Rust !!!

[joderest]

Hi All
When we bought our w163 5 years ago, it had some warranty work done before 2010, due to rust on the wheel arches ( this we were told by original owner). Seems they were rubbed down and a sort of rubberised coating put on them, looked awful, but seemed to be holding rust at bay. Yesterday, i decided to explore a small rust spot that had formed on one of the arches (we are talking just the underside lip here, not the main part of the wing) and was shocked to find that there was surface rust all the way across the edge of the arch. It would appear that it has crept under the coating.
I am going to attack the arches at the weekend, and will post some pictures if i remember to do so. Its just a warning to others, as the outward appearance was fine, its what has been going on underneath. It has also started to bubble after the edge of the coating.
All will make sense if i remember to take some photo's.

Watch this space.

 

[00slk]

Blimey joderest, if that's the only rust you have in your w163 it must have been well cared for since it was new.

 

[EmilysDad]

The trouble with rust is that by the time you see a small bubble in the paint the tin worm has been eating the metal away for quite a while ... its scary what rot there can be lurking underneath.

 

[joderest]

I am hoping that its all surface rust, but prepared to cut some out if i have to.
All will be revealed at the weekend, as that's the only time i have to look at it.

Oh, yes it was well cared for by first owner, he only used it to go the shops/pub and back, and it was parked in an air conditioned garage. We bought it five years ago with 36,000 on the clock, it now has just under 60,000, but there are some small rust bubbles.

 

[joderest]

 

[joderest]

Above picture is the coating put on the wheel arches, it looks awful, but has held rust at bay for over a decade, however, outward appearance is deceiving, as will be revealed when I strip this coating off on the weekend

 

[alexanderfoti]

Looks like its been sanded back, then treated and painted with stonechipsheild (A rubberised paint) then painted over the top with colour coat. Usually no issue with this method but it can be bad when water gets underneath this coating.

 

[00slk]

In all honesty it looks fine to me, if the rubberised coat is peeling off then yes peel the coating off, if it's not peeling you might be worrying over nothing??

 

[joderest]

all will be revealed, what you cannot see in the picture is that the "coating" has lifted slightly at the rear allowing water to get underneath it, as stated quite rightly, its a sort of rubberised coating, bugger to grind off as just clogs the disc, but its possible to cut it off with a blade.
Starting job tomorrow, so you will see the horror under the coating.

 

[00slk]

If it was rusty under the coating then the rubber coating would be flaking and falling off, if its clogging up the disc I would say you have some sound wheel arches

 

[joderest]

I can say, with out doubt, that all is not well under the coating.

 

[00slk]

We await with bated breath........

 

[joderest]

 

[joderest]

 

[joderest]

 

[joderest]

 

[joderest]

So, as you can see from pictures, it's what I expected. Both sides were bad, even though left side looked good.
So far I have attacked with angle grinder with ,60 grit pad, rubbed down edges a bit, and given a good coat of rust preventer which I am waiting to dry.
I did not come across any rot, just bad surface rust.
I hope to at least get in primer tomorrow.

 

[EmilysDad]

I've seen much less steel in a wheel arch

 

[Taffy7hfa]

Surface rust, I had the same on mine, it didn't reach round on the wheel arch proper though and hasn't returned since I treated it with rust converter 3 years ago. Bugger all really for a 20 year old.

 

[malcolm E53 AMG]

I found this quite interesting on how deal with rust on YouTube: