PeachParts Mercedes-Benz Forum - View Single Post - More existential rust crises for Bodhi (and me)

JHZR2 · #45 07-22-2013, 11:06 PM

Ugh, rust is the worst. The only thing to do is to cut it out and I would personally not leave small patches of old metal interspersed with new metal. I trust the welded joints the least compared to new metal and old sound metal. I would rather see a cut out completely and replaced with good metal, and then the entire peace be thoroughly rustproof in front and behind to protect both the new metal on metal and the weld itself.

I'm personally of the mind that unless you really want to take on doing welding take the bit in the future, but you're better off leaving it to somebody who will take on the job I have the right equipment experience and tools to do it. You may well spend as much in getting good tools to do the job right as someone would charge to do it properly once and for all.

A lot of shops don't want to take on rust work though, because where there's some there's usually more, a lot of jobs are very difficult to do. Plus it is tough if they offer a warranty because an old rusted car likely will have another claim.

What I would do is find a local trade or vocational school, probably at a community college or somesuch place, where the purpose is learning, the costs are fairly low, and because the efforts are graded there's a good chance of having it overseen and a very good job being done. I'm not saying there's no risk to this approach, but I think that you will have a better chance of getting a good and complete job done with the materials and processes used that you desire.

So I get an opportunity like that and specify that you want to overseeing the rustproofing on the back of the panel prior to painting the whole thing completely. Because of the nature of the capabilities of such a school, they should be able to do the metalwork and then do all the paint blending for you making it easy.

Good luck!