Ruuuust !

[MadDog]

Nobody like rust. Rust is evil. Rust propagates and multiplies like devil bunnies on crack. Or something like that.

One of the few perks of living in a state that has no concept of what "winter" is, is that there is no road salt, and consequently not much rust, unless you own a Chevy. <---- Joking ! Lets not start a holy war of car advocacy !

Still, its going to happen eventually, and I found that I had a rust spot on the passengers side, just on the roof trim seal, near the rear window. To be honest, I saw the rust spot for a few months, but never got around to doing anything about it. Big. Mistake.

When I finally got to it, I saw that the rust had propagated along the length of the roof trim and a little outwards, down the side of the car. Of course, it didnt help that when I pulled the roof trim seal out (as gentle as I could), it pulled out some paint. Paint-on-top-of-rust, really.

I then realized that after watching all the youtube videos on rust repair, and reading as many websites as I could, this was not previously covered. Rust propagating over a 90 degree angle, even down into the well of the groove that housed the roof trim seal.

Crap-tastic !

Dremel time. The only way to get all the rust out in this place is with a dremel. Not only that, it took me 5 different bits (plastic debrader, metal wire debrader, ceramic cylinder grinder, and 2 sizes of small metal burrs) to get it all out. Then, the 160 and 600 grit wet sanding. Then the alcohol (70% isopropanol) wipe. I had to remove part of the weather sealer (liquid butyl rubber sealer ?) that Ford puts over the actual spot welding joint. Dont get me started on the sticky goop that Ford uses top anchor the trim seal down. I still havnt managed to clean all that out of the groove.

Still, some progress has been made. The first pic is after lifting the trim seal out (ug). The second one is after most of the rust was removed. More later.

Mad Dog

 

[SVTbuckeye11]

the first pic looks way worse than the damage actually looks like in the second. Good work so far, just make sure u get all of it

kinda makes me scared to look at mine

 

[blu_fuz]

Glad to see you are taking care of it. Too bad you can't get those roof drip rail trims anymore :blackeye:....

 

[MadDog]

Dont put it off ! At the very least, if you see rust (esp. in a place with road salt), clean it, sand the rust off and at least prime it for later. Do not let rust propagate.

Should I turn this into a "How To" ? Im not an expert, but I was pretty thorough. I also soaked the area with Evapo-Rust. I forgot to take a pic after I had cleaned it all out, and it was clean. I was lucky that there was no pitting. All surface rust. Im going through attempts at body filler work, priming and painting, but that story is not finished. Bondo is trickier than it looks. The attached picture shows how it looked after a clean prime. You can see the outline of the area that I had to remove to get all the rust.

The Dremel was invaluable for this work. There is no way to get a large powertool into that valley. The tiny metal head burr tool is evil though. At high RPM it will skip and hop around and it will eat the car metal if you screw up.

As for the roof trim seals, thats a topic for a new thread. I have had no luck at all finding a replacement, and from reading the forums, neither has anyone else.

thanks,

Mad Dog

 

[qbcsvt]

Shoulda took a big wire wheel to it, woulda been faster. But all in all gj! Wonder what we are going to do about the roof trim seals.

 

[dennyb]

I think my 2000 parts car has this beat. I kicked the one remaining side skirt to remove it and only had to pull one screw out near the front wheel well. The roof isn't very good either with surface rust and spider cracked paint.

 

[MadDog]

I am lucky my wife has a well stocked woodworking shop so I can borrow tools, but I dont have a lot of what I need. The dremel was King ! This is still new to me, but I am reasonably happy with the results. It looks soooo easy on the youtube videos.... : ) In hindsight I should of just sanded down the top part to even out the paint/no-paint transition, then prime and paint. THe bondo work isnt looking real good. On the plus side, the black paint and gloss matches pretty well to the original paint.

Roof seals: I suspect the answer lies in a solid chunk of rubber cut to size. Ideally you want something that fits reasonably well to keep the environment out of the weld seam.

Dennyb: at least you can replace the rocker panels, although it requires welding. For the surface rust, dont wait... sand it off and black prime it until you have time to paint it.

I have the cracking paint all over the car, and I am unsure what to do for now. Maybe a clear coat to keep it sealed, but a new paint job will have to wait.