71 280se 3.5 coupe - rust - PeachParts Mercedes-Benz Forum

Dbglobal · #1 08-10-2009, 09:55 AM

I never noticed that I have rust under the top of the trunk lid under the rubber. Also some in the left wheel well. What is involved in fixing this? The car was fully restored years ago, was the rubber no secured properly as I did not notice anything until just recently. When repacing the lower wheel well, are there replacement parts or do you just weld in a piece of metal cut to size?

Thanks,

Dave

JimFreeh · #2 08-10-2009, 09:36 PM

It's impossible to answer your question with the info provided.

What is fully restored? All rust cut out, or just bondo'ed over?

If you've kept this car garaged, and out of moisture, then it may be that the original rust was just covered over and is now reappearing.

If not, this body is notorious for rust, it may be the natural body degradation.

In any event, with rust appearing, it will be costly and/or time consuming to correctly eliminate it. Get in touch with K and K manufacturing, they make lots of repair panels for the older MBs.

Jim

Dbglobal · #3 08-11-2009, 05:10 AM

Jim,

The car was restored and at the time there was no rust what so ever. What happened was the rubber that goes around the upper area of the trunk seal was loose all these years (I was not aware of it). It allowed water to sit under the rubber undected. I just noticed this and when I looked under the rubber on the top portion on the trunk lid there is rust as well as under the rear left lower wheel well.

You mention K & K products, what are they?

Thanks,

Dave

t walgamuth · #4 08-11-2009, 06:03 AM

google....its a parts house.

I'd be surprised if they have coupe specific parts but something for a sedan might work just fine.

On the trunk lid I would take it off and carefully remove the rubber then carefully by hand clean off the rust, apply rust binder to the affected area and reapair it with custom mixed matching paint applied by hand with a small brush or mixed and installed in a spray can by the auto paint supply house. I would be very careful to work only on the area that is rusted so the repair is as small as possible.

When I had it the way I wanted it I would carefully install the rubber.

sjefke · #5 08-11-2009, 09:17 AM

K&K has coupe parts in theif catalog (http://www.kkmfg.com/catalog.php), but I never ordered from them. Last time I checked, their web prices were actually a bit higher than or equivalent to MB dealer prices, so I just got panels from MB directly.

I think you may just have some surface rust (old or new) that is appearing. Repair may be a simple as taking a dremel with a small grinding stone and just grinding the rust away until bare metal appears. Than put good rust preventer/sealer over it, followed by touch up with paint.

If there is a hole, you need to weld it, but this will involve more paint damage due to heat. If it is a pinprick hole, clean it, seal it, and a little bondo will go a long way for many years (in non-structural location).

Even restored cars will get rust again over time. A lot depends on how good the body and paint shops were in prepping and protecting the car when it got stripped, welded and painted. Bare metal is very vulnerable and sometimes shops leave the cars out too long before painting them.

Bert

t walgamuth · #6 08-11-2009, 11:05 PM

I would recommend using sand paper rather than a dremmel.

cth350 · #7 08-12-2009, 10:24 PM

K&K is an interesting shop. Some of their items are from dealer stock and other items they make themselves. It's all a matter of what's available from the dealer and what isn't.

You can speak to them in directly and ask the source of any particular part and they'll be up front about it.

-CTH