The 25-year/250,000-mile refresh, UPDATE 5.15.2017: After first 1,000-mile trip Options

[horizontally-opposed]

So I've decided to confront a few rust bubbles on my car, before painting it (the car looked great, but I never liked the wavy sides due to poor prep and no blocking).

If you can't stomach this first photo, please don't continue... (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)

pete

[horizontally-opposed]

Here's where things get interesting.

After scraping all the foam and rubberized sealer out of the LR fender corner as seen above, I can show you the first photo below, as seen from the wheelwell. You can just make out the black rectangular patch in there, as well as the rest of the surface rust hiding out in there, stewing with the foam. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/mad.gif)

In the next photo, you can see the same area on the right fender. When I initially poked through the rubber and then the foam, I saw the nice gray metal you see in there, and way angry because I felt that I had broken into a sealed area that wasn't broke.

But then I removed the rest of the foam and the rubber and saw HOW the left side failed, and how the right side would have failed. The foam, once dry enough, wicks moisture up the vertical surface of the taillight housing's outer edge, inside, behind the rubber. The left side rust-through was the result of this process, and it had started to do the same on the right side...

Please learn from my experience. This is a California car (always), rarely driven in rain the last 10-15 years, and almost always garaged over its life...

Clean those corners out, and re-rustproof and seal them!!! It ain't fun, and it took me about 9 hours for both fenders (at the front and the back of each), but that gunk needs to come out...

pete