Wheel Well clean up help

[TalonSway]

Recently started fixing some spot rust on my driver side shock tower. When i was done i decided that i wanted to clean up the wheel wells since its up on the jack. Did some research on how to go about it, and what to use to clean it up. But when i went under the front driver side wheel well i discovered that there is a bunch of bondo under there from previous owner and also looks like some rust that was covered by some bondo. My question is should i just hit it with some sand paper to take it off? or just leave it there and continue to clean and maybe treat it with some rust inhibitor? thanks for any help

 

[KFred 513]

I spent a year working at a body shop, and by the looks of that you'll needmoremthan some sand paper. I would get rid of that soon though so it doesn't spread, because it will fast.

Use a 90* air grinder with a 40-60 grit wheel. Get all of that rust out of there and fill the hole either by welding in a patch, or mar glass body filler. Bondo isn't ideal in a spot like that because if the paint over it chips it will absorb water, swell, and eventually fall out.

I've never used rust inhibitor but I wouldn't trust it on a spot that bad.

 

[gophishy10]

You can also use a fiber wheel. It will get the rusted area out just like a grinder would, but it takes off less metal than a grinder. Then do what KFred said to do. Marglass will hold up good in that spot if you choose that path. If you want it to look a little smoother, they make a flexible agent for doing bumpers and such. Put a thin coat of that on top of the marglass and that sands pretty easily. ALWAYS put an etch primer down on bare metal before another primer. This will help to keep the rust from reforming.

 

[TalonSway]

So my best bet it to get in there and get all the rust out of there, then form some sheet metal?

 

[tektic]

I would clean it up real good and then cover it with the silver por 15. It has metal flakes in it to add material. You can put in a metal or fiberglass mesh if there are big holes after cleaning. Put at least 2-3 coats on and then cover with paint and rubberized under coating. It won't rust again. That's how the floor of my jeep was fixed very successfully.

 

[zachakagoat]

I also had great success using Herculiner roll on bed line, it tends to stick better and become a little more solid than spray on liners you pick up. It is a little more expensive, stinks like hell while curing, and messy but I think it is an overall better product.

POR15 I have had issues with if you don't prep EXTREMELY well while the Herculiner will still work with some grease and dirt.

Either way I think a good liner is best to make future cleanup easier with a good pressure wash.

 

[TalonSway]

Went and sanded some of the bondo off and found some firewall hah so my idea is to clean it up some more, then treat it with some sort of rust stuff and then use some fiberglass to fill the holes and patch it up and smooth it to the wheel well then cover it with some undercoating spray and see how that will hold up. Just wanna stop it from getting any more rust down there, and i don't like the idea of welding next to the fire wall and the master brake cylinder. How dose that sound??

 

[tektic]

Well... I can't really tell what I'm looking at from the picture. Is this hole being stressed when you press the break or clutch pedal? If it is your going to have to weld. Even if its not it would probably be a good idea to remove the break master to make sure you do a good job clearing all the rust out. Don't cut corners when it comes to rust. Ive thrown out 2 gsxs because of it.