71 280SE 3.5 rust under trunk lid rubber

[Dbglobal]

I just discovered that I have some rust under my trunk lid rubber near the top (next to the rear window), almost all the way across. While I can either fix it myself or have a shop fix it is not my question. My question is has anyone else had this problem, is this something that will always happen, are there supposed to be some sort of drain holes under the rubber?

Thanks,

Dave Benson
280SE 3.5 Coupe

[thorsen]

I pulled the trunk seal out of my 1972 250C last fall. There was no rust under the seal, nor were there drain holes. Consider yourself lucky. I would have much preferred to fix your rust than to replace the trunk floor that rotted because the seal had perished years ago.

[JimFreeh]

I've seen it happen.

I suspect it starts with a small nick, and since you cannot see the damage, it can progress for quite a while without making it presence known.

Jim

[GaryF]

If its like mine, the rubber is glued in place and should channel the water down either side of the trunk opening. If the rubber becomes unstuck the water can easily collect under it and rot through the metal, in my case it then dripped down and caused rusting at the rear left of the trunk floor. I treated the rust and used fibreglass to fix the structure, then used silicon to stick the rubber down making sure the edges were water tight.

[sjefke]

I have rust under my rubber too, but more on the sides of the trunk. I have a new rubber and one of these days am going to fix it all. One spot has rusted through so I will get my welder out. One reason I have not replaced it yet is because whenever I put new trunk rubber on a car, it always made the trunk tougher to shut.

Bert