as well? The paint seems ok and the bubbles are not ‘soft’. These are visible on painted metal work such as the bonnet, and also through some plastic trim (e.g where door mirror joins the body).


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## Kiashuma (May 4, 2011)

Best bet is to replace the wings. I had some rust treated in the front of the Kia and it came back after a few years. I plan on changing the wings when funds allow.


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## Harry_p (Mar 18, 2015)

You'll be lucky to get more than a couple of years from a spot repair. For a lasting repair you need to cut out and replace with good fresh metal.

Wings are easy enough to change, but worth examining the old ones to see how the rust started and what you could do to stop it happening again. Usually arch liners rubbing off the paint and allowing rust to creep round.

The rest of the bubbling will be corrosion of some sort. Things like wing mirror bases are often cast alloy coated in plastic ( quite common on Alfa 156s ) if it's normal steel then it will be good old rust.


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## Kiashuma (May 4, 2011)

Harry_p said:


> You'll be lucky to get more than a couple of years from a spot repair. For a lasting repair you need to cut out and replace with good fresh metal.
> 
> Wings are easy enough to change, but worth examining the old ones to see how the rust started and what you could do to stop it happening again. Usually arch liners rubbing off the paint and allowing rust to creep round.
> 
> The rest of the bubbling will be corrosion of some sort. Things like wing mirror bases are often cast alloy coated in plastic ( quite common on Alfa 156s ) if it's normal steel then it will be good old rust.


That's whats caused mine. Arch liners rubbing on the tab at the top of the wing and the rust has come round and up the wing.


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## squiggs (Oct 19, 2009)

Bubbling paint usually means the rust is coming through from the other side of the panel.
Anything you might do to the painted surface will only delay the inevitable for a short period.
The rust needs to be cut out or replace the panel


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